Born to Kill (gang)
Founded | 1988 |
---|---|
Founding location | counterfeiting, contract killing, extortion, racketeering, prostitution, money laundering, robbery, fraud and murder |
Rivals | Ghost Shadows, Flying Dragons, |
Born to Kill, also known as BTK or Canal Boys, was a
History
The gang that would be known throughout
During the mid- to late eighties, many Vietnamese youths began arriving in New York City, and many of them, being ostracized by the Chinatown community, were homeless and lived on the fringes of the community. Using his newfound wealth, David Thai began to assist these street youths by freely offering them advice, money and a place to stay, causing many of them to feel indebted to Thai and follow him, forming the beginnings of the gang.
In late 1987, law enforcement had cracked down on and weakened several of Chinatown's established gangs. The previous year, twenty-one members of the Ghost Shadows were arrested on racketeering charges. A few months later, eight members of the United Bamboo gang were arrested on similar charges, weakening Chinatown's traditional gang structure even further. With his watch business in place, Thai seized on the occasion by taking control of Canal Street, which would later become the gang's main base of operations.[1][2] Using the profits from the watch enterprise, David Thai organized a meeting between him and several high-ranking members of a Vietnamese street gang that called themselves the "Canal Boys", but the gang's name would later be established as "Born to Kill" in 1988. The phrase Born to Kill was adopted from the slogan that U.S. helicopters and soldiers had on their helmets during the Vietnam War.
During the late eighties, as the Born to Kill gang began to attract publicity and notoriety in Manhattan's Chinatown due to their criminal audacity, many smaller groups of organized Vietnamese criminals began to adopt the gang's name. This made Born to Kill a confederation of gangs, which allowed it to expand its criminal operations, exploits and territory into other cities, states, and countries such as Canada. While many these smaller gangs that had adopted the BTK's name were directly associated with the gang, other groups were not directly affiliated with the BTK, although they were identified as such by the media and some police jurisdictions.
Most of the gang's members were Vietnamese youths who were sent out of their country a few years after the Saigon government had collapsed, in which afterwards they then spent months or years in refugee camps before being put into foster families. These youths then left their foster families and banded together, forming the nucleus of what would become the Born to Kill gang. During the gang's reign of Chinatown from the late eighties and early nineties, the Pho Hanoi restaurant located in the gang's turf on Canal Street served as an informal headquarters and meeting grounds for the gang. The gang's prowess is often attributed to the chaotic environment of guns and drugs in Vietnam.[1] Born to Kill challenged the authority of established Chinatown gangs.[3] While identified by some as predominantly Vietnamese, Born to Kill consisted of New York native Vietnamese as well as immigrants new to the tri-state area. David Thai and his operations birthed the Canal Street counterfeit market and made it a worldwide tourist visit location for bootlegged items.[3][4]
Activities
Starting out as enforcers for
The gang's leader, David Thai, was infamous for operating a multimillion-dollar counterfeit watch business, and he would later go on to claim to have made $13 million from selling counterfeit watches in 1988 alone. David Thai was also known for running a large brothel, where he imported many Southeast Asian women to serve as
Peak activity
Gang members were predominantly in their teens and 20s, although they ranged from fifteen to thirty-five,[7] and were known to target restaurant owners, storekeepers and merchants along Canal Street.[8][9] Some members were recruited from areas near the Bronx High School of Science.[10]
In July 1990 there were believed to be as many as 80 active members in New York City[4] and by October 1992, when their activities in Chinatown had diminished significantly, there were still factions of the gang remaining and operating in the state of Georgia and Canada. Peak numbers in New York may have ranged as high as 100, with chapters of the gang operating in New Jersey, California and Texas.[5] Gang members were tattooed with the initials B.T.K, a coffin and three candles, signifying no fear of dying.[11] Born to Kill members were also well known to have fashioned themselves after gangster movies, donning dark sunglasses and black suits along with spiked hair.[5]
Outside New York
The gang's spread was most prevalent in areas with an established Vietnamese presence, including smaller cities such as
One of the areas where the gang was most active was
Decline
In August 1991, the gang's founder and leader, David Thai, was arrested along with several other top-tier members of the Born to Kill gang at one of the gang's safe havens in
References
- ^ ISBN 0-688-12238-8.
- ^ David Chanoff (1995-01-30). "BOOK WORLD". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2016-06-10. Retrieved 2016-05-08.
- ^ a b Donatella Lorch (1990-07-30). "Mourners Returned Fire, Police Say". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ a b Constance L. Hays (1990-07-31). "Chinatown's Old Gangs Give Way to Violence and Fear". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ a b c Steven Lee Myers (1992-10-24). "Life Sentence for Scourge of Chinatown". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ISBN 9780470835005.
- ^ a b Seth Faison Jr. (1991-08-13). "Raiders Seize 10 as Leaders of 'Kill' Gang". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ Constance L. Hays (1991-09-29). "10 Members of Violent Vietnamese Gang Indicted". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ John Kifner (1991-01-06). "Asian Gangs in New York". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ Donatella Lorch (1991-01-06). "'Hong Kong Boy': A College Student, and a Ghost Shadow". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ISBN 1-56025-425-4.
- ^ Brad Branan (1998-06-30). "Vietnamese Gangs on the Rise in Biloxi". The Sun Herald. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ Dai Huyn (1993-07-19). "Horror Walks in the Door". Fort-Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ Ken McLaughlin (1993-10-07). "Vietnamese Gangs Now Profit from Gun Sales, California Police Say". The Knight Ridder Tribune. Archived from the original on 2012-10-20. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ "10 in Notorious Asian Gang are Indicted". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 1991-09-27. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ "Alleged Gang Members Indicted". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 1996-12-13. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ James Dao (1992-04-01). "Asian Street Gangs Emerging as New Underworld". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2009-02-21. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ISBN 9781452281896. Retrieved 2015-10-30.