Crime Writers On...True Crime Review The Chinatown Sting
Nov 10, 2025
In 1988, DEA agents uncovered a heroin smuggling scheme linked to Chinatown through an unsuspecting young mother, Tina Wong. The podcast delves into the recruitment of women in mahjong parlors for drug trafficking. Listeners learn about the cultural challenges in 1980s Chinese neighborhoods and the consequences of youth gang involvement. Key figures share their untold stories, while the hosts explore themes of justice, the historical impact of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and how modern ICE may alter cooperation in similar cases.
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Young Mother Recruited To Receive Packages
- Tina Wong described being paid by a high school friend to receive heroin packages and pass them to a gang in Chinatown.
- That ordinary-seeming role pulled her into a massive trafficking case and later pressured her to cooperate with prosecutors.
Immigration Enforcement Changes Witness Calculus
- Laura Bricker argued the story felt more relevant if it foregrounded how modern deportation and ICE activity would deter cooperating witnesses today.
- She suggested the case would likely fail to produce courtroom cooperation in today's climate because witnesses fear immediate deportation.
Why This Case? Access Shapes Story Choice
- Rebecca Lavoie questioned 'why this case' and criticized the podcast as access-driven because the judge-prosecutor's family connection unlocked archival materials.
- She felt the show lacked a broader thematic reason for retelling this decades-old case.
