Joe Boys was a Chinese youth gang founded in the 1960s in San Francisco's Chinatown

Chinatown, San Francisco, California

San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese community outside Asia. Since its establishment in 1848, it has been highly important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants to the United States and North America...

. Joe Boys was originally known as "Joe Fong Boys", after its founder Joe Fong. Fong was a former member of Wah Ching

Wah Ching

Wah Ching is a Chinese American Triad Society and street gang also known as "Dub C" originating in San Francisco during the early 1960s. At the time, Wah Ching was organized into one enormous gang...

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Author Bill Lee

Bill Lee (author)

Bill Lee is a Chinese American and a former member of the San Francisco Chinatown gang that was responsible for the 1977 Golden Dragon Massacre....

, a former Joe Boys gang member, wrote extensively of his life's involvement in the Chinese criminal underworld, and the gang's history in his book Chinese Playground: A Memoir. Joe Boys gained further notoriety after the Golden Dragon massacre

Golden Dragon massacre

The Golden Dragon massacre took place in San Francisco, California, on September 4, 1977, inside the Golden Dragon Restaurant. At 2:40 AM a longstanding feud between two rival Chinese gangs, the Joe Boys and Wah Ching came to head when a botched assassination attempt by the Joe Boys at the Golden...

which stemmed over the sale of fire crackers in china town.

Since the Golden Dragon Massacre, the Chung Ching Yee has disbanded due to police pressure "Gang Task Force" in the San Francisco Chinatown area. Off shoots of the Wah Ching still exist today.