Figure in Liu Slaying Gets 20-Year Sentence

A Houston businessman who is the first person to be convicted in this country in connection with the 1984 California murder of Chinese-American journalist Henry Liu was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison on racketeering, drug conspiracy and other federal charges.

Chen Chih-yi, 35, also known as “Yellowbird” and reputed to be the financial leader of the U.S. branch of Taiwan’s United Bamboo gang, received seven concurrent sentences ranging from five to 20 years from Judge Robert Carter in U.S. District Court in New York.

“One of the acts of racketeering the jury found him guilty of was aiding and abetting the murder of Henry Liu, and aiding and abetting fugitives after the murder,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Anne Vitale said after the sentencing. Chen helped plan Liu’s murder in Daly City, a San Francisco suburb, and helped provide the gun used by co-defendant Tung Kuei-sen in the Oct. 15, 1984, killing, Vitale said.

11 Convicted

Chen and Tung are among 11 gang members or gang associates convicted in the New York trial on an assortment of drug, weapons and racketeering counts. Tung and eight others were sentenced last month.

Tung, 31, admitted on the witness stand that he shot Liu, but said he was acting as a patriot. He described the journalist, who had written critically of the Taiwan government, as a “traitor.”

Taiwan’s former military intelligence chief, Vice Adm. Wang Hsi-ling, two of his subordinates and two United Bamboo leaders were convicted in Taiwan in 1985 for roles in the murder.

Tung will be tried in California later this year on a first-degree murder charge, according to San Mateo County Deputy Dist. Atty. Martin Murray, who is handling the case. Murray said he expects Tung to be transferred to California in about a month.

In the New York trial, Tung was acquitted on a racketeering count related to the murder, but was convicted of conspiracy to import heroin and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

Eight other defendants received sentences ranging from 15 months to 25 years, including 15 years on a drug conspiracy charge for Chang An-lo, a former Monterey Park restaurant owner known to fellow gang members as “White Wolf.” Sentencing is still pending for one defendant.

$245-Million Suit

Liu’s widow, Helen, filed a $245-million lawsuit against Taiwan’s government in 1985, alleging that it conspired to murder her husband to silence him. Legal argument continues in that San Francisco case.

Helen Liu said Friday that she had no comment about the convictions and sentencings in New York, except that Tung “will have his trial in San Mateo County soon.”

As for her own lawsuit, Mrs. Liu said she feels “very strong” because “all the facts are there.”

Jeffrey Lazroe, Chen’s attorney, said he will appeal the sentence. The nine defendants sentenced last month have already filed notices of appeal, Vitale said.

“I think justice was done,” Vitale said. “We convicted the leadership of the gang in the United States, and I think we made a severe impact in curtailing their activities.”