banya busted

This week in New York, eleven members of the Banya Organization, a powerful Asian organized crime gang, were arrested by a task force of FBI, NYPD, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators on federal racketeering charges: Feds Bust Alleged Asian Organized Crime Ring.

According to prosecutors, the ten-count indictment charged 13 members of the gang with extortion, kidnaping, running an illegal gambling business and narcotic distribution. The gang is also accused of trafficking in ketamine, a horse tranquilizer and hallucinogen known as the club drug "Special K."

The Banya Organization, which apparently raked in at least $10 million in illegal profits, is based in Chinatown in Manhattan and Flushing, but operates throughout the city. Members of the organization originally came from the Banya Village in the Fuchow region of China. More on the bust here: FEDS' KUNG POW!