‘The Snakehead : An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream’ by Patrick Radden Keefe is about a multi-million dollar human smuggling business, run by a charismatic Fujianese grandmother known as Sister Ping from a noodle shop in Chinatown, New York. It’s a sweeping, detailed investigation into organised crime and Chinese immigration to America during the 80’s and 90’s.

It’s a book about gangsters and criminal empires, the scale of the Chinese smuggling networks and the American governments immigration system and attempts to clamp down. But it’s mostly about the lengths that people will go to have a crack at the American Dream, and those who make a lot of money enabling them to do just that.

Patrick Radden Keefe

I am a fan of Patrick Radden and his previous books - firstly via the stunning ‘Say Nothing’ about the troubles in the north of Ireland, for me an instant classic in modern non-fiction. I followed this with the equally compelling ‘Empire of Pain’ about the opioid epidemic in the US, and then ‘Rogues - true stories of grifters, killers, rebels and crooks’.

For me his particular genius is in conducting meticulous research then shaping that into a non-fiction narrative that is often as riveting as a thriller. He takes the reader on a deep dive into a subject and I know I’m going to end up equally entertained and informed.

I hadn’t heard of this book until recently, as it was initially released back in 2009, but I had to get it the moment I found it. He’s become a must read author for me.

Golden Venture

‘In 1960 there were 236,000 Chinese in America. By1990 that number had swelled to 1.6 million. A large portion of that growth was Fujianese, and for the vast majority of Fujianese emigrants, the first stop was New York City. Chinatown residents began referring to East Broadway as Fuzhou Street. They knew that most of the Fujianese rivals were illegal and still paying off their passage. They called them ‘eighteen-thousand-dollar men’ after the going snakehead rate in the eighties.’

The initial part of the book is taken up with the story of the Golden venture, a ship carrying 300 undocumented migrant from China. After a treacherous journey with passengers experiencing horrific conditions, it beached in Queens in 1993, resulting in ten deaths. The book also follows the attempts by the surviving migrants to claim asylum, via the increasingly complex American immigration system.

This illegal smuggling attempt had been organised by Snakeheads - Chinese smugglers many of whom are based in the US, and none are more famous than Sister Ping. Working from a store in Chinatown, she built a multi million pound empire, smuggling tens of thousands of Fujianese migrants into the US, establishing a complex network via Hong Kong, Central America and Mexico.

Once arrived, the migrants are held in cramped conditions until they or their relatives can pay back the price of their passage, often $18,000 dollars - they are basically slaves. But for them it was worth it - a years wages doing basic work in the back of a restaurant was worth ten years salary back home.

Sister Ping

There’s no doubting that Sister Ping is a mysterious and enigmatic character, living an unassuming life in New York, unknown to the authorities for many years, but a legendary figure in Chinatown. She makes millions through exploiting the desperation of poor people who want a better life, and there are many instances where people die during the attempt, including one detailed in the book at Niagara Falls.

But there’s a reason why Sister Ping is so revered in Chinatown and back home in Fujian province. She is offering people the chance of a better life, and the success of many of her clients points to the fact that she’s doing a great job. Death and failure are bad for her business, so she does what she can to protect her reputation. More people make it than not, and it’s a chance her clients are happy to take.

What the author is particular good at is never arriving at a definitive position on Sister Ping - he details both sides of the argument concerning her activities, and lets the reader make their own mind up. It’s such a nuanced issue.

Working with other snakeheads, with her empire growing, she eventually comes to the attention of the authorities. The final part of the book is taken up with her capture and trial.

Chinatown

What’s also interesting in the book is the detail on the Chinese underworld, in particular the Fuk Ching gang, run by the infamous Ah Kay. He initially starts off as a gangster, but is soon attracted by the profits he see’s the snakeheads making, in particular Sister Ping. He is involved heavily in the organising of the Golden Venture, but because of a deadly turf war he doesn’t fulfil his side of the bargain, which has consequences for the poor unfortunates on the ship.

A large part of the second half of the book is taken up with the attempts by the passangers on the ‘Golden venture’ to stay in the US. This is complicated by changing administrations and then by 9/11.

There’s a extensive cast in this book - lawyers, human rights advocates, various snakeheads, FBI, immigration agents - but at the same time I never felt overwhelmed. However, I’m glad I did keep reading the book on a daily basis, as to put it down for any length of time would have left me a bit lost.

Summary

Overall I found this to be a fascinating book about a subject I knew nothing about, with interesting characters such as Sister Ping and detailed incidents such as the beaching of the Golden Hind. Human smuggling continues to be huge business and never out of the news, and there will always be those who exploit the hopes and dreams of people who want a better life and are prepared to pay for it, whatever the danger.

There are times reading it, given the scale of the network and the amount of money involved, that it’s difficult to believe this happened. That Sister Ping, very much the most interesting character in the book, operates such an operation under the noses of the authorities, is incredible.

Patrick Radden Keefe has yet again delivered an impeccably researched book, endlessly interesting and well written. He has this wonderful ability to give you a wide angle view of a subject, before narrowing down to specific people and incidents, giving you a ground floor view.

No doubt he is deeply immersed in the research for some other topic at the moment, and whatever it is, I’ll be reading it.

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First published July 21, 2009 by Doubleday

432 Pages