Leader of Chinese Organized Crime Group Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to Life in Prison

February 16, 2010 - PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that SUI MIN MA, a/k/a "Frank Ma," a/k/a "Ma Gor," the leader, or "dai lo," of a Chinese organized crime group, was sentenced today to life in prison for ordering the murder of two individuals in Toronto, Canada, on July 20, 1994, in connection with his group's heroin trafficking activities. MA pleaded guilty to two counts of murder on September 20, 2007, before United States District Judge DEBORAH A. BATTS. Co-defendant BING YI CHEN, a/k/a "Ah Ngai," who, according to the Superseding Indictment, was the lieutenant of MA's criminal enterprise, was sentenced to 35 years in prison by Judge BATTS on January 4, 2010.

According to the Superseding Indictment, the evidence at trial, and MA's guilty plea allocution:

From 1991 through 1996, MA, CHEN, and their associates were engaged in the importation of millions of dollars worth of heroin from Asia into the United States for distribution in New York City. In the summer of 1994, MA's principal heroin supplier in Hong Kong called MA and asked MA to kill his drug partner in Toronto, Canada. MA agreed to arrange the murder as a favor for the supplier and to strengthen their lucrative criminal partnership. As a result, MA summoned several of his followers from Southern California to New York City, briefed them on their mission, provided them with a photograph of and addresses for the intended victim, and then dispatched the hit team to Toronto to carry out the killing.

MA gave CHEN the task of preparing the hit team for the murders. CHEN, a lieutenant in the criminal organization and one of MA's longest-serving followers, traveled to Canada with the leader of the hit team to scout out where the intended victim lived and worked; went with the leader of the hit team to obtain guns for the murder; attempted to smuggle those guns across the Canadian border; and picked up members of the hit team from the airport, giving each of them $2000 for their trip.

On July 20, 1994, two members of MA's hit team shot their way into a business office where the intended victim was supposed to be, and killed KWAN KIN MING and YIP PAK YIN, two office workers. Neither MING nor YIN were involved in narcotics trafficking, and neither was the intended victim.

The convictions of MA, 55, and CHEN, 42, were the result of ten years of investigative work into the MA organization, which has, to date, resulted in 13 convictions.

U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: "Sui Min Ma was the leader of a vicious crime family whose orders led to the brutal deaths of two men for the sake of ingratiating himself with a drug supplier. His gang was a destructive force in New York and California, saturating the streets with heroin and committing numerous acts of violence. We are grateful for the cooperative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the New York City Police Department, and Canadian law enforcement in this important investigation."

Mr. BHARARA praised the efforts of the FBI's Asian Organized Crime Task Force, comprised of Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Detectives of the New York City Police Department, for their work on the investigation. Mr. BHARARA also praised the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, a Toronto-based Asian Organized Crime Task Force, and the Toronto Police Service, for the vital and ongoing assistance they have provided in the investigation.

This case is being prosecuted by the Office's Organized Crime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys JONATHAN B. NEW and MICHAEL M. ROSENSAFT are in charge of the prosecution.