Ever wonder how it is that the gamblers at the all-night Oaks Card Club in Emeryville never seem to run out of money or energy?
According to a federal indictment, it’s because there’s a gang of alleged criminals who hang out in the card room, selling methamphetamine and
A federal grand jury indicted 15 individuals Thursday for loansharking, drug dealing and racketeering at Oaks Card Club and Artichoke Joe’s Casino in San Bruno, both card rooms with long histories in the Bay Area. The indictment was released by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.
Cuong Mach Binh Tieu, Lap The Chung, Bob Yuen, Ding Lin, Skyler Chang, Chea Bou, May Chung and Hung Tieu allegedly ran the criminal enterprise, hanging out in card rooms, dealing drugs or loansharking.
Four employees of the clubs were also charged with loansharking and working with the gang: Thanh The Chu, Kwai Ping Wong, John Hinyu Chew and Bao Tran. May Chung and Chea Bou, two of the alleged gangsters, were also employees.
Federal, state and local law enforcement agents descended en masse on the card rooms Wednesday. During the raids, agents found hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and thousands more in poker chips, along with jewelry, drugs and numerous firearms.
The indictment describes how May Chung, a chip runner at the Oaks Card Club, and Chea Bou, a card dealer, worked with the loansharks to give “extortionate and illegal loans” in gambling chips to card players who had run out of cash. A typical loan would be anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000, at an interest rate of 10 percent per week. Loans could be paid back at either casino.
“The loansharks used threats and their reputation for violence to ensure repayment of the loans,” the indictment alleges, although it doesn’t cite any specific violent incidents.
Meth and Ecstasy were sold at both casinos. The gang allegedly kept money in “satellite drawers in the Asian gaming section of the casinos,” mixing profits from drug dealing and loansharking with legitimate casino funds.
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