Police Joined Blood Ritual to Infiltrate Gang

NEW YORK — Three undercover policemen took part in a bizarre blood ritual to infiltrate an Asian underworld gang accused of racketeering and murdering an exiled Taiwanese journalist in the United States, a federal court heard today.

A videotape of the ceremony was played by prosecutors in the Manhattan Federal Court trial of 11 reputed members of the United Bamboo gang.

A government witness, New York City Detective Robert Chung, told the jury of the candlelight ceremony at a hotel in Houston last year.

He said that he and two other officers were initiated into the United Bamboo by one of the defendants, Chen Chih-Yi, also known as Yellowbird, a leader of the United Bamboo in the United States.

Wine and a Needle

Chung said that a table was prepared in the hotel room with a ceremonial bowl of rice, two candlesticks, a wine glass, a bottle of white wine and a needle. He said that Chen told them that they would have to make five vows.

One was to the sky, one to the earth, one to their parents, the fourth to the United Bamboo gang, and a final one to a legendary Chinese figure who represents loyalty.

Each of the three men made their vows holding an incense stick, after which Chen pricked his finger and put several drops of his blood into a glass of white wine. Each of the three officers did the same.

Drank From Glass

They then each drank from the glass of wine mingled with blood.

Afterward Chen told the three men that they would be called the “Dragon Branch” of the United Bamboo. Chung would be called “Black Dragon,” and one of the other detectives would be called “White Dragon.”

The 11 defendants are charged in a federal racketeering indictment with operating an international conspiracy involving drug trafficking, prostitution, gambling and murder.

Several of the defendants are accused of murdering Henry Liu, a journalist who was shot at his home in California in 1984. He had written a critical biography about Taiwan’s president.

Federal prosecutors allege that the accused murdered Liu at the suggestion of high Taiwanese officials as a way of ingratiating themselves with the government on the Nationalist Chinese island.