Disgraced Oakland cop linked to Chinatown underworld implicates another officer

Former Oakland cop and Alameda County District Attorney Inspector Harry Hu revealed in sworn testimony he was not the only lawman treated to dinners, concerts and hotels by a now-convicted murderer with ties to Chinatown underworld figures.

Then-Oakland Police Sgt. Warren Young partook as well, Hu said during an emotional two days on the stand Oct. 24 and 25th, a revelation that has widened the scope of a corruption probe that tarnished the city’s police department.

Young currently works for Alameda County’s Department of Social Services, investigating suspected welfare fraud.

The shocking testimony adds another longtime officer’s name to a scandal that shook East Bay law enforcement last year, when Hu admitted he took bribes from his longtime informant, Wing Wo Ma, and had protected him from authorities. Hu even took steps to protect Ma after he committed a double murder, testifying he did so to hide the fact that Ma had bribed him.

As part of a plea deal inked last year, Hu took the stand in Ma’s October trial, after agreeing to help federal prosecutors in their wide-ranging case against Ma, who was found guilty of multiple charges, including the murders of suspected Chinese underworld gangster Jim Tat Kong and his girlfriend, Cindy Bao Feng Chen.

Ma had taken money from the couple, purportedly as an investment on a pot farm that didn’t really exist. Kong was demanding to see the farm and Ma — his “back up against the wall” — decided to kill Kong and Chen to cover his tracks, prosecutors say. After the murders, Hu suspected Ma was involved, but hid those suspicions from Mendocino County Sheriff investigators, Hu testified.

“I have accepted things of value from (Ma) and I did not want that to come out,” Hu testified.

During the trial, Hu testified that Ma flew him and Young to Las Vegas and picked up the tab on multiple trips, including one in Reno. Besides drinks, meals and hotel suites, and “company of hostesses” in Vegas bars, Hu said he and Young also each invested $40,000 in Ma’s bogus hotel venture. After realizing the project was a sham, Hu said he got his and Young’s money back — in cash.

When Hu was an Oakland police lieutenant, he supervised Young and was close to him. Although Young allegedly accepted some of the things described as bribes in Hu’s plea deal, he has not been charged with a crime and no testimony accused Young of providing police cover for Ma.

A U.S. Attorney spokesman declined to comment about whether the office has an open case against Young. Generally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office does not comment on charging decisions.

However, two law enforcement sources expect that Young will be named as an unindicted, co-conspirator after Hu is sentenced. Hu faces up to five years in federal prison at his sentencing hearing scheduled in May.

Reached by phone last week, Young said he was in a meeting and did not have time to talk. He did not respond to a subsequent text message outlining what Hu said in court.

Hu was once revered as a legendary gang expert and of Oakland’s most respected officers, but when his ties to Ma were first uncovered, the police department said in a statement it was “appalled” by Hu and “his greed.”

When informed of Hu’s recent testimony, Oakland Police spokeswoman Officer Johnna Watson wrote in an email that the “department will not be providing a comment regarding courtroom proceedings or testimony.”

An attorney for Hu did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

‘Big brother’

Young currently works as a supervising welfare investigator with Alameda County Social Services, after retiring from OPD in 2015. He receives an annual pension of $90,640, according to a CalPERS spokeswoman. He joined the Oakland police force in 1988, about seven years after Hu did, state personnel records show. To Young and other Asian officers in the department, Hu was known as “dai lo” or big brother.

Hu testified he met Ma in 1991, around the time he was a rising law enforcement star. Born in Hong Kong, he was perhaps Oakland Chinatown’s best known cop, serving as a liaison officer to the area’s substation. His work targeting the Wo Hop To gang caught the attention of federal agents.

His association with Ma grew over the years, prosecutors allege. Court records show Ma was often given probation or short jail sentences. For example, a 2002 felony pimping arrest in San Rafael ended in a conviction of misdemeanor running a house of prostitution and a 45-day jail sentence, according to a 2015 FBI affidavit. After the 2002 arrest, Hu wrote a letter to an immigration judge to stop the court from deporting Ma.

In 2007, he retired from OPD at the rank of lieutenant, having supervised Young and others. He went to work as an inspector with the Alameda DA’s office and continued associating with his informant, Ma. Young remained at OPD.

Young and Hu are only the latest Bay Area police officers accused of corruption involving this organized crime ring. Last year, for San Francisco Sheriff’s deputy Michael Kim was sentenced to probation, for lying about giving a police ballistic vest to a close associate of Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, the leader of the Ghee Kung Tong organization.

Dinners, Vegas and $80,000 in cash

Around 2008, prosecutors allege Hu began to take bribes from Ma.

On a Christmas trip to Reno, Ma paid for Young and Hu to stay in a hotel, and purchased tickets for them to see Hong Kong singer Samuel Hui in concert, according to testimony.

But it was in Vegas, where Hu and Young had invested in Ma’s hotel project, where more trips were taken, according to testimony from Ma’s assistant, Noelle Mah and Anthony Siu, a Las Vegas hotel/casino host.

Mah said she arranged flights for one trip in February 2009 for the law enforcement officials and Richard Lei, identified in court documents as a real estate agent. According to Siu, Hu and Young, as guests of Ma, stayed in an $800 hotel suite at Planet Hollywood. Under questioning, Siu identified Young as being an Oakland police officer and said he traveled on Vegas trips “roughly the same as Mr. Hu, maybe one or two times less.” He estimated Hu went on five or six trips.

Hu testified he and Young each invested $40,000 in a hotel project Ma said he was building in Las Vegas. When the pair went with Ma to Sin City, it became apparent that the project was a mirage, Hu said on the stand. An attorney they were supposed to meet was a no-show, a site tour never happened and Hu became suspicious.

Noelle Mah, Ma’s assistant, did too. She reached out to Hu in September 2009 hoping to get her money back, according to testimony. Instead of helping her or reporting what she told him to authorities, Hu said he kept quiet, admitting on the stand he did so because it “would jeopardize my refund,” Ma could be charged with a crime and that could expose him as a corrupt lawman.

Quietly, he worked to get a full refund for himself and Young, he testified.

“Do you know whether or not Mr. Ma gave Warren Young his money back?” Assistant U.S. Attorney William Frentzen asked Hu. “Do you know how Mr. Young got his money back?” Frentzen continued.

“I believe also cash,” Hu said, adding that it came to him from Ma.

“So, Mr. Ma delivered you $80,000 in cash for you and Mr. Young?”

Yes, Hu answered.

‘Nothing further’

On the stand, Hu became emotional after an attorney recounted the highlights of his law enforcement career: that he was Oakland Police’s Chinatown gang expert and that he ascended to that status by building trust among a community distrustful of police. That’s when Hu choked up on the stand.

The next day, U.S. Attorney Frentzen asked him why he cried. Was it for the murder victims, the people Ma scammed?

Not them, Hu said.

“Mr. Hu, who corrupted you?” Frentzen asked.

“Mr. Ma and myself,” Hu said.

“Nothing further,” Frentzen replied.

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