{{Short description|Defunct Chinese-American youth gang}} {{distinguish|Chung Ching}}{{Other uses|Chung Ching (disambiguation)}}{{Infobox Criminal organization | name = Chung Ching Yee | image = | caption = | founding_location = Chinatown, San Francisco, California, United States | founded_by = Joe Fong | years_active = 1969–1977 | territory = United States | ethnicity = Chinese American, Asian American | membership_est = | criminal_activities = Drug trafficking, fireworks trafficking, extortion, robbery, murder, burglary, theft | allies = Suey Sing Tong |rivals = Wah Ching, Hop Sing Tong }} {{Infobox Chinese |t={{linktext|忠|精|義}} |s={{linktext|忠|精|义}} |p=Zhōngjīngyì |w=Chung<sup>1</sup>-ching<sup>1</sup>-i<sup>4</sup> |j=Zung<sup>1</sup> Zing<sup>1</sup> Ji<sup>6</sup> |y=Jūng jīng yih }}

The '''Joe Boys''', or '''JBS''' (also known as '''Chung Ching Yee''', {{zh|t=忠精義}}), was a Chinese American youth gang founded in the 1960s in San Francisco's Chinatown. The Joe Boys were originally known as Joe Fong Boys, after its founder Joe Fong, a former member of the Wah Ching. Most of their members were born in Hong Kong or were of Hong Kongese descent.<ref name=thehour>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1916&dat=19780324&id=gO8pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Pm4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=2637,5074526 |title=Make First Arrest in Golden Dragon Massacre of 1977 |agency=UPI |date=March 24, 1978 |newspaper=The Hour}}</ref>

==History== {{quote box |text=The {American-born Chinese} called us FOBs—Fresh Off the Boat—or China Bugs. Even the American-born Chinese referred to us as 'Chinese'—as though they were not. |author=Joe Fong |source=quoted by Bill Cardoso, 1977<ref name=Cardoso/>{{rp|820}} |width=20em}} Joe Fong emigrated to San Francisco from Macau with his family in 1963, when he was eight years old.<ref name=Cardoso/>{{rp|820}} The Wah Ching were a youth gang formed in Chinatown in 1964 to protect newly arrived immigrants from China against bullying by Chinese-Americans who had been born and raised in America. In the wake of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the Wah Ching recruited many new members.<ref name=Chin90/> Initially, the Wah Ching advocated for protection for new immigrants to their elders in the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, but they were rebuffed.<ref name=Cardoso/>{{rp|820}}

Instead, the Wah Ching developed into a street gang: some members were hired to serve first as lookouts, then as protection for illegal gambling parlors in Chinatown;<ref name=Cardoso>{{cite news |title=The Golden Dragon Labor Day Massacre: They shoot tourists, don't they? |author=Cardoso, Bill |date=October 28, 1977 |work=New Times}}, reprinted in {{cite report |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002946457 |title=Unemployment and Crime: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary |date=1977–1978 |publisher=House of Representatives, Ninety-fifth Congress |access-date=9 April 2020 |chapter=Appendix 13 |pages=810–822}}</ref>{{rp|812}} as they gained experience with gambling operations, they began demanding a cut of the profits.<ref name=Chin90>{{cite book |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/76275427@N05/7451746572/ |title=Chinese Subculture and Criminality: Non-traditional Crime Groups in America |author=Chin, Ko-lin |chapter=5: The Development of Chinese Gangs |date=1990 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=New York |isbn=9780313272622 |page=68}}</ref> In addition, existing Chinatown leadership, with ties to the Kuomintang in Taiwan, were staunchly anti-Communist and would pay the youth gangs to break up Red Guard rallies and beat them.<ref name=Cardoso/>{{rp|820}}

By approximately 1968, the Wah Ching were absorbed into the Hop Sing Tong,<ref name=Chin90/> or, as Bill Cardoso reported, the Hop Sing began using the Wah Ching name for their youth organization.<ref name=Cardoso/>{{rp|820}} The Yau Lai (also known as the Yo Le or Yau Lay, meaning "good fortune") split from the Wah Ching in 1969, founded by members unhappy with the gang's merger into the Hop Sing,<ref name=Chin90/> which was then one of the two prominent traditional gangs in Chinatown. Their rivals, the Suey Sing Tong, extended their fight to the Wah Ching. In March 1970, Joe Fong's older brother Glen was gunned down by the Suey Sing. In retaliation, Wah Ching members beat the Suey Sing leader Tom Tom so badly he was hospitalized; the Suey Sing made peace and moved to Oakland. Undaunted, Joe Fong pressed the fight and would often venture to the East Bay to beat Suey Sing members, and in spring 1971, Fong was sentenced to six months in a reformatory for his continued violence.<ref name=Cardoso/>{{rp|821}}

Joe Fong's group had splintered from the main Yau Lai in early 1971,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/76275427@N05/7451689940/ |title=Cops Get Tough in Chinatown |author=Muller, Baron |date=October 22, 1972 |newspaper=San Francisco Examiner |access-date=9 April 2020}}</ref> and claimed to be independent of any existing Chinatown organizations.<ref name=Chin90/> After Fong was sent to the reformatory, his splinter group was re-absorbed into the Yau Lai; upon his return, he broke a group 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 early 1972.<ref name=Cardoso/>{{rp|821}} Fong attempted to meet with San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto in September to either provide inside information about criminal activity in Chinatown<ref name=Cardoso/>{{rp|821}} or to draw attention to police corruption and missing social programs;<ref name=MJ-77>{{cite magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qeYDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA33 |title=Turning Reporters into Orphans |author=Weir, David |date=June 1977 |magazine=Mother Jones |pages=33–36;60 |access-date=9 April 2020}}</ref> the meeting was rejected, police raided Fong's headquarters that night, and the Joe Boys were harassed by the rival Wah Ching and police.<ref name=Cardoso/>{{rp|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 had been arrested on October 2, 1972, and began serving a life sentence for an attempted murder on February 4, 1973.<ref name=SFEC-730819>{{cite news |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/76275427@N05/7827905428/ |title=Will Chinatown Killing End? |author=Emch, Tom |date=August 19, 1973 |newspaper=San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle |access-date=9 April 2020}} [https://www.flickr.com/photos/76275427@N05/7827905428/ Part 1]&nbsp;|&nbsp;[https://www.flickr.com/photos/76275427@N05/7827908034/ Part 2]</ref> After Fong was jailed, the Chung Ching Yee eventually became the '''Joe Fong Boys''', and then simply the '''Joe Boys'''.<ref name=Cardoso/>{{rp|822}}

An escalating series of retaliation and murder between the Joe Boys and Wah Ching culminated in the Golden Dragon Massacre of September 1977, which occurred as a direct result of an ambush during the sale of firecrackers in Chinatown's Ping Yuen public housing complex on July 4 that left Felix "Tiger" Huey (a Joe Boy) dead. The Joe Boys were targeting Wah Ching leadership, who were present that night at the Golden Dragon; the massacre left 5 people dead, and 11 others injured, but none of them were gang members. The perpetrators were arrested in 1978, convicted, and sentenced to prison.<ref>{{cite web|author=Mullen, Kevin J.|url=http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Golden_Dragon_Restaurant_Massacre |title=The Golden Dragon Restaurant Massacre }}</ref><ref>{{cite court|author=|url=http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/people-v-szeto-23255 |litigants=People v. Szeto |vol=29 |reporter=Cal.3d |opinion=20 |court=Cal.|date=1981|accessdate=}}</ref>

After the Golden Dragon Massacre, the Wah Ching were ascendant in Chinatown and the Joe Boys were largely shut down under pressure from the San Francisco Police Asian gang task force, which was formed as a direct result of the events at the Golden Dragon.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;font-size:85%;" |+ Murder victims of the Wah Ching–Joe Boys War |- ! colspan=3 | Victim ! rowspan=2 | Date ! colspan=2 | Perpetrator ! rowspan=2 | Location !! rowspan=2 class="unsortable" | Notes !! rowspan=2 class="unsortable" | Ref. |- ! Name !! Age !! Gang ! Name !! Gang |- ! data-sort-value="Legardo" | Armado Legardo | 29 || ? | {{dts|1969|04}} | ? || ? | Washington & Grant | style="text-align:left;" | | <ref name=SFEC-730819/> |- ! data-sort-value="Fong, Glen" | Glen Fong | 19 || Wah Ching | {{dts|1970|03|01}} | ? || Suey Sing | 927 Jackson | style="text-align:left;" | Older brother of Joe Fong | <ref name=SFEC-730819/> |- ! data-sort-value="Tam, Teddy" | Teddy Tam | 19 || Yau Lai | {{dts|1970|06|13}} | ? || ? | 633 O'Farrell | style="text-align:left;" | Stabbed during a CCSF dance | <ref name=SFEC-730819/> |- ! data-sort-value="Miyata" | Larry Miyata | 16 || ? | {{dts|1970|09|09}} | ? || ? | 727 Washington | style="text-align:left;" | | <ref name=SFEC-730819/> |- ! data-sort-value="Leung" | Richard Leung | 18 || Yau Lai | {{dts|1971|10|02}} | Danny Wong || Wah Ching | Grant & Jackson | style="text-align:left;" | aka Raymond Leung, a top lieutenant of Yau Lai | <ref name=SFEC-730819/><ref name=PD-711125/> |- ! data-sort-value="Yun" | George Yun | 21 || Yau Lai | {{dts|1971|11|05}} | ? || Suey Sing | Presidio | style="text-align:left;" | Strangled and hogtied | <ref name=SFEC-730819/><ref name=PD-711125/><ref name=SCS-711108/> |- ! data-sort-value="Chan" | Kenneth Chan | 15 || ? | {{dts|1971|11|07}} | ? || ? | 8th & Geary | style="text-align:left;" | Drive-by shooting | <ref name=SFEC-730819/><ref name=PD-711125/><ref name=SCS-711108>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19711108.1.9 |title=Gang Warfare Cited In Slaying |agency=AP |date=November 8, 1971 |newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel |access-date=23 March 2023}}</ref> |- ! data-sort-value="Hom" | Allen Hom | 22 || Yau Lai | {{dts|1971|11|19}} | ? || Suey Sing | San Francisco Bay (near Hayward) | style="text-align:left;" | aka "The Monster". Strangled and hogtied, same rope as Lee. | <ref name=SFEC-730819/><ref name=PD-711125>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SRPD19711125.1.11 |title=5 Chinese Dead In SF Gang War |agency=UPI |date=November 25, 1971 |newspaper=Press-Democrat |access-date=23 March 2023}}</ref> |- ! data-sort-value="Lee" | James Lee | 22 || Yau Lai | {{dts|1971|11|20}} | ? || Suey Sing | SF Bay (near Redwood City) | style="text-align:left;" | Strangled and hogtied, same rope as Hom. | <ref name=SFEC-730819/><ref name=PD-711125/> |- ! data-sort-value="Quan" | Harry Quan | 14 || Wah Ching | {{dts|1972|03|09}} | David Wong || Chung Ching Yee | 851 Stockton | style="text-align:left;" | aka Harry Kwan. shot in front of the Police Athletic League. | <ref name=SFEC-730819/> |- ! data-sort-value="Ng" | Harry Ng | 60 || Wah Ching | {{dts|1972|03|13}} | David Wong || Chung Ching Yee | 1230 Powell | style="text-align:left;" | aka "The Professor". Called the "Fagin" of the Chinese underworld, served as Wah Ching mentor. | <ref name=SFEC-730819/><ref name=SCS-720628/> |- ! data-sort-value="Leong" | Poole Leong | 22 || Wah Ching | {{dts|1972|06|14}} | data-sort-value="Lee" | Richard Lee || Joe Boys | 895 Pacific | style="text-align:left;" | aka Poole Yit Leong | <ref name=SFEC-730819/><ref name=SCS-720628/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19720614.1.24 |title=Chinatown Gang War Continues |agency=AP |date=June 14, 1972 |newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref> |- ! data-sort-value="Fong-Torres" | Barry Fong-Torres | 29 || – | {{dts|1972|06|26}} | ? || ? | 1434 16th Ave | style="text-align:left;" | Brother of Ben Fong-Torres. Youth worker who reputedly "knew too much", according to police. | <ref name=SFEC-730819/><ref name=SCS-720628>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19720628.1.8 |title=Gang Slayings In Chinatown Reminiscent Of Chicago |agency=AP |date=June 28, 1972 |newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19720628.1.15 |title=Chinese Thugs Spread Terror In Chinatown |author=Olson, Lynne |agency=AP |date=June 28, 1972 |newspaper=San Bernardino Sun |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19720630.1.15 |title=Chinatown Gang War Probed |agency=AP |date=June 30, 1972 |newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref> |- ! data-sort-value="Hackney" | William Hackney | 41 || None | {{dts|1973|03|23}} | ? || ? | Geary & Arguello | style="text-align:left;" | Probable innocent victim. | <ref name=SFEC-730819/> |- ! data-sort-value="Wong" | Anton Wong | 24 || Wah Ching | {{dts|1973|05|24}} | data-sort-value="Fong" | Chung Wai Fong || Joe Boys | Powell & Jackson | style="text-align:left;" | Wong was the leader of the Wah Ching; Fong was the younger brother of Joe Fong. | <ref name=SFEC-730819/><ref name=SCS-730605>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19730605.1.11 |title=Alioto Orders Police To Halt Gangland Wars In Chinatown |agency=AP |date=June 5, 1973 |newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref> |- ! data-sort-value="Tak" | Yip Yee Tak | 32 || ? | {{dts|1973|06|03}} | ? || ? | Pacific & Grant | style="text-align:left;" | Chol Soo Lee was initially convicted for the murder of Tak, an advisor. | <ref name=SFEC-730819/><ref name=SCS-730605/> |- ! data-sort-value="Fung" | Wayne Fung | 19 || Wah Ching | {{dts|1973|08|12}} | ? || Joe Boys | 19th & Irving | style="text-align:left;" | | <ref name=SFEC-730819/> |- ! data-sort-value="Hoo" |William N. Hoo | 40 || Joe Boys | {{dts|1973|08|17}} | ? || Wah Ching | Auburn Alley | style="text-align:left;" | Advisor to Joe Boys. | <ref name=SFEC-730819/> |- ! data-sort-value="Fong, Gene" | Gene Fong | 26 || Chung Ching Yee | {{dts|1974|04|29}} | ? || Wah Ching | Stockton & Pacific | style="text-align:left;" | Older brother of Joe Fong | <ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19740430.1.6 |title=Gang Leader's Brother Slain |agency=AP |date=April 30, 1974 |newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref> |- ! data-sort-value="Louie, Lincoln" | Lincoln Louie | 15 || Joe Boys | {{dts|1974|05|04}} | Michael "Hot Dog" Louie || Wah Ching | Crocker & Bellevue, Daly City | style="text-align:left;" | 8 arrested for torture-murder, including Michael "Hot Dog" Louie | <ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19740506.1.11 |title=8 Youths Held In S.F. Gang Killing |agency=AP |date=May 6, 1974 |newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/san-mateo-times-may-06-1974-p-1/ |url-access=subscription |title=8 Youths Jailed In D.C. Slaying |date=May 6, 1974 |newspaper=The Times |location=San Mateo |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19740621.1.11 |title=Gang wars erupt in Chinatown |agency=UPI |date=June 21, 1974 |newspaper=San Bernardino Sun |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref> |- ! data-sort-value="Louie, Kin" | Kin Chuen Louie | 20 || Wah Ching | {{dts|1977|05|31}} | ? || ? | Green & Kearny | style="text-align:left;" | Michael McClure wrote a poem entitled ''The Death of Kin Chuen Louie'' | <ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19770601.1.43 |title=Youth Is Slain Trying To Flee His Assailant |agency=AP |date=June 1, 1977 |newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref> |- ! data-sort-value="Huie" | Felix Huie | 17 || Joe Boys | {{dts|1977|07|04}} | ? || ? | Ping Yuen | style="text-align:left;" | aka "Tiger"; shot during fireworks sales at Ping Yuen | <ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SCS19780504.1.6 |title=Tape Details Planning For Chinatown Raid |date=May 4, 1978 |newspaper=Santa Cruz Sentinel |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref> |- ! data-sort-value="Lee, Michael" | Michael Lee | 18 || Joe Boys | {{dts|1977|09|11}} | ? || ? | Richmond District | style="text-align:left;" | | <ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19770912.1.1 |title=Two shot in gang reprisal |agency=AP |date=September 12, 1977 |newspaper=San Bernardino Sun |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref> |}

==Identification== The gang can also be identified by its numbers '''1028''', J=10, B=2, S=8. They adopted grey and black as their main colors for clothing. They may use the color navy blue.

==Prominent members== Author Bill Lee, an author and a former gang affiliate, wrote extensively of the life involvement in the Chinese criminal underworld and the gang's history in his book ''Chinese Playground: A Memoir''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Fallout-From-Gang-Life-Memoir-Ex-member-says-he-2937319.php |title=Fallout From Gang Life Memoir / Ex-member says he was threatened at book-signing of 'Chinese Playground' |author=Wallace, Bill |date=April 10, 1999 |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=7 April 2020}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOa85RJZ3hk (JBS 1028 Gang) History in San Francisco California] * [http://www.chineseplayground.com/sample.html Chineseplayground.com] * [http://www.brockmorris.com/btigers/index.html Brockmorris.com] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=CWg1Efv5C5UC&pg=PA217&dq=%22joe+fong%22&sig=qkb7HQRhAUKURECMhBfdvzTLAZg#PPA217,M1 Handbook of Organized Crime in the United States] * [https://sfnewspaperman.blogspot.com/2009/11/chinatown-murders.html NEWSPAPERMAN The Chinatown Murders]

{{Organized crime groups in the United States}}

Category:Chinese-American gangs Category:Gangs in San Francisco Category:Chinatown, San Francisco