True Crime All The Time - The Wah Mee Massacre

Episode Date: February 21, 2022

On February 19th, 1983 three men entered the Wah Mee Club, a gambling club in Seattle’s International District, armed with guns. Their purpose was to rob the club's patrons and kill everyone inside. The robbers murdered 13 people. If it weren’t for one surviving witness, the killers might have gotten away with it. Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss the deadliest mass shooting in Washington state history. Willie Mak, Benjamin, Ng, and Tony Ng shot 14 people that night at the Wah Mee Club. They thought they had killed everyone inside and made off with $20,000. But, what they didn't know was that one of their victims survived and was the key to bringing the trio to justice.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 271 of the True Crime All The Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime. Mike Gibson, give me, how are you? I'm doing good, man. How about you? I am doing very well. That's good.

Except for my back. Yeah. Other than that, I'm Aces. Aces? Aces. All right, man. My back is getting better. But I've been down for about a week.

Yeah. With a bad back. So. And using that, like, little doll of you and taking that. little pen. I figured you were probably at least making it worse. I know you didn't cause it because I caused it, but I had a feeling that somebody was making it

last longer than what it should have lasted. I was doing like the Brady Bunch thing. Remember that when they had a little dog? Sure. Sure. Not too many people will remember that. Let's go ahead and give our shoutouts. For Patreon, we had Kelly Stained. Hey, Kelly. Wendy Winters. What's going on, Wendy? Destiny Maneer. Hey, thank you, Destiny. Jan O'Donnell.

Hey, Jan. Corinne Frazier jumped out of our highest level. What's going on, Karen? Eileen Chase on. Thanks, Eileen. Anne-Marie Haj Dix. Hey, Hash Dix. John Sniper.

What's going on, Sniper Man? Wendy. Hey, Wendy. Nolan Bell. Good old Nolan. Dorothy jumped out at our highest level. Well, thank you, Dorothy. Click those heels.

Christina 404. Hey, what's going on? 4-4 in the house. Huda Muhammad. Huda. Kim Little. Yeah. Well, hey, Little.

Diana Henson jumped out of our highest level. Hey, Diana. And Leah Page also jumped out of our highest level. Awesome. Thanks, Leah. So that's some great new Patreon support. If we go back into the vault, Gibbs. This week, we selected Aaron Wilhide. Hey, Aaron.

So we appreciate all the Patreon support, the new folks, the people that continue to support us. We had great PayPal donations from Carla Dottie. Hey, Carla. Neum Kerrigan. Hey, Kerrigan. and Brandy Watt, who made a sizable donation. What? Thanks, Brandy.

Yeah, so thanks to everyone. Gibbs, right now on Unsolved, we have an episode out on the mysterious death of Debbie Wolf. So we're headed to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Debbie disappeared back in 1986. Yeah. But this is a fascinating case. It really is. On a number of levels.

Mysterious. It's mysterious in that there are. questions about her death. Was she murdered? Could it have been an accident? Obviously, we'll get into all of that. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of True Crime all the time? I am ready. We're also going back in time for this one as well to 1983 to talk about the Wami Massacre in Seattle, Washington. Should I have Docket, the car ready? The DeLorean. Oh, yeah. We may need it. Okay. We may need it. It was on February 19, 1983, that three men entered the WAMI Club. This is a gambling club in Seattle's international district. They were armed with guns. Their purpose was

to rob the club's patrons and kill everyone inside. In total, they murdered 13 people. The Wami massacre remains the deadliest mass shooting in Washington state history. And if it were not, for one surviving witness. The killers just might have gotten away with it. And thank goodness for that, you know? Yeah, because if not, we might be doing it on true crime all the time unsolved. Right. The Wami Club was one of Seattle's biggest gambling clubs.

And what was then called Chinatowns, now called the International District, its name means beautiful place. The club was located in a ground floor space of a tenement hotel at 6, 51 South King Street. The hotel was constructed in 1909 in the 1920s. Walmi was one of several clubs in Chinatown that offered drinking, dancing, and gambling. Obviously, Gives, this was during prohibition. The Seattle PI described it as a, quote, romantic, classy enclave. It's so strange. Those are the same words you use for the studio once. It's fitting. It's romantic. It's class. It's.

Now, it is just me and you down here. Yeah. But it still applies. Now, neither of us were alive, obviously, during Prohibition, but, you know, we've watched enough movies. We've seen enough television shows. There's no doubt that, you know, all of these speak-easies, they cropped up, you know, all over the country.

People wanted to drink. They wanted to have a good time. Like that little tiny door they open. Password, please. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Frank Chin from the Seattle, weekly wrote the WAMI Club was famous in Seattle.

You don't speak with any real authority about the Seattle of the 30s, 40s, or 50s if you can't say when you first stepped into the electric smoky WAMI. So it was well known. Obviously, it continued even after Prohibition ended. But WAMI was also a gambling hub. The most popular games were Pai Gow, Poker. and Mahjong. Now, I played a lot of poker in my days.

I've heard of Pi-Gow. I've heard of Mahjong, but I've never played either one of those. I've played the Pi-Gow. I just haven't played the Maigang. Is how you say that? You mean Mahjong? Ma-Jong.

I just said it. So correct me if I'm wrong, but Pi-Gow is the one in the movies, it seems like, where people are betting like big, big money. Yeah. in a lot of movies. They have a special place for it.

I've always thought of Mahjong is more of a recreational game. Now, it could be wrong, and obviously people were gambling on it. It was said that players could wager up to $1,000 per hand. Seattle had a gambling tolerance policy that allowed clubs like Wami to remain open for business. And there was a lot, Gibbs, in articles about the fact that police officers actually

gambled in Chinatown's clubs. They drank at the speakeasies. Todd Matthew wrote in his History Link article, no one asked questions. The cops picked up their kickbacks in exchange for letting the clubs operate in Chinatown. Henry K. Locke, a Chinatown resident, told papers Chinatown at that time was a really busy bustling place with all the gambling houses open. There were four houses. My Zhu, Wai, Mew, Wau, me and two that were owned by Hop Singh down on second avenue. There were lots of lottery joints. The police were mostly paid off, according to this guy.

The gambling business supported quite a few people. Sounds like it really did. Well, let's face it. A lot of people like to drink. Yeah. A lot of people like to gamble. And a lot of times they go hand in hand. Sometimes they do.

By the early 1980s, Wami was still thriving. It was one of Seattle's top clubs for high stakes gambling. There were reports that the club consistently earned over $100,000 a night. That's big money. It was also said that there could be up to $50,000 on the table at any given time. People laid down their entire paychecks in one night. And obviously, the more that is bet, the more that the club benefited. they collected 5% of all the winnings.

Well, hey, the house is in it to make money too. Well, and it seems like a pretty good business model, right? If you're, well, me, okay, we get 5% of all the winning. Yeah. Hey, high stakes, bet all you want because that just means more money for us. It was said that security at the club was tight. There were four rows of glass bricks at the entrance. All the bricks were opaque except for one, which the guard used as a peephole to identify guess.

So a little different than what you were talking about, you know, the door with the little slider. Right. But then there were two sets of steel doors leading to the gambling and the bar areas. The office had a warning buzzer. It also had a panic bar that set off an alarm. You could only get into Waimie if you knew one of the owners, a staff. member or the security guards or if you knew someone who already had an end.

So this was an exclusive place. They just didn't let every, you know, John Q public figure in. Oh, I've been trying to get to that one club that you go to and you won't vouch for me. So no, because I don't trust what you'll do once you get in there. And, you know, vouching for someone on my good name. Okay. I've done it many times. Your track record is suspect.

I'm just going to say that right now. I just have that problem and get my wallet out. You've ruined quite a few establishments. Yeah. Sorry. So I think the key here, Gibbs, and what I'm trying to really get across was that this was a highly exclusive club. And most of the patrons were Chinese American business owners who knew the club managers.

Seattle PI described Wami as a sense. sanctuary for people who experienced harsh racism and discrimination from white Seattle residents. So this brings us up to 1983. At that time, WAMI was open on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Okay. For most businesses, that would be very strange out. It would be the reverse. It would be the opposite, right?

Maybe 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. or, you know, something like that. But if you're operating kind of an illegal establishment, well, when are people going to be visiting your place at night? Yeah. After they had dinner, ready to go out and have a little bit of fun, gamble their paychecks away. According to History Link, locals describe the club as a B-grade cocktail lounge, comfortable but not opulent. So you didn't have to dress up too much, right?

It's not opulent. So you can go down there with just regular business attire. I'm assuming you could go in wearing whatever you wanted to as long as you were closed. Yeah. First of all, I know for a fact you just wanted a chance to use the word opulent. I love that word. Which you took.

Yeah. So what I really got from it was that, you know, this is not a place where you're trying to attract every member of the public, right? You don't need to go all out. No. You know, I'm thinking, rounders. Some of the back room type places that, you know, they played in rounders. This was obviously probably bigger, but you just need a place. Yeah. And, you know, serve drinks, whatever.

You don't need a Tiffany chandelier, you know, hanging up top. It sounds like it's better than going to like my friend's garage with a little, you know, kid table set up with some chips and pretzels on it and playing cards. Yeah, I mean, it was a full functioning lounge, right? I'm sure they had a bartender. You could get drinks and all that. I think it's interesting, though, because they're making boatloads a month. And you don't need to dress it up like a casino in Vegas.

Yeah. You know, those entities have to try to attract customers. And they do that by, you know, offering all kinds of different things. But they also do it by trying to be fancy and, you know, having the place look as good as it can look. This place didn't need to do that. I think that's the key. The three men that committed the robbery had connections to the club. The first was Kwan Fi, Willie Mock.

He was 23 years old. will he moved from China to the United States in 1975 when he was 15 years old. He attended Cleveland High School, but he dropped out and then earned his GED. He lived with his parents and siblings in South Seattle. This was a guy who worked odd jobs. He worked as a bus boy, cook, waiter. He was a laborer at a steel yard. But he was also a dealer at a gambling club.

The problem is by 1983, he had racked up. thousands and thousands of dollars in gambling debts. Probably not that hard to do. No, it's not. I mean, you know, that's a thing that, you know,

some people have a serious problem with, right? Gambling can be an addiction. I've never had an issue with it. I don't really even like going to casinos. I do like to play cards, but I'm not really into slots or betting on teams or, you know,

anything like that. Well, I'm sure we're played a little bit of cards. when we go out to Vegas. Oh, I'll gamble. I'll gamble when we go to Vegas. The difference, though, is right, most people when they go to a casino, they take a certain amount of money and they play with that money. Now, when you get into a situation like this where you're playing with house money and you're losing and you're racking up a bunch of debts, hey, somebody's going to come after that. Yeah. And if you can't pay, you could be in big trouble and it could cause you to do

something rash. The second robber was Benjamin Ing, who was 20 years old. Benjamin was born in 1962. He dropped out of high school. He worked in restaurants and some of the gambling clubs in Seattle's Chinatown. He had a record of criminal charges that included robbery and shoplifting. He also had a few incidents that involved guns. Benjamin was often seen cruising through the streets and a blue Corvette. An interesting story about Benjamin comes from former detective Bernie Lau, K-U-O-W, published an excerpt from Lau's book, which is called Dance with the Devil, memoirs of an undercover narcotics detective. Now, obviously, no one can actually verify if the following story is true, but I think if it is true Gibbs, then it provides insight into Benjamin's criminal background. So the story is

that in late January 1983, two women were murdered in their home on Beacon Hill. They had been tied up. They had duct tape over their mouths and their noses. Both were shot once in the head. Their home was ransacked, but nothing was stolen. Members of the community believed that Benjamin Ing and Willie Mock killed the women. It sounded like they were executed. It does. Once in the head. Detectives took Benjamin in for questioning, but they released him. And then a few days later, Benjamin invited Detective Lau out to dinner in Chinatown. Benjamin tried to convince him that he didn't kill the two women in Beacon Hill and that he didn't know anything about the murders. So let's analyze that. You're brought in for questioning on a double murder. Yeah. Now, they let you go due to insufficient

evidence. You then, as a person of interest, turn around and invite the detective out for dinner to try to plead your case for not being the murderer. I can't imagine the outcome being good, taking a detective out to dinner that's investigating you. No, I found it so strange. And my first thought was that, you know, to me, when people try too hard, right, we've seen cases where people interject or, you know, put themselves into a situation where they're trying to help so hard or help so much that the suspicion kind of falls back on them. Yeah. I kind of view this the same way. It's like you're trying too hard. You're protesting. too much. We already let you go. Right. And now you're coming back around and trying to sell me

on the fact that you weren't involved. Yeah. So now maybe we need to take another look at you. Yeah. I feel like I'd be as a detective, I'd be looking at you even harder now. Lau remembered that the homicide office told him Benjamin had recently purchased his car. We talked about it, right? This blue Corvette. Low asked Benjamin where he got the money. And Benjamin insisted that he won it gambling. And then a week later, Detective Lau was eating alone in a restaurant when an elderly man approached him and said, we are ready to offer you $25,000 if you can take care of Ben Ng for us. Lau considered it, but knew it would ruin his life if he ever got caught.

So, you know, again, this all comes from his book. I don't know what the corroboration is there. But if it's true, he's actually saying he considered killing this guy for $25,000 as a detective, but then thought, nope, I don't want to ruin my life. So Lisa's logic came through and said, hey, don't do this, man. Be the good guy. But $25,000 back in the 80s, that was good money. Good money to kill somebody?

Is that what you're saying? I'm just saying it was good money. It was quite a bit. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I mean, there were, I'm sure a lot of people not making that much in a year's time. But I think one thing that is certain is that the community was terrified of Benjamin Ng. Detective Lau later learned that Benjamin and some of his partners went to gambling establishments. And they demanded money for protection.

So it sounds like he was into, you know, quite a few different illicit things. On February 19th, Lowe received a call asking if he knew where Benjamin was. He learned Benjamin and two men had just killed 13 people. And in his own writings, he stated that he wondered if he could have prevented all those deaths, if he had accepted the man's offer to kill Ben In. So this reminds me of the case somewhat that we did last week, where, you know, a father questioned himself about, you know, saving his son's life because his son later went on to, you know, kill four people. Here's a detective who was considering the possibility of murdering

someone and then later on asking himself whether he did the right thing. Maybe I should have murdered this guy because then he wouldn't have been able to murder 13 people. Now, it's kind of fuzzy logic there. It is. I get what he's saying, but, you know, murder's wrong. We're not talking about a detective who shoots someone who is in the commission of a crime, thereby saving a bunch of people's lives. That's different. It is different. We're talking about somebody essentially committing a hit on a man who then later wouldn't have been able to murder people. A.T cat fans, If you're thinking about breaking some bad habits this year, start with this one. Overpaying for your prescriptions.

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Seattle in the early 70s. He lived with his parents in South Seattle. Tony graduated from Cleveland High School and enrolled in a vocational auto mechanic program at South Seattle Community College. He worked part-time in his father's restaurant and at a car dealership downtown. Tony was described as quiet. He had a girlfriend. And for the most part, he stayed out of trouble. He agreed to join this robbery Gibbs because he owed Willie $1,000. Wanted to get his debt settled.

Yeah. So if he would participate in this robbery, his debt would be wiped out. He later testified that he had no idea that Willie and Benjamin were going to kill anyone. In the late hours of February 18, 1983, Willie met Tony outside the club entrance. They had been there before, Tawami, so the security guard recognized them and allowed them inside. It was reported that they spent about a half hour in the club. At the time, there were less than 10. people inside. Most of them were gambling. One man worked the bar. Tony ordered tea from the bar,

and he chatted with a pie gal dealer named Yak Chin. Mr. Chen was a 61-year-old Navy veteran. He was described in papers as short, frail, and slightly ponchy. I myself has been described as slightly ponchy. I'm working on that. You're becoming less ponchy. Yeah. It's a description that I'm not happy with. So I'm trying to fix that. So we have this pie gal dealer, Mr. Chin, chatting with Tony before, you know, he starts his shift before 1230 a.m. the next morning, right? We're into the next morning, February 19th. Benjamin crossed South King Street and entered Maynard alley right next to the club. He was carrying a brown paper bag stuffed with pre-cut nylon cords. And it's thought that the security guard either didn't notice the bag or didn't care about the bag

because he recognized Ben and let him inside. But as soon as Benjamin entered the club, he pulled out a gun and shouted hands up. Most of the patrons in the club had their backs turned to him, but they all turned around and held their hands up. I mean, what are you going to do? Gibb, somebody walks in with a gun and says, hands up, put your hands up. You're putting your hands up. Unless you're strapped too and you're about ready to, you know, make a move and take this person on. Right. If not, you better be putting your hands up. Yeah. Willie went into the office and he pointed his gun at the security guard. And basically what he did is he forced the guard to continue. continue to allow guests inside the club, right?

We mentioned it. There was only like 10 people in the club. Well, if you're there to rob the people inside, you want as many people inside as you can get. Yeah, more money. Tony went to the back of the club to check for any stray patrons. Once everyone was rounded up, they were forced to sit on the floor.

Benjamin and Tony took the cords from the bag, and they tied up everyone's hands and feet. So some time passed. I mentioned it, right? The guard was letting in, you know, more patrons. Each person that came in was held up at gunpoint and tied up. So at a certain point, they had 14 hostages inside the club, including the security guard, staff and patrons. So still not a lot of people inside this club. And I think it tells you something about the club, right? this is not a place that was going to have hundreds and hundreds of people inside. It was exclusive. You had to know someone to get in.

Yeah. You had to be somebody. Benjamin and Tony emptied people's pockets and wallets. They took one woman's purse. They then emptied the cash register. According to Tony, Willie instructed him to go wait between the two security doors. Tony took the bag with a few thousand dollars in cash. to their agreed upon waiting point.

And then all of a sudden, Gibbs all hell broke loose. Willie and Ben stood on a small set of stairs at the club entrance, and they began firing on these victims that were tied up on the floor. They cornered the security guard in his office and they shot him. Then they stepped on to the main floor and made their way through the room, firing additional shots, making sure that they killed everyone. Didn't want to leave any witnesses. No.

It was reported that they fired more than 30 times at these 14 victims. And really, they only stopped shooting when they ran out of bullets. The men then fled the club with their stolen cash. Now, in a lot of cases that you and I do, we bring up the question, why did someone need to kill people when their intention was to rob them? I think this case is a little different in that these guys were known. Very well known. Very well known so much so that, you know, the guard let them in.

He recognized them. They obviously had been at the club many, many times. So you're not going to walk up to the door with a mask on and get into the this place. Right. And once you're inside, you can't rob all of these people and then just leave and think that nobody's going to know who you are. Yeah, no recourse. Yeah. I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying that there is somewhat of a difference here. A lot of robberies that we talk about in other episodes, the perpetrators are not known to the victims. Yeah. But yet they kill them anyway because is why. They don't want them to describe what they look like. They don't want them to be able to

testify later on. There's a number of possible reasons. But when you're going to go rob a place where people inside know who you are, I think for them, it wasn't a spur of the moment decision. No, I think they knew they couldn't leave anybody behind. Yeah. I think they entered Wameen knowing they were going to kill every person inside. According to defense attorney John Henry Brown, the men left with about $20,000. So Benjamin got about $10,000 and then the other two got about $5,000. So you said Gibbs, early 80s, you know, $27,000, a lot of money.

Yeah. Sure, it is. But put it in context. You shot 14 people. one guy got 10,000, the other two got $5,000. It's just sickening to think how little some people value life. Now, no dollar amount would make sense, but it's just so little money to cause so much carnage. So I mentioned it, right?

14 people were shot. 13 people were fatally wounded. But what these three guys didn't know was that they left behind a witness. So apparently no one outside had any idea what had just occurred inside the club. A cook had just finished work and he got to the club. And when he arrived at the club, he rang the doorbell and waited for the doors to open. But nothing happened. He rang again.

He banged on the door. Another restaurant cook arrived. both of them banged on the door, but they got no answer. They tried pulling the doors open. Finally, they peeked through the clear brick, and that's when they saw the bodies lying on the floor. So that had to have been quite a shock. Oh, for sure, man, to see that. But they saw one person moving, and it turned out to be why Yacht Chin.

Mr. Chen later testified that the more noise the men made, the more he woke up. he slowly started to remember what happened. He remembered talking to Tony. He also said Tony was the one who tied him up. He said that he told Tony, no need to tie me so tight. I'm an old man. So Tony loosened up the bindings, which allowed Chin to free himself. Mr. Chin suspected that he was going to get shot when Ben and Willie, you know, began firing.

So he was pretty smart, wasn't he? He was. What he said was that he hid himself partially under one of the gaming tables, which helped him avoid getting hit in any vital organs. Didn't stop him from getting hit, but it stopped him from being killed. Yeah. Well, and thankfully, he had the strength to crawl towards an exit, which couldn't have been easy. No, it couldn't have been. He had bullet holes through his neck, through his jaw.

I mean, he was very badly injured. Like you said, he was able to make it to the exit. He leaned on one of the security doors and it fell open. He staggered outside and the doors locked behind him. It's almost like something you'd see in a movie. Yeah, I mean, like Scarface or something, right? It kind of brings something like that to mind. Chen fell down in front of these two shocked cooks.

One of the cooks asked him who shot it. And Mr. Chen answered, Ing and Mock. That's all I can tell. The door locked already. Call ambulance. I mentioned it, right? This guy was a Navy veteran.

Now, he had some serious wounds. You get shot in the neck, the face. Okay. You're going to have to find a way to draw on some amazing strength. And this guy was able to do it. And my thinking, Gibbs, is that,

it probably saved his life, right? This was a place that wasn't open to the public, let's say. You couldn't just walk in. These doors were locked. These cooks couldn't get in. Now eventually, you know, they would have called the authorities. The authorities would have been able to get in, but how long would it have taken? At 12.44 a.m.

A Seattle police officer was on patrol when he got to notice about a bloody man in Maynard Alley South. He drove to the club and he found two officers already there. These officers had been driving by and they saw a man helping Mr. Chin get to the main street. They called an ambulance and the officers put Mr. Chin in a patrol car to ask him some questions. At this point, he was only able to answer yes or no questions, but he told the officers he had seen the men before and that he could identified them. Well, that had to be music to the police's ears, right? Yeah, obviously they know he's shot. They're about ready to uncover this grisly scene to find out that he can identify the shooters. That's a big deal in any case. Yeah. Chen was transferred to Harborview Medical Center

and rushed to surgery. He survived and made a full recovery. Now, meanwhile, the police officers at the scene followed the trail of blood leading from the outside. to the locked front doors. The fire department came and they used a steel bar to pry open the doors. Four officers entered the club and immediately saw blood near the security doors. When they entered the club, they saw a pile of bodies. A wallet was found lying on the floor. I think right off the bat, their thought was, okay, there's been a masker here, but robbery

appears to be the motive. Officer David Ziskin wrote about the crime scene in his memoir. He said, almost as soon as we entered, we saw a number of people lying face down in a curving row on the floor in the lower room. I moved over to them. There were about a dozen victims, all middle-aged Chinese people, at least one was a woman. They had been tied up in the fashion known on the streets as hog-tie. Each person's wrists and ankles had been tied together behind their backs. I looked at each of them to make sure that no suspects were hiding among the victims. I recognized some of these people. They were business people, members of the community, folks I said hello to in restaurants and on the street.

It had to be rough for the police on scene to see people you knew, but also to see that kind of violence. Yeah, I think the scene on its own for anybody would be traumatizing. But add on top of it the fact that, you know, this officer knew some of these people, saw them at restaurants, said hello to them, that would make it even tougher. One homicide detective said of the scene, there was so much blood, we were all afraid of falling in it. It was that thick. Makes you think.

Well, it's also very descriptive, right? It really paints a picture of what this scene must have been like. You've got 13 bodies lying pretty close together. Each one probably shot multiple times. Gibbs, there's going to be a lot of blood. And obviously there was. I mean, when you use the word thick, it really sets the scene pretty quickly. the news spread around town, about 60 people crowded around the alley to watch what was happening. The story first made the papers the next day on February 20th. The community was shocked by the excessive violence of the robbery. So I mentioned it, right? There were 13 victims, not including Mr. Chin, who survived, 13 victims that died.

John Liu, Chong Chin, Ming Wong, Mu Min Mar, Dewey Mar, Jean Mar, Henning Chin, Jim Lung Wong, Hung Fat G, George Mar, Jack Mar, Chin Lee Law, and Lung Wing Chin. So a lot of these people's last name was Mar. I didn't see the connection between all of these people, but my thought is some of these people related. Yeah, I think you're probably right. Twelve of the victims died at the scene and the 13th victim died shortly after arriving at the hospital. A Seattle Times photographer captured the first images of the crime scene. He got into a hotel

across the alley, knocked on some doors and was finally allowed inside a room. He took pictures of officers and medical examiners entering and exiting the club, removing bodies, and, and and loading them up into vans. Willie Mock and Benjamin Ing were arrested within a few hours of the shooting. Probably not too hard to find them, right? Right. Mr. Chin, the surviving victim, identified them. So it was just a matter of finding them.

I don't know that they would have been hiding, right? Because let's go back. My thought is they believed that they had not. left a single witness. So who's going to know? You know, we don't need to go into hiding. There's nobody that's going to be able to identify us. Well, they were wrong. On February 24th, 1983, they were charged with 13 counts of robbery and aggravated first degree murder. Willie Mock was the one to reveal Tony's identity. But Tony was nowhere to be found. So, you know, these first two guys, they weren't too worried.

But they were also caught very quickly. And Chen identified them. My thought Gibbs is by the time Willie had given Tony up, Tony probably knew that he needed to get out of town. Oh, really quick. He was wanted for murder. The court charged him in absentia on March 30th with 13 counts of aggravated first degree murder. And police issued a federal warrant. for his arrest on March 31st.

Benjamin Ing's trial began on August 9th of 1983. He was found guilty of 13 murders on August 25th. So not a long trial. Probably not that hard. No. You've got Mr. Chen. You have an eyewitness. He was sentenced to life without parole because the jury could not agree on the death penalty.

Willie's trial began on September 20th. And it ended on October 1st. This trial went fast too. Yeah. I think for a trial involving 13 murders, it's pretty quick. Yeah. He was found guilty of 13 counts of aggravated first degree murder and first degree assault. And Willie was sentenced to death.

And I found this interesting. You got two separate trials, right? Two separate juries. Willie gets the death penalty. But in Benjamin's trial, the jury couldn't agree on. the death penalty. And I don't have all the particulars around, you know, why that was. But my thought is, okay, if the death penalty is on the books, which obviously it was, how are you going to get a case that is much more deserving of it? Exactly. Now, you might have

had one juror on there who was just so against the death penalty or a couple or whatever it was. I just found it interesting because one guy gets death and the other one doesn't. And they're part of the same exact incident, the same massacre. I'm sure Willie and his attorneys asked the same question. Well, I think it highlights, you know, the importance of the jury makeup and how things can vary from jury to jury. Tony Ng was on the run for 20 months. On June 15th, 1984, he became the third.

387th person on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. So, I mean, that's a big deal. For you to make the FBI's 10 most wanted list, it just shows you how much effort must have been being put into finding Tony Ng. Yeah. He was hiding out. He was captured on October 4th of that year. The RCMP arrested him in an apartment in Calgary's.

Chinatown. An anonymous source left a tip stating that he was living in Calgary. The FBI contacted the RCMP and asked them to investigate. But investigators reportedly had a hard time identifying him because he wore glasses. He had cut his hair shorter. So he tried to change his appearance to get away. Well, 20 months is a long time. I mean, you're talking over a year and a half. by this point, your two cohorts have already been sentenced, right?

One got the death penalty. Gibbs, you're going to do whatever you have to do, not to get caught because you know what's going to happen to you. Yeah. At what, best you're going to get life? At worst, you're going to get death. Yep. At first, Tony tried to trick the police with a fake ID, but eventually he gave himself up.

And again, to me, you're going to go to whatever links you can. can think of. Tony was eventually extradited to Seattle. Prosecutors chose not to pursue the death penalty because Canada would not have extradited him. And Tony's defense agreed not to fight deportation if he could receive a lesser sentence. Tony testified at his trial that he arrived in Canada less than two weeks after the murders. He said he fled to Canada because his mother told him to. all right so you're throwing mom under the bus there pretty quick it might have been the truth but man can you leave your mom out of it yeah don't bring mom into it man he said he had been working in an electronics

factory and living under the alias jim wall he did admit to being at the club admitted to tying up victims and stealing their money but he said willie made him wait near the security doors he didn't shoot anyone but he heard gunshots and he fled with Willie and Ben. He testified that he got $6,000 in exchange for helping with the robbery and that his debt to Willie was cleared. He also said he tried to back out of the robbery, but told the court that Willie threatened to kill him and his family if he didn't do it.

So could be true, could not be true. You know, just like I think you're going to do everything in your power to stay hidden. sure right to elude the law i also think you're going to try to bring every trick in the bag out in court so you know how much can you believe of this i think each person has to make that decision on their own but adding in that you didn't want to do it you know willie threatened you threatened to kill not only you but your entire family could be true could not be true but it's a good way to try to state your case, right? Because you already have these two guys convicted of murder. They're already seen as very bad individuals. So it's believable that maybe they wanted you dead

if you weren't going to participate. Well, and if nothing else, it helps cast you in a better light. You're not in a great light. No. But you're trying to soften it any way you can. On April 19th, 1985, Tony was acquitted of murder, but found guilty on 13 counts of first degree armed robbery and one count of second degree assault. He received a minimum sentence of 35 years with the possibility of parole. Not a bad deal for him. Well, much better than his buddy's got, right? Willie Mock appealed his death sentence to the Washington Supreme Court. In April 1986, they affirmed his sentence by a vote of seven to two. They also denied his motion for reconsideration in August of 86.

In December of that year, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal. On February 17, 1987, Willie got his first day of execution. On May 2nd of 1988, the Washington Supreme Court denied Willie's first personal restraint petition. In October of that year, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal. So their appeals are getting knocked down, which, let's face it, happens more often than not, right? How many cases are appealed to, you know, state Supreme Courts, a lot of them. How many actually go somebody's way, not that many. I think the other thing is that the U.S. Supreme Court denies to hear a lot of things, right?

They're very selective in what they take. And the percentage of what they take is very, very low out of all the appeals and in cases and things that come up before them. Yeah. But I understand why Willie's really pushing, right? I mean, he's looking at death. Yeah, obviously, everybody wants to appeal, right? Their conviction, they want a new trial.

They want things overturned. But you're right, Willie has an even greater sense of urgency. You know, he's got execution dates that are that are being stayed. On November 10th, 1988, Willie filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. He raised 33 different claims under the Constitution. Five days before he was set to be executed, the court ordered an indefinite stay pending resolution of his claims. He added some.

eventually getting to 43 different claims. Willie argued that Benjamin fired most of the fatal shots, but the jury felt like there were enough mitigating circumstances in his case to give him a life sentence over the death penalty. The prosecution argued that Willie planned the crime, which he denied. Willie's attorneys didn't present any mitigating evidence in his favor during the sentencing phase. So I think because of that, the jury found that there just wasn't that same level of mitigating evidence to warrant a life sentence. So we talked about it, right?

What are the differences? Is it just the jury? Well, now it comes out that, you know, maybe Benjamin had a little better attorney. That's what I'm thinking. Or at least an attorney that presented more mitigating evidence to the. that jury, obviously there was something that that jury heard that made them think, no, we're not going to give Benjamin a death sense. But Willie's jury either didn't hear the same things or what they heard didn't matter

or didn't factor the same way. Right. To that jury. But still, 43 claims. That's a lot to review. It is. And it wasn't until June of 1990 that. that Willie's claims were responded to.

40 were said to be without merit. But two of them argued an effective assistance of counsel during the guilt and penalty phases of the trial. The third claim alleged that his due process under Brady v. Maryland was violated when the judge denied him discovery of 800 pages from the WAMI Task Force files. So a hearing across,

occurred in October of 1990, the court found no support for Willie's Brady claim, but they did find that there was mitigating evidence that was not presented at trial. And I think they said at the very least Willie's parents should have been put on the stand, should have been able to, you know, talk about him, tell the jury something, right, to give some type of mitigating evidence. And his attorney just didn't do it. Yeah. Makes you wonder if his attorney didn't take the time to look at Benjamin's trial and how all that laid out before he went into the trial with his defendant.

Yeah, because Benjamin's trial occurred first. Right. So you would think at the very least you would look at it, see what happened, see what mitigating evidence was presented. Maybe I should do that too. Yeah. In January of 1991, the Washington District Court affirmed Willie's conviction and denied his motion for a retrial, but they did agree that he was deprived of his right to effective counsel when they failed to present mitigating evidence at his sentencing hearing. So they vacated his death sentence and they ordered him to be sentenced again.

But his death sentence was reinstated in 1992 by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. So obviously they looked at it and said, Hmm, not enough. We're going back with the sentence of death. Mr. Wyak Chin died in 1993 at the age of 71. There were a number of papers, Gibbs, that talked about how he and his girlfriend had to live under police protection during the trials. Because at that point, Tony Ng was still on the run.

That would be a scary situation. It would be knowing what occurred that night at the, club. You have three individuals. Two of them are in custody and you're set to testify against them. But a third member of the group is on the run, not too hard to think that, well, maybe this person is going to come after me because I'm kind of the linchpin, right, in the state's case or one of the big parts of it. If I'm not here to testify, maybe there is no case. Or a change. Or it. It's a chance. It changes it drastically. Sure. At the very least. It was said that the couple spent their days watching TV, cooking, doing laundry and playing cards with their guards. Apparently, Mr. Chin's security team loved him. They called him Mr. C. They took him on trips to the state parks, the zoo, a winery, and a racetrack. So, you know, you said about the shooting. It's kind of like a scene out of a movie. You know, I picture this as kind of a scene out of the movie. You know, I picture this as kind of a scene out of the movie as well. We've all seen those movies where, you know, somebody is under state protection.

They've got them hold up somewhere in an apartment or, you know, house or wherever it is. They have a security detail. And they're sitting around playing cars, just kind of doing everyday things. Because they got nothing else to do. Yeah. They're in hiding. Ford. It was said that after the WAMI massacre, the gambling scene in Seattle, battle declined. People were afraid to walk around with large sums of cash, especially while Tony was still on the run. But it only took a few years for things to go back to normal. You know, these clubs kept operating. People still wanted to gamble. Yeah. Now, police did begin raiding clubs, making more rest for illegal gambling. But people love the gamble. They do. A lot, a lot of people do.

You know, gambling is a big industry now. You know, a lot of it's legal, much more so than it was years ago. You can gamble legally much easier today. Heck, the NFL has a team in Las Vegas, if that tells you anything. For the longest time, they refused to allow an NFL team in Las Vegas because they thought, you know, it's going to be bad news. Right. This team's going to influence the outcome of games. There's all kinds of reasons behind it.

I mean, think back, you know, 20, 30 years ago. Would you have ever seen an advertisement on TV for gambling? No. Other than like the state lottery. Now you've got draft kings, bet online. I mean, there's all these different companies where, okay, you can bet gamble legally. Yeah. And I know in our area you can drive.

I have to a couple of casinos in a short distance. Sure. Yeah, casinos are everywhere now. In July 1987, a poker player who got angry about losing $5,000 at a gambling club tipped off the police. He said gamblers played $600 hands and the club collected 4% of the winnings. Other patrons came forward to report losing large amounts of money in the same club. So police raided the club.

They seized cash, cards, dice, and poker chips. 10 men and one women were arrested on gambling charges. So sore losers? Well, yeah. Let's face it, right? More people lose than when. That's how casinos make money. I mean, this place is making their money off of the winnings.

But you've got some people who are sore about losing a bunch of money. I'm surprised it took this long for people to come forward. and say, hey, I lost my money. Yeah. You should shut these people down. I'm not happy about it. In 1988, the police raided the Golden Wheel Club. And apparently they'd been after this club for many years.

They arrested two dealers, 17 gamblers and confiscated over $18,000 in cash. In 1992, the Seattle police and the FBI raided six gambling clubs in Chinatown. They arrested eight people and took. over $12,000 in cash. Just doesn't seem like a lot of cash. No, but, you know, you're only arresting eight people. So, you know, people have a thousand, $2,000 on them that they're gambling with. The Wami Club never reopened.

And it was said Gibbs that the front doors always hung kind of slightly open. The glass bricks were covered in dirt and graffiti. Think about it, right? We talked about prohibition. place went back to the 20s or when did I say it started 1909 or whenever it was. It'd been around for a hundred years. Yeah, almost. Or almost close to it.

It had once been kind of the hub of the gambling scene in Seattle. And after the massacre, it was abandoned. Willie Mock was resentenced to life without parole on May 19, 2002. And the judge ruled that. Mock could not be sentenced to death again. According to the Seattle PI, she said she knew some of the victims' relatives were disappointed, but said,

I hope the finality will bring some elements of closure to them. And I understand what this judge is saying. You know, I think there are many family members of victims who want to see a death sentence carried out. Right. I also think there are others who are maybe elated at first about a death sentence,

but grow tired of it as it goes along. Because obviously, you know, you've got so many appeals and you have so many stays, right? The date gets pushed back and push back. That's got to be very tiring. It's got to be very tough because you are kind of forced to relive a lot of things. I think as these milestones crop up. Right. Where maybe you're not as much with a life sentence because, okay, that person goes away.

You never hear from them again. The press doesn't talk about them. There's no, you know, television report that says this person's execution got stayed. I can see it both ways. Tony was denied parole five times because apparently he was not a U.S. citizen. The federal government started. immigration proceedings while he was in prison. In 1997, an immigration judge ordered his deportation, and Tony declined to appeal. He was eligible to appear before the review board after a block of time

passed. His last block of time was completed in September 2006 when he was denied parole. And it was reported Gibbs that more than 12 of the victim's family members attended the hearing to beg the parole board not to free him. Well, that's making a statement. It is. And I think you and I would be right there with them. You know, if we had a loved one who was the victim of a murder, I would be at every hearing,

just begging those people on the parole board not to let this person out. Yeah, same here. I would make statements like they made. Yeah, some talked about, you know, fantasizing, about different events in their life that they missed with their loved ones, holidays, special events, that thought has to always be with you. You know, what would this wedding be if so-and-so was here to share it with us? Yeah.

You know, what would this birthday be? What would Christmas be like? It's extremely tough, man. Yeah, for sure. And you're always going to ask those questions every time it comes around. Yeah. And there's a lot of events in a year. You know, if you really sit down and think about it, that you share with family, that you would be missing out on. In October 2013, the LA Times reported that Tony was scheduled for release in early December 2013. His hearing took place in August of that year.

He was described as a model inmate during his time in prison. Tony was praised for his good behavior for his work ethic. He worked as a teacher's aide and taught drafting skills. Tony also made origami figures, figures for local churches to sell. And apparently the proceeds went to various youth programs. A psychiatric exam concluded that he was at a low risk of reoffence. And I see how they would come up with that conclusion. He's been in for quite a while. If he really was a model of, inmate and he was doing all these good things. He was doing things to, you know, benefit others. Okay. Maybe he's at a low risk of reoffence. I get that. Sure. Yeah. Here's the flip side. We've also seen that designation put on

people who then go on to kill. Too many times. Too many times. The sentence review board made the decision to release Tony from prison. They said he was fully rehabilitated and would likely not reoffend. The board chair told the LA Times it was a tough decision, especially because of the nature of the crime. But I think the board ultimately has to look at what our statutory responsibility is. If we only looked at the crime itself, we wouldn't release anybody. And I don't know if a truer statement has ever been made. You know, if you did only look at the crime and how horrific a murder was or, you know, in this case, the murder of 13 individuals, the attempted murder of a 14th, you would never release this guy. But if you look at the facts and look at, okay,

he didn't pull the trigger. If you factor all of that in, I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but I see how a parole board can come to that conclusion. Sure. Yeah, the fact that, like you said, he didn't pull the trigger and he's spent 28 years in prison at this point. But again, if you only looked at the massacre, you would say, nope, never letting this guy out. On May 14th, 2014, it was announced that Tony had been deported to Hong Kong. So basically, they parole him and then they deport him. The Wami Club remained closed until it burned down on December 24th, 2013. parts of the roof caved in and the wall partially collapsed the owner ended up demolishing and rebuilding

turning it into the louisa hotel which is an apartment building just thinking that's a long time for that building just to sit there abandoned yeah yeah a very long time but it's tough when you own a building where a notorious massacre occur right what are you going to do with it well at the very least you could demolish it. Yeah. I mean, to me, that was kind of surprising that it just sat there for that long. Obviously, nobody was making money off of the space. Now, you think about the fact that, okay, now it's an apartment building, still 13 people were murdered at the site, not the same building. I get that. Still a little eerie. It is to me. 2018 marked the 35 year anniversary of the WAMI massacre. The WAMI Club is a memory now. Many people living in Seattle may not even know

about the tragedy that occurred there many years ago. But for the family members of the victims, Gibbs, and this is what you and I talk about so often, they never forget. Right. People not directly associated with an event, the memory of it fades. That's not true for family members. It never goes way. And it's not that it just doesn't go away. They have to relive it over and over like we talked about again and again when certain milestones come up. So as we wrap up this case, you know, I go back to these three individuals making the decision that they were going to rob this place or rob the people inside this place and rob this place. Okay, we talked about maybe there was some desperation on the part of some of the individuals, they needed money.

But to make the decision that you're going to kill everybody in this place, right? And we said it. They had to have made that decision. Maybe not Tony, but for sure, Willie and Ben had to have made that decision that we can't walk out of here knowing that some of these people know us. We're going to be, you know, instantly recognized and rated out. I just don't get it. man. I understand there's desperation. I understand there's need for money. A lot of people have that.

What they don't necessarily think is that I'm going to solve it by robbing. I'm going to solve it by taking the life of a person or a bunch of people. Yeah. Selfish. Yeah. It's unbelievable to me. Get a second job or get a first job if you don't have that. But if you got that, get a second job. get a second job if you have to. But that's it, Gibbs, for our episode on the Wahmi Massacre. We got some voicemails. You want to check those out? You can see them.

Hey, Bergy Perg. Gibby, what's going on? My name's Kevin. I'm calling from Louisville, Kentucky. I just wanted to call and say I was listening to the most recent podcast about the James Bulsar case. I got to tell you that hits a little close to home because I have got a three-year-old. And I got to tell you, man,

I, anytime we're out in public, I hold on to his hand like it's nobody's business. I will not let him out of my sight. I watch him like a hawk. The case had fascinated me for, well, since I had ever, since the first time I heard about it. And the stuff that you guys talked about, you didn't, what you didn't talk about is even so much worse. That case is just disgusting and depraved. it's absolutely horrible. Also a big fan of what you did on the Melix.

Several, several, several episodes ago. That's really what got me into you guys. That one obviously being a local case of ours. I do appreciate you guys. Every time I listen to you, I've been binging the heck out of you at work. So, guys, thanks a lot. No team.

I'm Team TCAT all the way. I tell you what, you guys have a great one and keep your own time. Pickin. All right. All right. Appreciate the voicemail. Yeah, I knew the James Bulger case Gibbs was going to elicit conversation. It's just the case that's going to. Right. It's a big case. It's a big case. You and I made the decision that we weren't going to talk about every detail of what happened to James.

All right. I think a lot of people appreciated that. Maybe some didn't, but that's what you and I chose to do. it's just a very tough case. And I think it does hit home for a lot of people. Oh, it does. And I remember, like you said, we have been bouncing this one around for a while. Yeah, there was a time where I said, I just didn't want to do it. Yeah, it didn't have for many, many years. Didn't think I had the stomach for it.

But we appreciate the voicemail very much. Hello, my name is Libby, and I was born and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia. At the end of last summer, we moved her family home just over the border in North Carolina. However, we still work in Virginia Beach. My new commute is about 45 minutes in your podcast, the first I have ever listened to. It's perfect for my drive to and from. Listening to someone tell the story is great, but I really enjoy you guys as a team. It's definitely more engaging.

It's nice to have that break off from the story to enter your own thoughts, jokes, and parallels during each show. All right? Love it. I like that too. Well, you and I have said all along, right? We're not trying to take away from the story, but I think sometimes it does help to lighten it a little because some of these are dark. There's just no way around it. Very dark, very disturbing, you know.

So if we can do it tastefully and have a small side conversation or some levity or something like that, we try to where we can. Hi, Mike and Gabi. My name's Hailing, Gorn and raised, Corsicana, Texas, a place where the fruit cake, home true bakery was or still is. Anyway, I just got done listening to episode 205 on true crime all the time. And can I just say, Mike, your daughters were amazing. No offense, Givie, but I did enjoy hearing your daughters and they did an amazing job. I felt like I was listening to Giddy again. But I just wanted to say, y'all are awesome. I listen to y'all all the time. Probably freaks out my boyfriend a little, but hey, so keep on going and keep your time ticking. Bye, guys.

Yeah, his daughters are amazing. They did a great job. They did. And you said that, you know, what's amazing is that it's been 65, 66 episodes since you had the real bad bout of COVID. Oh, yeah. That's hard to believe. It's been that long. That kind of threw me for a loop when she said the episode number. Yeah. So, but thank you very much for the voicemail. We had one thing in the mail, Gibbs, and it was awesome. Someone sent us. for the studio a Richard Ramirez psycho killer bobblehead doll. And it's a good one too. Yeah. Oh my gosh. His teeth are all jacked up. He's given the middle finger.

He's got a pinagram on one hand. It's kind of scary looking. They're all scary because you always point them all towards me. But I really like these psycho killer bobbleheads. Yeah. I don't know why. I think because, you know, we've done an episode on all four that we have. We have BTK, Gacy, Dorothea, Puente, and now Richard Ramirez.

I always think it's interesting because you have like your bubblehead like in the middle. Like you're Johnny Carson or or. Like I'm doing an interview with these people. It's what it kind of looks like. It does. Now it wasn't signed, but the person did relay kind of an interesting story about getting locked in her bathroom while she was listening to the Ramirez episode and it really freaked her out. Yeah, I bet it did. So all right, buddy.

that's it for another episode of true crime all the time so for Mike and Gibby stay safe and keep your own time ticking