CBS KPIX San Francisco reports that Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow has pleaded not guilty to a new charge of racketeering, which entails committing a series of crimes to promote a corrupt enterprise.
Chow already had 200 criminal counts against him. At his arraignment, Chow was smiling.
Chow’s attorney, Tony Serra, barked, “If you throw enough mud against the wall, maybe some of it will stick… Racketeering is like super-conspiracy. You are allowed to prove predicate acts, which means sometimes you can go into a person’s background. We’ve never denied his background.”
Chow is a Chinatown gangster who was in prison and wore an ankle bracelet imposed by the federal government.
The FBI’s five-year undercover sting that nabbed Chow also included State Senator Leland Yee, who is also facing a new racketeering charge to add to the public corruption and gun-running charges already filed against him, and former San Francisco School Board president Keith Jackson, who is accused of masterminding some of the corruption. Jackson and Yee are free on bond; Chow is not.
Serra blustered of his client, “He’s gonna testify. We’re not going to hide behind any Fifth Amendment.” He stated that Chow would never become a government witness and turn against his cohorts.
In addition to Chow, Lee, and Jackson, there are 26 other defendants charged in the case.