Joe Fong

Fong, the sixth of ten children, emigrated to San Francisco from Macau at the age of eight with his family,[2] and was found guilty of burglary three years later. When he was fifteen, his gang was absorbed by the Wah Ching.[3]^:820 He attended Galileo High School.[2]

The Wah Ching were a youth gang formed in 1964 to protect newly-arrived immigrants from China against the bullying of the Chinese-Americans that had been born and raised in America to older generations. In the wake of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the Wah Ching had more opportunities to recruit new members; initially, the Wah Ching advocated for new immigrant protections to their elders in the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, seeking their protection, but they were rebuffed. Instead, the Wah Ching developed into a street gang after some members were hired to serve first as lookouts, then as protection for illegal gambling parlors in Chinatown;[3]^:812 as they gained experience with gambling operations, they began demanding a cut of the profits.[4]

Later, the Wah Ching were absorbed into the Hop Sing Tong,[4] or, as Bill Cardoso reported, the Hop Sing began using the Wah Ching name for their youth organization.[3]^:820 The Yau Lai (or Yo Le) split from the Wah Ching in 1969, founded by members unhappy with the gang's merger into the Hop Sing.[4] The Chung Ching Yee (later, the Joe Fong Boys or just Joe Boys) were formed by Joe Fong as a splinter group of the Yau Lai in 1971,[5] and claimed to be independent of any existing Chinatown organizations.[4] After Fong was sent to a youth reformatory in spring 1971, his splinter group was re-absorbed into the Yau Lai; upon his return, he broke off again with a trusted lieutenant, Raymond Leung, on October 1. Leung was shot and killed the next day. Joe Fong moved his operations to the Richmond district on the western edge of San Francisco and renamed his group the Chung Ching Yee (after the heroes of the Water Margin) in 1972.[3]^:821 By 1973, the struggle between the Chung Ching Yee and the Wah Ching had erupted into a war that had claimed 13 lives since 1969; Joe Fong was already serving a life sentence for an attempted murder at that point.[6]

Fong was arrested early on the morning of October 2, 1972; he was accused of attempted murder following a drive-by shooting that had occurred half an hour earlier. The victims were parked in three cars near a bus zone on Hyde, near the intersection with Sacramento; a blue Oldsmobile approached them traveling in the same direction, fired nine or ten shots into the victims' cars, then sped off towards California. Because the victims were associated with the Wah Ching, the Joe Boys were suspected as the shooters. Fong was taken into custody at the Foster's West cafeteria near Golden Gate and Polk. At his trial, prosecution witnesses testified that Fong was in the shooters' car, and he was convicted and given a life sentence.[1]

In April 1973, the San Francisco Chronicle published an article which shed doubt on his guilt. Two people told the Chronicle they had attended a double feature at Stonestown Cinemas, ending with Lovers and Other Strangers at midnight, with Fong; after the films they drove to Foster's for a late dinner. In addition, Fong and the others were tested for gunshot residue on their hands, with negative results. Finally, the actual shooter confessed several months later, and testified that he and the driver were the only ones in that car that night.[1] Attorneys for Fong filed for a writ of habeas corpus, which was denied in October 1973.[8]

While imprisoned at Deuel Vocational Institute near Tracy, California, Fong began to speak out about his reputation as a gang leader, which he said was applied because he had been so outspoken in advocating for the rights of new immigrants.[2] Fong pointed out the arrest of Walter Ang, a former recreational coordinator for Chinese Youth Alternatives (CYA), a community organization that works with delinquent youths, was being touted as a major break in the investigation of the Golden Dragon massacre because of Ang's tenuous ties with the Joe Boys.[7] In the wake of the Golden Dragon, Bill Cardoso compared Fong to Joe Gallo.[3]^:812

Fong was released on November 12, 1979, and went on to attend the College of San Mateo and UC Davis, graduating with a bachelor's degree in political science. He then earned a master's degree from UCLA.[2]

• Fong, Joe Chung (1988). The Development of the Chinese-Vietnamese Community in San Francisco (Master of Arts thesis). University of California, Los Angeles.