1983 robbery and mass murder in Seattle, Washington
The Wah Mee massacre was a mass shooting that occurred during the night of February 18–19, 1983, in the Wah Mee gambling club at the Louisa Hotel in Seattle, Washington, United States. Fourteen people were bound, robbed and shot by three gunmen, 22-year-old Kwan Fai "Willie" Mak, 20-year old Keung Kin "Benjamin" Ng and 25-year-old Wai Chiu "Tony" Ng (no relation). Thirteen of the victims died, but 61-year-old Wai Yok Chin, a former U.S. Navy sailor and Pai Gow dealer at the Wah Mee, survived to testify against the three in the separate high-profile trials held between 1983 and 1985.
Mak and Benjamin Ng were both given life imprisonment, after Mak's initial death sentence was overturned in 1988, while Tony Ng received a 30-year sentence, serving 28 years before he was released and deported to his native Hong Kong in 2014. It remains the deadliest mass murder in the history of Washington State.
Background.
Louisa Hotel and Wah Mee Club.
The Louisa Hotel was built in 1909. Paul Woo purchased the building in 1963 for US$. Both before and after that purchase, it functioned as a single room occupancy hotel (SRO) with street-level spaces for shops and restaurants until 1970, when tightened building codes led to the closure of the SRO portion.
Two nightclubs operated illegally in the basement space of the hotel by the 1920s. The one in the western half, entered from Maynard Alley South, was originally named Blue Heaven. At its height, patrons of many ethnic backgrounds visited to partake in gambling, dancing and other forms of entertainment. By the 1950s, the club had been renamed to Wah Mee (), known for high-stakes gaming. The Wah Mee operated illegally, as contemporary local blue laws required clubs to close before midnight; it was raided by police in 1972. By the 1980s, the Wah Mee had gained a much seedier reputation as a dive bar.
Planning and motive.
Regulars at the Wah Mee included many wealthy restaurant owners, several of whom were among the victims. Many of the victims were members of the Bing Kung Tong out of San Francisco. According to witnesses for the subsequent prosecution, Willie Mak had been planning the robbery for some time, discussing on multiple occasions his idea to rob a gambling club and kill the witnesses. He eventually enlisted the help of Benjamin Ng; both Ng and Mak were born in Guangdong Province, had previously attended Cleveland High School, were members of the Hop Sing Tong. and worked at the same restaurant in Blaine in 1981. Both were also suspects in prior crimes, including the killing of two Chinese women in Beacon Hill on July 16, 1982. Ng was also known to have shot and injured a teenager named Michael Chinn in 1981, after the victim had confronted Ng about him slashing the tires of his car.
Tony Ng (no relation to Benjamin Ng), who had also attended Cleveland High School with them, was brought into the group as a "last-minute recruit". According to Tony's testimony at his 1985 trial, he owed Mak $1,000 after gambling with Mak the night before the massacre. Mak offered to forgive the debt if he would participate in a shakedown at the Wah Mee. The day before the robbery, Tony borrowed $1,000 to repay Mak; instead of accepting the money, Mak drew a gun, shot a bullet at Ng's feet, and threatened to kill Ng and his girlfriend, then destroy the Ng family's restaurant, if Ng went to the police.
Security at the Wah Mee was based in part on a system of passing through two sets of locked doors, which had been used in similar Chinatown gambling dens for generations and had usually been quite effective. The security office at the front of the club had four rows of opaque glass blocks; one block facing the vestibule was transparent so the security guard on duty could identify patrons and staff. The outer set of doors could only be unlocked from the inside by the guard. Mak and his accomplices defeated the system only because they were known and trusted by the people at the club. During the initial investigation, police stated there were no signs of resistance from the victims; a spokesman said he "believe[d] they recognized [the killers]." Their presumed intent in killing all occupants was to leave no witnesses, since club patrons could have readily identified them — as the one survivor, dealer Wai Yok Chin, did.
Massacre.
Sequence.
On the night of February 18, 1983, Chin arrived at approximately 11:50–11:55 PM for his regular shift as a pai gow dealer, which started at midnight. Shortly after his shift began, he saw either Mak or Benjamin (the identity varies depending on the source), both of whom he recognized as club patrons, enter with a man he did not know (later identified as Tony). Both Mak (or Benjamin) and Tony then drew their guns, ordering everyone to lie down on the club's lower level. At the time, there were ten other patrons and staff present besides the three gunmen. Approximately ten minutes later, either Benjamin or Mak entered the club; Mak stood on the club's upper level with a drawn gun, supervising Benjamin and Tony as they methodically hogtied each victim's hands and feet with rope, laying them on their stomachs before proceeding to rob the victims of their wallets and money.
While the robbery was in progress, four more patrons arrived; they too were bound and robbed. Chin convinced Tony, who was tying his bonds, to loosen the rope, as there was "no need to tie so tight, I'm an old man". Once everyone was tied up, Chin heard and was struck by gunfire in the neck and jaw, and lapsed into unconsciousness. Tony testified at trial that although he had a gun, he never used it and was forced to participate in the robbery under duress. According to Tony, Mak instructed him to take the money and leave after all the victims had been bound; he fled across the alley to the Hop Sing Club to wait for Mak and Benjamin. Tony further testified that he heard gunshots after he had already exited the Wah Mee. When Chin came to, he was able to loosen his ropes and staggered outside at 12:44 AM, where he was able to find help from three patrons who had been buzzing to gain entry to the club. After the police arrived, they found twelve dead; one more victim, Wah Mee manager John Loui, subsequently died of his injuries at the hospital, and Chin was the sole survivor.
According to the police, thirty-two shots were fired in total; twenty-six of those were fired from the same .22 caliber gun. Each victim had been shot in the head at least once.
Aftermath.
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The buses come every day. Every day. It's not that I don't want it remembered so that it will never happen again. I just don't want it exploited like that. When there's a terrible murder somewhere else, you don't see a busload of Asians come out to look.
  — Donnie Chin, proprietor of the Sun May souvenir shop
, quoted in 2008 "Post-Intelligencer" article
Following the shooting, the doors to the Wah Mee were padlocked shut, and the contents were not disturbed after the police left. The club was never reopened, although the site was a popular stop for tour buses.
A spokesman for the Hop Sing Tong denied the massacre was an act of war against the Bing Kung Tong; Mak and Benjamin Ng were both members of the Hop Sing, and most of the victims were members of the Bing Kung.Chin, the sole survivor of the massacre, made a full recovery despite an early medical setback and possible assassination threats that forced prosecutors to depose him on videotape prior to the trials. He died in May 1993, aged 71.
The Louisa Hotel continued to host street-level businesses until a fire on Christmas Eve 2013 destroyed the top floor and interior of the building. The Woo family, who still owned the building, decided to demolish the fire-damaged portion (which included all of the former Wah Mee space) while retaining as much of the building as possible to preserve its contribution to the Chinatown Historic District. Demolition work was completed in April 2015. Reconstruction began February 12, 2018, with a blessing by Buddhist monks and a procession. The building reopened June 2019, with eighty-five rental apartments plus street-level retail and restaurant space.
Victims.
All 13 victims, twelve men and one woman, were of Cantonese-speaking Chinese origin, most from Hong Kong or Taishan. Four of the dead, 48-year-old John S. Loui, 54-year-old Hung Fat Gee, 52-year-old Henning G. Chinn and 54-year-old Gim Lun Wong, were employees at the Wah Mee (manager, cook/waiter and doormen respectively). The remaining eight were patrons, identified as 52-year-old restaurateur Moo Min Mar, 47-year-old Jean Bick Chinn, 60-year-old retired postal worker Jack Mar, 68-year-old Kokusai Theater projectionist Dewey Mar, 59-year-old line cook and former U.S. Army sergeant Wing Wong, 60-year-old fisherman and cook Lung Wing Chin, 51-year-old car repair shop owner and part-time employee Chin Lee Law, 47-year-old chef George Mar, and 55-year-old cook and legionnaire of Cathay Post 186 Chong L. Chin. Besides Moo Min Mar and Jean Chinn, who were husband and wife, none of the victims were related. With the exception of Henning Chinn, all victims were members of the Bing Kung Tong.
Arrests.
Chin was able to identify both Mak and Benjamin for the police; the identity of the third gunman was unknown to him.
In the early morning of February 19, the Seattle police went to the home of Benjamin's brother, Stephen, who told them that Benjamin lived with his girlfriend in her parents' home. The police arrested Benjamin at the girlfriend's residence, where he had been sleeping. After obtaining a search warrant, the police returned later that afternoon to find $7,500 in cash, two loaded .38 caliber revolvers, an M-1 rifle and ammunition in the bedroom.
Mak called and turned himself in to police hours later. Shortly after his arrest, he confessed that he had "shot them all", a statement he later repudiated. Police recovered more guns and cash from Mak's home on February 19, but none of the guns matched those used in the murders. An unidentified third man, who accompanied Mak to the surrender, was questioned and released. Two men, including Mak's older brother, were accused of destroying evidence of the crime; Mak had borrowed a car from one of the men the night of the massacre.
Police identified Tony Ng as the third suspect and issued a federal warrant for his arrest on March 31, 1983. After speaking with his mother the morning after the massacre, Tony fled to Canada upon learning that thirteen people had been killed. The Bing Kung Tong offered a US$ reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction. On June 15, 1984, Tony became the 387th person to be listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He was arrested October 4, 1984, in Calgary, Alberta, by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, acting on a tip made to Seattle police. At the time, Tony was working as an electronics assembly technician under the alias Jim Wong, living with a roommate who was unaware of his fugitive status; police suspected he had been partially supported by his family. His extradition to the U.S. was blocked by his Canadian lawyer until American authorities dropped the charges that could have resulted in the death penalty.
Trials and sentencing.
On February 24, 1983, Mak and Benjamin were charged with thirteen counts of aggravated first-degree murder and one count of first degree assault. Benjamin was represented by Seattle defense lawyer John Henry Browne. Mak was represented by the associated counsel for the accused, lawyers Jim Robinson and Don Madsen. The State was represented by William Downing and Robert Lasnik. On March 22, Judge Frank D. Howard set a preliminary trial date for both Benjamin and Mak for April 20, but they were tried separately because the defense believed Mak would blame Ng. Tony was named the third suspect, charged "in absentia" on March 30, 1983, with thirteen counts of aggravated first-degree murder.
Benjamin Ng.
On August 25, 1983, Benjamin was convicted on the thirteen counts of aggravated first-degree murder after two to three hours of deliberation and was sentenced to life in prison without