Dozens of federal and local law enforcement officers recently descended on a six-story commercial building in Chinatown, wielding weapons and search warrants. They arrested seven people in what they called a crackdown on a hive of criminality.

A top immigration official declared that the building, at 35-37 East Broadway, was linked to a Chinese criminal gang and harbored one of the largest illegal gambling operations uncovered in New York City’s recent history. The Manhattan district attorney said two earlier raids there had found similar wrongdoing. The United States attorney in Manhattan sued for forfeiture of the building.

But since the raid, on May 21, interviews throughout the building, including with several of those arrested, have offered an alternate view of the activity inside. Workers and customers described 35-37 East Broadway not as an underground casino but as a home for run-of-the-mill businesses and social clubs catering to immigrant laborers and retirees from Fujian Province in China.

The gambling, they said, was friendly, low-stakes games of mah-jongg and cards.

Their assertions seemed to be bolstered by the relatively minor gambling cases stemming from the raid. The defendants — all middle-age or older immigrants — face only misdemeanor charges. They include a 78-year-old woman who manages a Fujianese women’s association on the third floor.