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Feds Bust Gangsters Who Were Shaking Down Chinatown Bus Companies
By Jennifer 8. Lee | October 23, 2008
The New York Post, in its bouncy law enforcement prose, reports that the feds have busted a Chinese gang which had been beating Chinatown bus operators. The article says that beginning in 2005, the so-called “Banya Organization” – named after its members’ hometown in China’s “Fuchow region” (which is“Fuzhou” in pin yin) allegedly began targeting operators of two interstate bus companies to extort partial ownership and a share of the profits.”
A five-count racketeering indictment filed in Manhattan federal court adds that the gang members with nicknames like “Fatty,” “Big Flower” and “Vegetable Duck” also dealt drugs and ran illegal gambling dens.
Chinatown Buses have a special place in my heart, because they were originally created to ship Chinese restaurant workers through the eastern half of the country.
Chinatown buses have been a brutal nasty business. Rivalries have caused one driver to back up on another, causing fractured pelvis, internal bleeding, and several other injuries. The attacking driver was murdered in 2003, shot five times in the chest. An excellent 2005 paper by Cyrus Farviar talks about the past, present and future of Chinatown buses, including much of the violence.
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