Introducing THE CHINATOWN STING

Infamous America

Black Barrel Media

True Crime, Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.5 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Here’s a preview of a new podcast, The Chinatown Sting from our friends at Pushkin Industries. In the late 1980s, a group of women connected through the mahjong parlors in Manhattan’s Chinatown were caught in a massive undercover drug bust. But this bust was just the beginning of an even bigger case. Host Lidia Jean Kott and co-reporter Shuyu Wang interview sources who’ve never spoken on record before, including witnesses, defendants, and federal prosecutors, to reconstruct a case that still has repercussions today. In this episode, we meet Tina Wong, a young mother who found herself in the middle of the operation with two choices—go to prison, or risk her life to bring down the man at the helm. Listen to The Chinatown Sting wherever you get podcasts and binge the entire season, ad-free with a Pushkin+ subscription. Sign up on the Apple Podcasts show page or at pushkin.fm/plus Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone, Chris here. As an infamous America listener, chances are you're drawn to crime stories which reveal lesser-known parts of American history and the collateral damage that comes from
0:21.6	the inner workings of the criminal underworld. The show I'm about to share with you does exactly
0:26.2	that. There are lots of stories out there about well-known gangsters and mobsters. We've told many
0:31.2	of their stories on this show, but there are surprisingly few stories told about the powerful gangs
0:36.7	who ruled Manhattan's Chinatown in the
0:39.2	1980s. On Chinatown Sting, host Lydia Jean Cott and co-reporter Shiu-view
0:45.7	interview sources who've never spoken on the record to reconstruct a years-long effort to
0:51.2	bring down one of the most powerful gangs in Chinatown, no matter the cost.
0:56.1	In the late 1980s, federal authorities received a tip that billions of dollars worth of heroin
1:01.7	was being mailed to New York City inside boxes filled with tea. The investigation would uncover
1:07.9	a network of drug smugglers who used women who were recruited
1:11.5	at Ma Zhang parlors in Chinatown.
1:14.4	Women like Tina Wong.
1:16.3	Tina was a young mother who was asked to accept some packages in the mail.
1:20.2	She'd be paid for it.
1:21.7	When the feds were tipped off to her involvement, Tina had two choices.
1:26.0	Spend years in prison or risk her life to help the government bring down
1:30.3	the man at the helm, one of New York's most notorious gangsters, Johnny Ang, aka Machine Gun Johnny.
1:38.0	Here's a full episode preview of the Chinatown Sting. I hope you enjoy it. And if you do,
1:43.5	find the Chinatown Sting wherever you get you enjoy it. And if you do, find the Chinatown Sting wherever you get your
1:46.1	podcast. If you want to binge the entire season early and ad free, join Pushkin Plus.
1:52.5	Subscribe on the Chinatown Sting show page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin.fm slash plus.
	...

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