UP FOR AUCTION, IS A VERY RARE, ORIGINAL FBI WANTED POSTER OF WAH MEE MASSACRE KILLER WAI-CHIU "TONY" NG. The Wah Mee massacre was a multiple homicide that occurred during the night of February 18–19, 1983, in which Kwan Fai "Willie" Mak, Wai Chiu "Tony" Ng, and Keung Kin "Benjamin" Ng (no relation) bound, robbed, and shot fourteen people in the Wah Mee gambling club at the Louisa Hotel in Chinatown-International District, Seattle. Thirteen of their victims died, but Wai Chin, a dealer at the Wah Mee, survived to testify against the three in the separate high-profile trials held in 1983 and 1985. It is the deadliest mass murder in Washington state history.
The Louisa Hotel was built in 1909. Paul Woo purchased the building in 1963 for US$160,000 (equivalent to $1,420,000 in 2021). 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 Louisa 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 for the gambling, dancing, and other forms of entertainment. By the 1950s, the club had been renamed to Wah Mee (華美; 'Beautiful China'), 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.
The Wah Mee's regulars included many wealthy restaurant owners, several of whom were among the victims. Many of the victims were members of the Bing Kung Tong. According to witnesses for the subsequent prosecution, 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 had previously attended Cleveland High School. and both worked at the same restaurant in Blaine in 1981. Both were also suspects in prior crimes, including the killing of two Chinese women on July 16, 1982.
Tony Ng (no relation to Benjamin Ng) was brought into the group as a "last-minute recruit". According to the testimony of Tony Ng 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 Club. The day before the robbery, Tony Ng 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 club 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, club dealer Wai Yok Chin, did.
Chin arrived at approximately 11:50–11:55 PM the night of February 18 for his regular shift as a pai gow dealer, which started at midnight. Shortly after his shift began, Chin saw either Willie Mak or Benjamin Ng (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 Ng). Both Mak (or Ng) and Tony Ng 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 Ng or Willie Mak entered the club; Mak stood on the club's upper level with a drawn gun, supervising Benjamin and Tony Ng 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. Wai Chin convinced Tony Ng, 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, Wai Chin heard and was struck by gunfire in the neck and jaw, and lapsed into unconsciousness. Tony Ng testified at his trial that although he had a gun, he never used it and was forced to participate in the robbery under duress. According to Tony Ng, Mak instructed him to take the money and leave after all the victims had been bound; Ng fled across the alley to the Hop Sing Club to wait for Benjamin and Willie. Ng 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 subsequently died of his injuries at the hospital, and Wai Yok Chin was the sole survivor.
According to the police, 32 shots were fired in total; 26 of those were fired from the same .22 caliber gun. Each victim had been shot in the head at least once.
A spokesman for the Hop Sing Tong denied the massacre was an act of war against the Bing Kung Tong; Benjamin Ng and Willie Mak were both members of the Hop Sing, and most of the victims were members of the Bing Kung.
Wai Yok 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 building 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 Louisa Hotel building reopened June 2019, with 85 rental apartments plus street-level retail and restaurant space.
HE IS AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE POSTER, AS ALL COLLECTORS ALREADY KNOW.. THIS POSTER WAS ISSUED JUNE 22ND, 1983. NO ONE HAS IT, AND YOU CAN LOOK LONG AND HARD, AND YOU WILL NEVER FIND HIM. THIS POSTER IS IN BEAUTIFUL, CONDITION, AND HAS BEEN LAMINATED AND SEALED FOR LIFETIME PROTECTION.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH..