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Lengthy article, rbbm.
A wave of gang violence | Maclean's | APRIL 8, 1985
April 8 1985 Kerry Banks
''Probably only the killers know who murdered Jimmy and Lilly Ming, but there was a flurry of disturbing rumors after police discovered their dismembered bodies stuffed into canvas sacks on a lonely stretch of the Squamish Highway north of Vancouver last month. The Vancouver Sun, citing “anonymous sources in the Chinese community,” linked the murders with a Vietnamese youth gang. Then, Vancouver Mayor Michael Harcourt declared on television that the murderers were “Vietnamese thugs of Chinese extraction” and “public enemy number 1.” That led to emotional denunciations of the mayor and the media by members of Vancouver’s Vietnamese community, which police supported by denying the existence of evidence implicating the gangs. To quell the rumors, police refused further comment. Still, it has focused attention on the growing incidence of gang violence in the city’s normally peaceful Asian community. Jimmy Ming, 29, and his 30-year-old
wife were the victims of a bungled kidnapping and extortion scheme designed to extract a $700,000 ransom from his father, Ping Chang Ming, a Vancouver restaurant owner. And despite their caution, police are clearly taking extraordinary measures in their investigation of the crime. Eight city detectives are working on the case full time, aided by four members of the Squamish RCMP. The police have also posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the murderers, matched by another $10,000 from the Chinese Benevolent Association of Canada.
Last fall Vancouver police launched a crackdown on the gangs, which resulted in 29 charges. And before the recent press embargo they revealed that there are as many as eight different gangs in the city, with a total of about 100 members. Police spokesmen have implicated the gangs—the names include the Red Eagles, Lotus and Viet Ching—in extortion, gambling and drug importing. Depending on the gang they belong to, members are either ethnic Chinese, ethnic Vietnamese or Vietnamese of Chinese
extraction. Aged between 14 and 25, their common gathering places are pool halls, nightclubs and restaurants in Vancouver’s east end. And although most of their activities are restricted to the boundaries of Vancouver’s Oriental community, police said that they also maintain ties with other Asian gangs in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, San Francisco and Hong Kong.''
A wave of gang violence | Maclean's | APRIL 8, 1985
April 8 1985 Kerry Banks
''Probably only the killers know who murdered Jimmy and Lilly Ming, but there was a flurry of disturbing rumors after police discovered their dismembered bodies stuffed into canvas sacks on a lonely stretch of the Squamish Highway north of Vancouver last month. The Vancouver Sun, citing “anonymous sources in the Chinese community,” linked the murders with a Vietnamese youth gang. Then, Vancouver Mayor Michael Harcourt declared on television that the murderers were “Vietnamese thugs of Chinese extraction” and “public enemy number 1.” That led to emotional denunciations of the mayor and the media by members of Vancouver’s Vietnamese community, which police supported by denying the existence of evidence implicating the gangs. To quell the rumors, police refused further comment. Still, it has focused attention on the growing incidence of gang violence in the city’s normally peaceful Asian community. Jimmy Ming, 29, and his 30-year-old
wife were the victims of a bungled kidnapping and extortion scheme designed to extract a $700,000 ransom from his father, Ping Chang Ming, a Vancouver restaurant owner. And despite their caution, police are clearly taking extraordinary measures in their investigation of the crime. Eight city detectives are working on the case full time, aided by four members of the Squamish RCMP. The police have also posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the murderers, matched by another $10,000 from the Chinese Benevolent Association of Canada.
Last fall Vancouver police launched a crackdown on the gangs, which resulted in 29 charges. And before the recent press embargo they revealed that there are as many as eight different gangs in the city, with a total of about 100 members. Police spokesmen have implicated the gangs—the names include the Red Eagles, Lotus and Viet Ching—in extortion, gambling and drug importing. Depending on the gang they belong to, members are either ethnic Chinese, ethnic Vietnamese or Vietnamese of Chinese
extraction. Aged between 14 and 25, their common gathering places are pool halls, nightclubs and restaurants in Vancouver’s east end. And although most of their activities are restricted to the boundaries of Vancouver’s Oriental community, police said that they also maintain ties with other Asian gangs in Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, San Francisco and Hong Kong.''
