35: New York City's Chinatown Tong Wars w/ Scott D. Seligman - A True Crime History Podcast

Most Notorious! A True Crime History Podcast

Erik Rivenes

True Crime, History, Education

4.7 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2016

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From the 1870s to the 1930s, New York City's fabled Chinatown was the site of a series of vicious wars between two rival tongs, the On Leongs and the Hip Sings. Scott D. Seligman, author of "Tong Wars: The Untold Story of Vice, Money and Murder in New York's Chinatown" joins me to chat about the origins of the animosity, and how their rivalry escalated into incredible brutality for both sides.

The author's website: https://www.seligmanonline.com/

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Transcript

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0:30.0	※ Rock Music
0:46.1	※獎民 Fellowship
0:50.0	※ my only support
0:56.2	※ Spreadєن
1:00.0	Chinese tongs.
1:01.0	On a stop in San Francisco last year I walked through Chinatown, retracing the steps of
1:06.4	little peat, a tong boss who would eventually be gunned down in a barber's chair in 1897.
1:12.9	The chainmail, arm-revest, he wore, wasn't effective because Chinese gunmen caught him
1:18.4	with a hot towel covering his face, and one of them walked up with a revolver and simply
1:23.4	shoved it down the back of his neck, inside the coat of mail, and pulled the trigger five
1:28.1	times.
1:29.2	I looked far and wide for a book on the Tong Wars and I was fortunate to find one.
1:34.5	It doesn't take place in San Francisco, but in New York's Chinatown instead, an absolutely
1:40.3	fascinating read by the way.
1:42.8	Joining me today is Scott Seligman, author of many scholarly and business books.
1:48.0	He's lived in Taiwan, Hong Kong, in China, a lifelong student of Chinese culture, language
1:53.8	and history.
1:55.1	His book is called Tong Wars, the untold story of vice, money and murder in New York's
2:01.7	Chinatown.
2:02.7	It's a pleasure getting the chance to talk to you.
2:06.8	My pleasure.
2:08.6	So what motivated you to write about the gang history of New York's Chinatown?
	...

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