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The Snakehead
The Snakehead
An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream
In this thrilling panorama of real-life events, the bestselling author of Empire of Pain investigates a secret world run by a surprising criminal: a charismatic middle-aged grandmother, who from a tiny noodle shop in New York’s Chinatown managed a multi-million dollar business smuggling people.
“Reads like a mashup of The Godfather and Chinatown, complete with gun battles, a ruthless kingpin and a mountain of cash. Except that it’s all true.” —Time
Keefe reveals the inner workings of Sister Ping’s complex empire and recounts the decade-long FBI investigation that eventually brought her down. He follows an often incompetent and sometimes corrupt INS as it pursues desperate immigrants risking everything to come to America, and along the way, he paints a stunning portrait of a generation of illegal immigrants and the intricate underground economy that sustains and exploits them. Grand in scope yet propulsive in narrative force, The Snakehead is both a kaleidoscopic crime story and a brilliant exploration of the ironies of immigration in America.
“Reads like a mashup of The Godfather and Chinatown, complete with gun battles, a ruthless kingpin and a mountain of cash. Except that it’s all true.” —Time
Keefe reveals the inner workings of Sister Ping’s complex empire and recounts the decade-long FBI investigation that eventually brought her down. He follows an often incompetent and sometimes corrupt INS as it pursues desperate immigrants risking everything to come to America, and along the way, he paints a stunning portrait of a generation of illegal immigrants and the intricate underground economy that sustains and exploits them. Grand in scope yet propulsive in narrative force, The Snakehead is both a kaleidoscopic crime story and a brilliant exploration of the ironies of immigration in America.
In this thrilling panorama of real-life events, the bestselling author of Empire of Pain investigates a secret world run by a surprising criminal: a charismatic middle-aged grandmother, who from a tiny noodle shop in New York’s Chinatown managed a multi-million dollar business smuggling people.
“Reads like a mashup of The Godfather and Chinatown, complete with gun battles, a ruthless kingpin and a mountain of cash. Except that it’s all true.” —Time
Keefe reveals the inner workings of Sister Ping’s complex empire and recounts the decade-long FBI investigation that eventually brought her down. He follows an often incompetent and sometimes corrupt INS as it pursues desperate immigrants risking everything to come to America, and along the way, he paints a stunning portrait of a generation of illegal immigrants and the intricate underground economy that sustains and exploits them. Grand in scope yet propulsive in narrative force, The Snakehead is both a kaleidoscopic crime story and a brilliant exploration of the ironies of immigration in America.
“Reads like a mashup of The Godfather and Chinatown, complete with gun battles, a ruthless kingpin and a mountain of cash. Except that it’s all true.” —Time
Keefe reveals the inner workings of Sister Ping’s complex empire and recounts the decade-long FBI investigation that eventually brought her down. He follows an often incompetent and sometimes corrupt INS as it pursues desperate immigrants risking everything to come to America, and along the way, he paints a stunning portrait of a generation of illegal immigrants and the intricate underground economy that sustains and exploits them. Grand in scope yet propulsive in narrative force, The Snakehead is both a kaleidoscopic crime story and a brilliant exploration of the ironies of immigration in America.
Reviews-
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Feodor Chin is the listener's guide into Chinatown's heart: the neighborhoods that tourists don't see; the inner workings of human trafficking from China to America in the 1980s and '90s; and the growing violence of the emerging gang culture. The perfect guide, Chin keeps his voice instructive and interesting, never preachy or accusative. This grim true crime involves "Sister Ping," the "Snakehead" of the title, the person who, for an exorbitant price, arranges passage for the illegals--who then must pay her back or pay the consequences. Chin wisely doesn't give voices or accents to the many characters involved, but instead opts for a matter-of-fact tone that keeps Keefe's absorbing narrative moving and listeners listening. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
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A well-researched descent into the world of Chinese organized crime, THE SNAKEHEAD centers on the barbarous Sister Ping, who ran an international smuggling ring out of a noodle shop and ruled with an iron hand in the 1980s in New York City. The author reads his work himself, and it's a good thing. Keefe's voice is temperate but never monotonous as he describes the recently arrived Chinese immigrants, crammed 20 to a house, with nothing better to do than watch Asian martial arts movies and play video games before the sun goes down and they ply their ruthless trade. Similarly, accounts of boat people, jammed into shaky vessels to fester among one another, will make listeners recoil--but only at their horrific realism. J.S.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
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Starred review from May 11, 2009
Keefe (Chatter
) examines America's complicated relationship with immigration in this brilliant account of Cheng Chui Ping, known as Sister Ping, who built a multimillion-dollar empire as a “snakehead,” smuggling Chinese immigrants into America. Sister Ping herself entered the U.S. legally in 1981 from China's Fuzhou province, but was soon known among Fujianese immigrants in Manhattan's Chinatown as the go-to for advice, loans and connections to bring their families to America. Her empire grew so large that she contracted out muscle work to the local gang, the Fuk Ching. Keefe points to the Golden Venture
—a ship full of Fujianese illegals that ran fatally aground in 1993—as the beginning of the end for Sister Ping. She was sentenced in 2000 to 35 years in prison for conspiracy, money laundering and trafficking. Despite an enormous cast of characters in a huge underground web of global crime, Keefe's account maintains the swift pace of a thriller. With the immigration debate still boiling, this exploration of how far people will go to achieve the American dream is a must-read. - Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side "Patrick Radden Keefe has written a vivid non fiction thriller. The Snakehead reads like a Chinese-American version of The Sopranos, except that the mob boss is a grandmother who runs a human smuggling enterprise, and the story is true."
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Jonathan Spence, author of The Search for Modern China
"In The Snakehead, Patrick Radden Keefe recreates an absorbing portrait
of a 1993 shipwreck to illuminate the methods used by Chinese racketeers to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States. At the same time, in an artful twist, Keefe leaves the reader pondering the whole process of immigration." - Amy Chua, author of Day of Empire and World on Fire "The Snakehead is a brilliant tour de force, both a gripping true-crime saga, full of intrigue and suspense, and a chilling exposure of the dark underside of America's deeply flawed immigration system. Through his central account of the smuggling empire of Sister Ping and the FBI investigation that brought her down, Keefe evokes a moving and timeless story about why people continue to risk everything to come illegally to the United States--and what happens to them when they get here. Vividly written and filled with unforgettable characters, The Snakehead is a terrific read, and one that will change the way you think about the vexing dynamics of illegal immigration."
- Sudhir Venkatesh, author of Gang Leader for a Day "In Keefe's steady hand, the history of immigration to America is brought to life with the story of Chinese sojourners who arrive in a strange new land. You will pick it up for the drama it promises, but you will read it for the warmth and humanity it delivers."
- David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z "The Snakehead achieves what only the finest reporting can: it peels back an astonishing hidden world. Keefe takes the reader on a spellbinding journey from peasant farms in Asia to the treacherous high seas to the violent streets of Chinatown--a journey that will forever change your understanding of what it means to become an American."
