Maybe political embarrassment
comes in threes? Oh who am I kidding? As if politicians feel
embarrassment.
Anyway, a third Democratic state senator in California in recent
months has been charged with crimes. Leland Yee, who represents the
San Francisco area in the state Senate, and is running for
Secretary of State, has been indicted for public corruption as part
of a massive Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) operation in the
city.
Details are still sketchy, as there’s a series of raids going on
in the area today connected this investigation. The San Jose
Mercury News
notes that Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, a well-known gangster in
the city, was also caught up in the raids. They provide his
background:
Federal law enforcement officials have been chasing Raymond
“Shrimp Boy” Chow for decades, branding him one of the longtime Bay
Area leaders of a Hong Kong-based criminal syndicate called the Wo
Hop To. Chow’s criminal rap sheet dates back to 1978, and includes
multiple federal racketeering indictments that have included
allegations of attempted murder, murder-for-hire, gun trafficking
and other crimes.Chow was originally indicted in a federal racketeering probe
that targeted the alleged leader of the Chinatown gang, Peter
Chong. At one point, Chow cooperated with federal law enforcement
officials against Chong, who had fled to Hong Kong after being
indicted on racketeering charges but was later extradited and
eventually convicted in San Francisco federal court in a case
marred by setbacks and delays. Chow’s original 1995 sentence of 24
years was lessened to 11 years as a result of his cooperation, and
he has been out of prison for the past 10 years.
That Yee might possibly be connected to organized crime drew the
eye of tech site ArsTechnica and other gaming sites. Lee, it turns
out, was a major force behind the law to criminalize the sale of
violent video games to children, a law that was ultimately struck
down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional in 2011. The site
notes
some of Yee’s quotes on protecting children from pretend
gangsters and animated violence:
Through it all, Yee remained a staunch defender of the idea that
the state should aid parents in making violent games harder for
children to access. He has given numerous statements over the years
to that effect. “Plain and simply, the current rating system is
drastically flawed, and here is yet another reason why we need
legislation to assist parents and protect children,” Yee told
GameIndustry.biz in 2006. “This is the same technology the armed
forces use to help soldiers kill the enemy. All we’re saying is,
‘Don’t sell it to kids,'” he told The San Jose
Mercury News in 2008. “When you fight the good fight for a
cause you know is right and just, and it’s about protecting kids,
you don’t ever regret that,” Yee told The Sacramento Bee
in 2012.
Since we don’t know what Yee’s accused of, I don’t want to rush
to directly connect him to Chow. If the FBI does accuse him of
having a direct connection to Chow as part of this corruption
indictment, we can look forward with how a game like Grand
Theft Auto might take advantage of this apparent hypocrisy.
For those keeping score, the other two California state senators
(both Democrats) caught up in current crime scandals are Ron
Calderon, accused of taking bribes to pushing certain legislation,
and
Rod Wright, who was convicted of perjury for lying about living
in his district.
Outside of California, Patrick Cannon, the mayor of Charlotte,
N.C., (also a Democrat) was
arrested today for allegedly taking bribes.
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