From Nineteenth Century Tong Wars, to recent efforts by Hong Kong Triads to murder their way into control of Chinatown rackets, a small group of San Francisco police officers has battled crime and vice in the nation s oldest established Chinese community.
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Editorial Reviews
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Chinatown Squad reads like a movie script. But this is history, the real thing, written by an experienced police chief turned historian. As such, it pulls no punches when it comes to telling the story of the criminals and cops who have for 158 years confronted each other in the streets and alleys of Chinatown, San Francisco. --Kevin Starr, Professor of History, University of Southern California.
This book has it all murder, organized crime, sex slaves and official corruption. . . Kevin Mullen is one of San Francisco's best and most meticulous criminal justice historians and one who knows a good story when he finds it. His work reminds us in law enforcement how far we have come and cautions us about how easy it can be to slide back. --Michael Hennessey, Sheriff of San Francisco
In his brilliantly researched work, written in the unadorned, fact-focused style of a good police report, Kevin Mullen examines the lives of men assigned to work in a culture foreign to them, where many of them served with impressive dedication, and for which, at the most crucial time of its existence, they constituted the last line of defense. --John VanderZee, Author of The Gate
This book has it all murder, organized crime, sex slaves and official corruption. . . Kevin Mullen is one of San Francisco's best and most meticulous criminal justice historians and one who knows a good story when he finds it. His work reminds us in law enforcement how far we have come and cautions us about how easy it can be to slide back. --Michael Hennessey, Sheriff of San Francisco
In his brilliantly researched work, written in the unadorned, fact-focused style of a good police report, Kevin Mullen examines the lives of men assigned to work in a culture foreign to them, where many of them served with impressive dedication, and for which, at the most crucial time of its existence, they constituted the last line of defense. --John VanderZee, Author of The Gate
About the Author
Kevin J. Mullen is a retired deputy police chief from San Francisco. He is also the author of Let Justice be Done: Crime and Politics in Early San Francisco; Dangerous Strangers: Minority Newcomers and Criminal Violence in the Urban West; and The Toughest Gang in Town: Police Stories from old San Francisco.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Chinatown Squad: Policing the Dragon From the Gold Rush to the 21st. Century,
This review is from: Chinatown Squad: Policing the Dragon From the Gold Rush to the 21st Century (Paperback)
This is the story of San Francisco, it's police department and crime in it's Chinatown. It is a story of human foibles and changing morals. The author, Kevin J. Mullin, discusses corrupt politicians, policemen and gangsters. He also discusses individuals of high moral and physical courage who could not be dissuaded from doing their duty. While written has a popular history it reads like a fast paced crime thriller. This book does what good litature is suppose to do, it gives us insight to our nature and the himan condition
4.0 out of 5 stars
Where's Hollywood?,
This review is from: Chinatown Squad: Policing the Dragon From the Gold Rush to the 21st Century (Paperback)
Truth continues to be stranger than fiction. This 150 year criminal history of activities in San Francisco's Chinatown could easily be a hit mini-series. A new twist on the godfather theme from a policeman's viewpoint.
3.0 out of 5 stars
CHINATOWN SQUAD,
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This review is from: Chinatown Squad: Policing the Dragon From the Gold Rush to the 21st Century (Paperback)
"Chinatown Squad;" Policing the Dragon: From the Gold Rush to the 21st Century by Kevin J. Mullen is a good chronological layout of San Francisco's China-Town, it's initial immigrants, their social ills, and their... criminal activity.
It appears to me, that most of the historical crime was based upon the ideals of Tong rule, gang turf competition, prostitution, gambling, and naturally narcotic trafficking. In one word, Chinatown appears to have been (a still may be) the pentacle of... "Vise." From the hard-core Irish beat cop to the special vise squads with their Chinese-American police officers, law enforcement within this unique social realm continues to be an intriguing task for the police officer in general. Despite the somewhat "mysterious" aura of "China-town" and its development, much of the criminal activities portrayed in this book seem almost... "tame" by comparison to other areas of the country during the same time-periods. There is some good historical information to be gleaned from this book, and the historical photographs are unique. Although well researched, and injected with a few high-profile cases within Chinatown, for some unknown reason... my own enthusiasm and interest in the actual reading began to wane as I got deeper into the book. In all fairness to the author; perhaps any disappointment in this read is due more too personal preferences than the actual writing style, editing, or information portrayed in this book. I was simply left with the afterthought: "is that all there is?"
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