Golden Dragon massacre | |
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1993 photo of Golden Dragon Restaurant.
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Location | 816 Washington Street, San Francisco, California, United States |
Date | Sunday, September 4, 1977 02:40 a.m. (PST) |
Attack type
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Mass murder, massacre, gang-shooting |
Weapons |
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Deaths | 5 |
Non-fatal injuries
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11 |
Perpetrators | Peter Ng Curtis Tam Chester Yu Melvin Yu Tom Yu |
Motive | Rivalry between Joe Boys and Wah Ching gangs |
The Golden Dragon massacre (traditional Chinese: 金龍酒樓大屠殺; simplified Chinese: 金龙酒楼大屠杀; pinyin: Jīnlóngdàtúshā; Jyutping: Gam1lung4daai6tou4saat3) was a gang-related shooting attack that took place on September 4, 1977 inside the Golden Dragon Restaurant, located at 816 Washington Street in Chinatown, San Francisco, California. The five perpetrators, members of the Joe Boys, a Chinese youth gang, were attempting to kill members of the Wah Ching, a rival Chinatown gang. The attack left five people dead and 11 others injured, none of whom was a gang member. The perpetrators were later convicted and sentenced in connection with the murders.
The attack was motivated by a longstanding feud between two rival Chinatown gangs, the Joe Boys and Wah Ching. The assassination attempt was retaliation for the death of Felix Huey (Chinese: 許非力), a 16-year-old Joe Boys member who was killed in a shootout with the Wah Ching in Chinatown's Ping Yuen (Peace Garden) housing project (Chinese: 平園住宅房屋大廈) on 4 July 1977.
At 2:00 a.m., Pacific Standard Time on the day of Sunday, September 4, 1977, Joe Boy gang member Tom Yu was informed by phone that members of the rival Wah Ching gang were present at the Golden Dragon restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown (Chinese: 三藩市華埠金龍大酒樓). Chester Yu, Curtis Tam, Melvin Yu, and Peter Ng, all members of the Joe Boys (Chung Ching Yee) gang, took firearms and ammunition from a closet in a friend's home in Pacifica, where they had been staying during the weekend, and drove to the restaurant in a car stolen earlier that evening by Peter Cheung. Forty minutes later, at 2:40 a.m., Chester Yu parked the stolen car near the Golden Dragon. Armed with a .45-caliber Commando Mark III rifle (a modern variant of the Tommy Gun), two 12 gauge pump-action shotguns, and a .38-caliber revolver, Curtis Tam, Melvin Yu, and Peter Ng donned masks, and entered the restaurant, looking for members of the Wah Ching. About 100 people, many of whom were tourists, were present at the restaurant at the time of the shooting.