These elongated, predatory fish are distinguished by their long dorsal fins, large mouths, and shiny teeth. Dan Xin, dressed in black and carrying an Uzi submachine gun, led four men into the house, where they shot and stabbed one of Ah Kay’s brothers and two other Fuk Ching members. The Fujianese dialect is incomprehensible to Cantonese and Mandarin speakers, so the fledgling community was doubly isolated—a ghetto within a ghetto.

THE SNAKEHEAD | Kirkus Reviews THE SNAKEHEAD | Kirkus Reviews

Like an underworld CEO, Sister Ping created an intricate smuggling network that stretched from Fujian Province to Hong Kong to Burma to Thailand to Kenya to Guatemala to Mexico. It was Sister Ping who, a rival gang leader and FBI informant alleged, commissioned the Golden Venture.Dozens of figures bobbed in the water, some managing to clamber ashore, others flailing wildly, apparently unable to swim.

The Snakehead by Patrick Radden Keefe - Pan Macmillan

At about this time, he said, Sister Ping joined forces with a brutal criminal group: the Fuk Ching gang. Indeed, Sister Ping’s empire only came to light in 1993 when the Golden Venture, a ship loaded with 300 undocumented immigrants, ran aground off a Queens beach.

At sea, the Panamanian flag was lowered and a Honduran flag was raised; the name Tong Sern, painted on the bow, was replaced by a new one: Golden Venture. She did so, and Lee used the money to purchase a Panama-registered tramp steamer, the Tong Sern, in Singapore. They told us, ‘Easy: you just go on the bus, or motorcycle, to Thailand,’ ” Chen told me with a bitter smile. The Snakehead was born in Vietnam and, at unknown times, joined and became the leader of the Da Nang Boys.