Shooter in Chinese Organized Crime Murders Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 30 Years in Prison

February 23, 2010 - PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that PAUL CAI, a/k/a "Arthur Tsoi," a member of a Chinese organized crime group, was sentenced today to 360 months in prison for shooting two individuals in Toronto, Canada, on July 20, 1994, in connection with the group's heroin trafficking activities. CAI pleaded guilty to two counts of murder on July 16, 2007, before United States District Judge DEBORAH A. BATTS, who also imposed the sentence today in Manhattan federal court. FRANK MA, the leader of the organization, was sentenced to life in prison by Judge BATTS on February 8, 2010. BING YI CHEN, a/k/a "Ah Ngai," the lieutenant of MA's criminal enterprise who helped plan the murders, was sentenced to 35 years in prison by Judge BATTS on January 4, 2010.

According to the Superseding Indictment in this case, the evidence at the trial of BING YI CHEN, and CAI's guilty plea allocution:

From 1991 through 1996, the Frank Ma Organization was 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, including CAI, 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 CAI and the rest of the hit team. 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 $2,000 for their trip.

On July 20, 1994, PAUL CAI and one other member of the 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 was involved in narcotics trafficking, and neither was the intended victim.

The convictions of MA, 57, CHEN, 42, and CAI, 35, were the result of 10 years of investigative work into the MA organization, which has, to date, resulted in 13 convictions.

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.