Cheating ring took $2 million from casinos

Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

FBI agents today are searching for the reputed mastermind of an international cheating ring that bilked casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere out of more than $2 million.

Wai Sang Fung of Oakland, Calif., known as "Big Brother," was among 17 people charged in a six-count racketeering indictment unsealed in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

The indictment was part of a continuing federal, state and local crackdown on Asian organized crime groups operating locally.

Eight of the 17 defendants -- including two in Las Vegas -- were arrested Tuesday on both coasts.

Taken into custody were: La Chau Ng, 40, and Kwong On Wong, 41, in Las Vegas; Julie Wong, 40, in Los Angeles; Tin Sung Lam, 73, in San Francisco; Ing Ting Chan, 33, Jun Huai Ma, 26, and Xiu Lan Zhou, 36, in New York; and Jing Bing Liang, 35, in Davenport, Iowa.

U.S. Magistrate Robert McQuaid Jr. released Ng on his own recognizance but delayed Wong's initial appearance until today so that an interpreter could be brought to court. Ng will be arraigned next week.

The 36-page indictment alleged that the ring conspired to cheat casinos in Las Vegas, Reno, Lake Tahoe, Atlantic City and Windsor, Ontario, out of more than $2 million from 1994 to 1999.

U.S. Attorney Kathryn Landreth said the group also was charged with conspiring to launder more than $2 million in proceeds during that period at four Las Vegas casinos: MGM Grand, Rio, Riviera and Gold Coast.

The arrests were the result of a five-year investigation conducted jointly by the FBI, state Gaming Control Board and Nevada Division of Investigations.

It was the second bust within the past six weeks of an Asian organized criminal enterprise.

On Sept. 8 FBI agents and Metro Police arrested five people in Las Vegas in a nationwide prostitution smuggling operation. Search warrants in that two-year investigation, dubbed "Operation Jade Blade," were executed in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York and Minneapolis.

The 36-page indictment charged the latest group with staging elaborate and well-organized cheating schemes at blackjack and baccarat tables.

"Members of the enterprise and their associates developed strategies and schemes for cheating various casino card games, which they practiced and taught to each other in order to maximize their winnings from the enterprise's surreptitious cheating activities," the indictment said.

"The methods employed varied depending on the particular game and the rules of each particular casino. However, they were generally designed to give the conspirators an advantage over the house based on the conspirators' knowing the value of certain cards before they were put into play."

Ring members either would mark or manipulate cards so they would know their value when playing, the indictment said.

"By knowing the value of certain cards, the conspirators could make educated bets, which resulted in an illegal statistical advantage to the conspirators," the indictment said.

"Moreover, the conspirators would often take over an entire gaming table, and depending on the nature of the cheating scheme, bet in patterns so that all of the conspirators at the table benefited from the illegal advantage acquired through the cheat."

The indictment described Fung as the "master of the cheats," who trained fellow ring members and taught them how to communicate with codes when pulling off a scam to avoid detection by casino employees.

Fung would assign members to a particular cheat and distribute the proceeds afterward, the indictment said.

The ring also employed runners to cash chips obtained during the cheats and lookouts to watch for security.

"Additionally, certain conspirators were responsible for distracting or obstructing the view of the dealer at a precise point of play during the cheat," the indictment said.

"These conspirators would typically buy in, throw chips onto the table or similarly distract the dealer or lean over the table and place themselves in positions to prevent the dealer from observing another conspirator marking or manipulating a card."

Other defendants being sought today are: Wen Qiang Chang, 38, of Los Angeles; Coung Vinh Hong, 45, and Thomas Hui, 49, of San Francisco; Ling Kin Chur, 35, Jie Bo Wu, 32, and Liang Tung Chan, 46, of New York; and Tai Chu Yiu Chung, 52, of Venezuela.

Another suspect, Kwok Cheung Chow, 32, is in prison on murder and other unrelated charges in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Sun reporter Jace Radke contributed to this report.