The Ghost Shadows are a Chinese American

Chinese American

Chinese Americans represent Americans of Chinese descent. Chinese Americans constitute one group of overseas Chinese and also a subgroup of East Asian Americans, which is further a subgroup of Asian Americans...

 gang

Gang

A gang is a group of people who, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation. In early usage, the word gang referred to a group of workmen...

 that was prominent in New York City's Chinatown

Chinatown

A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...

 from the 1980s through the early 1990s.
Formed in 1971 by immigrants from Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

, Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 and Malaysia, the gang is believed to be under control of the On Leong Tong

On Leong Tong

The On Leong Chinese Merchants Association or simply Chinese Merchants Association, formerly known as the On Leong Tong , was a tong society operating out of its territory in Mott Street in New York's Chinatown. Established in November, 1893, the tong fought a violent war for control of...

. The gang was often engaged in bloody turf wars with other Chinatown gangs such as the Flying Dragons, and their activities included extortion

Extortion

Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...

, kidnapping

Kidnapping

In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

, murder

Murder

Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...

, racketeering, drug trafficking and illegal gambling. The Ghost Shadows' influence was widespread, having links to Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, New Orleans, Houston and Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 as well as links to Italian-American Mafia families.

The gang suffered some heavy blows in 1995. Boss Wing Yeung Chan was indicted on murder and racketeering charges and secretly began cooperating with the authorities.

In November 2003, rapper Jin

Jin (rapper)

Jin Au-Yeung , who performs under the stage name MC Jin, is a Hong Kong hip hop rapper, songwriter, and actor. Growing up in the Miami, Florida area, and later living in New York City, he decided to reside permanently in his motherland, Hong Kong...

 was in involved in an argument with another aspiring rapper named Raymond Yu, who was a gang member linked with the Ghost Shadows street gang, this led to the shooting of Jin's friend Christopher Louie who is also known as LS.

Wing Yeung Chan

Chan Wing Yeung or Wing Yeung Chan (born January 6, 1945) is a Chinese-American mobster affiliated with the On Leong Merchant's Association and the Ghost Shadows of New York's Chinatown

Chinatown, Manhattan

Manhattan's Chinatown , home to one of the highest concentrations of Chinese people in the Western hemisphere, is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City...

. His criminal record includes a conviction for possession of a gambling device and promoting gambling on December 16, 1985, and a conviction for promoting gambling on February 13, 1987. As of 2006, he is on the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General Exclusion list with other mobsters such as Salvatore Gravano after officially listed on December 17, 1992.

Robin Chee

Robin Chee has been publicly identified as being a leader of the Ghost Shadows street gang, which is headquartered in the New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 area. The Ghost Shadows street gang has been found to have engaged in such activities as drug trafficking, extortion and robbery. In addition, the Ghost Shadows street gang allegedly is affiliated with the On Leong Chinese Merchants Association which, although legitimate in part, has been found by authorities to be a significant criminally influenced tong engaged in various illegal activities including, among other matter and illegal gambling.