Enter the Dragon Head

Chow insists that, as bad as he was, he only extorted from gambling dens and other illegal operations and not legitimate businesses. But he says he was sent to San Quentin State Prison at 18 after robbing law-abiding engineers at a party. As Chow tells the story, he'd been led to believe beforehand that he would be holding up a shady parlor. When he got to the party, he realized his error, but because his gun was "already drawn" he went ahead with the robbery. He was released after nearly eight years behind bars, but soon got into a fight and shootout with rival gang members. He served another three-year sentence and was released in the late 1980s.

Chow was, by all accounts, a very dedicated soldier who devoted his days to various criminal schemes. "After following him, he did nothing else but," said retired FBI Special Agent Joe Davidson, who helped do surveillance on Chow for several months when he was with Wo Hop To. "When the wire was up, that's all he did."

And the two men grew extremely close — Chow introduced Chong as "uncle to us all" when his boss led a toast at his wedding.

Together, Chow and Chong were rumored to be trying to unite triads under the umbrella of a global empire to be called the Tien Ha Wui, or "Whole Earth Association." As it grew, their Wo Hop To employed a level of sophistication FBI agents have compared to the mafia. They are believed to have gone beyond extortion and loan-sharking to arms dealing, the international heroin trade, and underage prostitution — not to mention orchestrating an arson attempt on one of Chong's properties.

When the pair and their associates got busted in the early 1990s, Chow landed in federal court facing a litany of charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a federal law providing extended penalties for those involved in criminal organizations. Chong, who was also indicted on numerous charges, skipped town and fled to Hong Kong.

Shrimp Boy says he didn't resent the fact that Chong fled, leaving him behind to catch all the heat. But he felt Chong betrayed him by trying to "have his boys pin everything" on Chow. A federal judge sentenced Chow to more than 20 years in prison for gun charges.

But nearly a decade later, Shrimp Boy got his revenge on his former criminal mentor. After Chong was extradited from Hong Kong to face charges in 2000, Chow agreed to testify against him about everything from an alleged murder-for-hire plot of a rival Boston gang leader to the Wo Hop To's involvement in the international heroin trade.

Even though words like "honor" and "loyalty" come up in nearly every conversation with Chow, he says it wasn't a hard decision to dish dirt on his former "uncle." He says he believes it was Chong who stabbed him in the back by using their former underlings against him. "I don't do people wrong," he says.

He proved to be the prosecution's star witness, even though his braggadocio on the witness stand raised eyebrows. According to court documents, at one point Chow said: "If you're asking me which gang did I join, I did not join any gang. I owned the gang. ... All those people who were walking the streets of the Bay Area, all them were controlled by me."

Chong's defense has portrayed Chow as a career criminal willing to lie in court to avoid serving his time in prison. Lawyers for Chong filed a brief appealing his conviction in April 2004, accusing Chow of "obvious fabrication" and a "ludicrous attempt" to suggest Chong launched a murder for hire. "He has admitted longtime involvement in prostitution activities, and at the time of his arrest in 1992, owned a brothel in Pacifica staffed by girls as young as 13 or 14," the brief says of Chow.

In exchange for his testimony, Chow was offered a reduced sentence.

Some law enforcement officials at the time of Chow's release warned that the government was making a big mistake by sending a dangerous criminal back into the community.

However, retired Special Agent Davidson says he believes Chow "did a good job" in court testifying against his former boss — adding that he had already served 11 years in prison.

Davidson, who served on the organized crime squad and was based in San Francisco from 1980 until he retired in 2005, knows firsthand that Chow was no angel. Still, he thinks the feds did the right thing by making a deal with Chow. "If you're going to catch the devil, you gotta go to hell," Davidson said. "You gotta deal with demons to get the head demon. You're not going to deal with priests, or with schoolteachers."