For 12 of the 14 years I’ve been reporting on Steven Wong I’ve had a secret weapon—Anne Collins, the publisher and editor of this book. Mere words cannot express my gratitude to Anne for her genius as an editor, her vision as a journalist, and her egoless patience as a teacher. Anne edited my first story for Saturday Night magazine in 1992, back when Steve was still planning his death. Two years later, just after she worked her magic on “The Search for Steven Wong,” she began urging me to write Paper Fan. When I took her up on that challenge in 1999, I knew that without her help there would be no book. For four years—through many drafts and trips overseas—Anne kept me going, then gave me the critical help I needed to cross the finish line. If I’ve had any success writing Paper Fan, I share it with Anne. If I’ve made any mistakes, they are my own.
If Anne Collins was my secret weapon, then my hidden collaborator was my wife, Leslie Hoffman Gould. Leslie’s cameo appearances in these pages do not begin to reveal her ubiquitous presence in my research and writing. Since the age of 20 I have done nothing of value independent of Leslie; she was crucial to every plan I executed in my hunt for Steve and was behind every page I wrote. Leslie toured the underworld with me, read drafts of chapters, transcribed interview tapes, took long distance calls from me at 3 A.M. when I was in Asia, and sought out and met with cops who saved my skin—all while she worked a full-time job. My brave sidekick and constant helpmate has always seen the good side to my mishegoss.
Certain lawmen who have been of particular assistance to my research have requested that I not single them out from their colleagues in these acknowledgments. Others, because of the classified nature of their work, have asked not to be named at all. I thank all the men and women in law enforcement, both retired and active, who over the years both helped advance my knowledge of organized crime and protected my life. Some of them are listed below, followed by their assignments at the time they helped the reporting that has contributed to this book:
In the United States: Don Yeowell (Seattle Police, Intelligence Division); John Scott (U.S. Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Investigations, Seattle); Robert Hughes (U.S. Department of Justice, Mediator, Seattle); Edward Madonna and Gary Liming (Drug Enforcement Administration, Seattle); Daniel Foley, Richard Moses, Wayne S. Hom, Tom Perdue, and Felix Thieu (San Francisco Police, Gang Task Force); John Lee and W. Earl Humphry (Immigration and Naturalization Service, Investigations, San Francisco); Geoffrey Anderson (U.S. Department of Justice, San Francisco Strike Force); Diane B. de Forest (U.S. Department of Justice, Organized Crime Strike Force, San Francisco); Michael Yamaguchi (U.S. Attorney, San Francisco); Louie Valdivia (U.S. Customs Service, Intelligence, Terminal Island, California); Samuel Blake (Immigration and Naturalization Service, Investigations, San Francisco); Barry Mawn (FBI, San Francisco); Jones Moy (Monterey Park Police, Asian Crime Intelligence); Randy Quan and Dan Parks (Los Angeles Police Department, Organized Crime Intelligence Division); Tony Lanzaratta (Los Angeles Police Department); Terry Cramer (Orange County Police); Marcus Franks (Westminster Police, Asian Task Force); Jack Willoughby (New Orleans Police, Asian Task Force); Omar Longoria (U.S. Department of Justice, Intelligence Liaison Officer); Phil Baridon (U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.); Charles Smith (New Jersey State Police, Intelligence, Asian Crime Group); Eric Kruss (FBI, New York).
In Canada, from the Vancouver City Police: Bill Marshall (Chief); Don Keith (Head of the Vancouver Drug and Vice Squad); Martin Turner, Bill Chu, Peter Ditchfield, Bobby Cooper, and Andy Nimmo (Asian Crime Squad); Scott Cooke and Viggo Elvevoll (Asian Based Organized Crime, Intelligence); Guy Pollock (Organized Crime, Intelligence); Scott Driemel (Internal Investigations); Brian Honeyburn and Tom Ritchie (Southside Crime Squad); Bob Law and Merne McClennan (Major Crime); Tom Span (patrol). From the Royal Canadian Mounted Police: Peter Eakins and Kirk Davies (Commercial Crime Squad); Jerry Moloci, Karel Waversveld, Murray Dauk, Mike Hiller, and Keith Hildebrandt (Unit One); Rick Aselton and Fred McCandie (Drug Section, Street Crew); Roy Bergerman and Serge Martell (Drug Intelligence); Glen Hooper (Immigration Squad); Garry Clement, Garry Lagimodiere, and Paul Brown (Hong Kong Liaison Officers); Mike Russell and Sharon McWilliams (patrol). From Revenue Canada: Bill McKissock (Chief, Enforcement Policy and Liaison, Interdiction Division, Ottawa). From Criminal Intelligence Service: Ernest Poupore (Ottawa). From the Department of Justice: Peter Eccles, Jim McBride, Harry Wruck, and Mark Levitz. And from the Canadian Embassy in the Philippines: Martin Tremblay (Intelligence Officer and Second Secretary).
In the Philippines, from the National Bureau of Investigations: Reynaldo Wycoco (Director); Philip Pecadre, Virgilio Mendez, and Rommel Ramirez (agents); Moises Tamayo (Organized Crime Intelligence); Ricardo Diaz (Chief of Interpol for the Philippines); Danilo Mendez (NBI liaison). From the Armed Forces of the Philippines: Victor Corpus (Chief of Intelligence). Mary Ong (former agent, Philippine National Police and Royal Hong Kong Police). As detailed in this book, my relationship with Senator Panfilo Lacson, former head of the Philippine National Police, has grown complex as it has evolved. I am very grateful for the time and help he offered me in 2001, and for his willingness to meet with me on numerous occasions since, both in Manila and Vancouver.
In Hong Kong, from the Royal Hong Kong Police: Stephen Vickers and Ken Taylor (Criminal Intelligence Bureau); Bob Youill (Organized Crime and Triad Bureau).
In Cambodia, from the Anti-Corruption Unit: Secretary of State Sum Manit (former head of the National Authority to Combat Drugs). Immigration: Captain Khim Keo. From Cambodian National Police: Colonel Chea Kimly (Deputy Chief).
In the Netherlands, Arie Bax and Toon Schalks from Criminal Intelligence Service.
Many academics, politicians, ambassadors, journalists, NGO workers, defense lawyers, businesspeople, and organizations have also been of great assistance to me.
I thank the Canada Council for the non-fiction grant that helped me pursue this project to its end. My colleague and friend Daniel Wood put me in touch with Cam Sylvester, who gave me invaluable background for my research in Cambodia. Gordon Longmuir, former Canadian ambassador to Cambodia, deepened my understanding of that nation and paved the way for my arrival in Phnom Penh. Without the support of the CBC, my first encounter with Steve in 1990 would not have come off as it did; I thank David Paperny, John Collins, Sue Rideout, and Graham Ritchie for their help in that unusual interview. My CBC colleague and friend Helen Slinger has been with me on my journalism ride ever since, always ready with words of encouragement. Without the cooperation of Prudential’s vice president, Jim Gallagher, and Prudential’s Vancouver lawyer, Jo Anne Carmichael, my very productive trip to the Philippines in 1993 would have been impossible. Defense lawyers Ian Donaldson and Richard Israels (now deceased) offered me unique perspectives into the minds of their organized crime clients over the years, and made invaluable introductions for me.
I thank the following people for their great assistance to me during my trip to Cambodia in 1999/2000: Canadian Ambassador Normand Mailhot; Embassy Development and Commercial Officer Bunleng Men; Phnom Penh Post Editor-in-Chief Michael Hayes; Phnom Penh Post reporters Phelim Kyne, Dan Woodley, and Yin Soeum; Wetlands International Officer Matt Wheeler; Sari Nissi, Program Officer, International Organization for Migration; Hunter Weiler, Cambodia Liaison, Fauna & Flora International; Noun Bunthul, cameraman and reporter of the National Television of Cambodia; Pierre-Yves Clais, a former French Foreign Legion officer who helped fill me in on the underside of Cambodian life; François Pelissier, Sampan Tour & Travel, who introduced me to Clais; Senator Khieu San, Vice-Chairman of the Senate Legislation Committee; Khieu San’s wife, Neang Chhayana, Vice Chairman of Drugs Registration; Chhanrith Sok Cham, special assistant to Prince Norodom Ranariddh; Has Saren, Funcinpec Member of the National Assembly; Sam Rainsy, leader of the Sam Rainsy Party; Sam Kanitha, Funcinpec MNA and Secretary of the Commission on Human Rights; and Dr. Michel Tranet, Under Secretary of State in charge of restoring Angkor Wat.
Without Jerome Tang’s assistance, guidance, and protection, my excursion to Manila during the tumultuous spring of 2001 would not have been as journalistically fruitful. He has worked hard ever since to keep me abreast of events and his point of view on them. Without the kind assistance of his daughter, Janise, I would never have met Jerome. Mary Ong’s lawyer, Leonard de Vera, gave generously of his time during my 2003 trip to Manila. De Vera and Mary Ong allowed me the great honor of meeting Dante Jimenez, the founding chairman of Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption. Danny Devnani, former gambling partner to President Joseph Estrada, filled me in on what he personally knew of the dark side of the Estrada regime. I especially thank my Manila fixer during EDSA III, Jose Luis, without whose help I would never have found my way through the Manila underworld. Yvonne Chua, training director at the Philippines Center for Investigative Journalism, put me in touch with Army Intelligence Chief Corpus, and Fe Zamora, an Internet reporter for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, helped arrange my first meeting with Mary Ong.
I am also grateful to those tireless workers who helped take this book from manuscript to polished print: Liba Berry, copyeditor; Sarah Wight, proofreader; and Pamela Murray, managing editor at Random House Canada.
A final and special place in these acknowledgments goes to Sheila Coronel and her entire staff of reporters and researchers at the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. The PCIJ is an institution whose competence and bravery in the face of utmost danger are unsurpassed in any country in the world. At this writing, 44 journalists have been murdered in the Philippines since 1986, seven of them in 2003—a horrendous record equaled only by the narco-state of Colombia. Through the connivance of politicians, the courts, and the police, not one of the murderers has been brought to trial. Yet the band of heroes at the PCIJ keeps at their trade with a noble motto in their hearts: “You cannot have great Filipino journalism without a great Filipino audience.” I’ve spent a decade studying the Philippines, and believe that the Filipino people—patient, kind, and optimistic in the face of endless betrayal—are truly great. Someday they will raise up leaders that will match their greatness.