Past Work of Asian Crimes Unit Is Focus of Allegations : LAPD: Murder, bribery investigations that name a detective open door on world of Koreatown hostess bars.

When LAPD officials were informed by county sheriff’s deputies that Detective William Chul Jang was the prime suspect in the shotgun slaying of a woman caught up in the seductive world of Koreatown hostess bars, they decided to investigate the baby-faced officer themselves.

Wiring a hidden recorder to a well-heeled Korean businessman, police say, they heard Jang explain how a $3,000 cash payment could save him from being prosecuted on spousal battery charges and clear up other legal problems. Jang, still the only suspect named in the May 13 execution-style murder, was charged in September with soliciting a bribe after investigators recovered an envelope with $3,000 in marked bills in his briefcase.

The two incidents were not the first allegations of trouble involving Jang, 32, who has proclaimed his innocence and is free on $100,000 bail while awaiting trial. LAPD officials received information in February, 1991, that the 10-year LAPD veteran had allegedly accepted a $5,000 bribe and engaged in acts of misconduct at Koreatown hostess bars, confidential LAPD records show.

Jang was never thoroughly investigated by his superiors after they were informed of the allegations, LAPD Internal Affairs documents state. Instead, he was promoted to detective.

The Jang case also is hardly the first involving alleged criminal activity and misconduct by LAPD and other local and federal law enforcement authorities in the murky, fast-money world of Koreatown hostess bars, where patrons can easily plunk down $1,000 in a single night on expensive liquor and the companionship of female hostesses in intimate, private booths.

Longtime Allegations of Unit’s Misconduct

In recent years, the confidential documents show, accusations have swirled around the LAPD’s Asian Crime Investigation Section, some of whose members allegedly accepted free liquor at hostess bars and provided the muscle for business owners collecting on bad checks.

In 1993, an LAPD patrol sergeant, Richard R. Robinson, was fired after a review panel found him guilty of collecting on bad checks for Koreatown business owners and intimidating a Koreatown businessman being extorted by a Santa Ana police officer. Robinson was never criminally charged. But the other officer, Sang H. Masog, was convicted of felony extortion in federal and state courts--although he avoided jail by working undercover in Koreatown for the FBI, court documents and sources state.

Masog extorted some of his victims and staged a fake immigration raid at a hostess bar in the company of an INS special agent and his live-in Korean girlfriend, documents show. In a separate case, the woman, Esther Huisuk Chong, pleaded guilty to charges of forgery and grand theft of $134,000. The agent, Robert Joseph Harvey--who remains a supervising criminal investigator for the agency--is awaiting INS discipline even though more than two years has passed since the incidents, INS officials said.

Illegal activities in Koreatown involving official corruption have quietly festered, some police sources contend, because Koreatown is an insular, low-profile community where few officers can communicate directly with business owners--and those who do have sometimes exploited the situation or have faced tempting offers to skirt or ignore the law. Cracking down on such misconduct, the sources say, has never been a top LAPD priority.

“This would never be allowed to happen on the Westside,” one source said. “The department has had all these warning signs. Why has this been allowed to go on?”

The case of Jang and other officers who have allegedly engaged in misconduct raises questions about LAPD follow-up and investigation. It also provides a window into the little-known, fast-paced world in which they operate.

Across Southern California, increasing numbers of Asian businessmen have spawned the growth of hostess bars--establishments that cater to the needs of men desiring the kind of night life they enjoy in their homeland. Although the vast majority of these clubs are financed by hard-earned savings, large sums of “dirty money” have flowed in from the Korean criminal underworld to finance a plethora of hostess bars, restaurants and dance clubs that have recently sprouted up, law enforcement sources say.

Clubs Flourish in Koreatown

The largest concentration of hostess clubs is in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, where smoke-filled, neon-lit bars with names such as High Class, Charming and Club Joy replicate the atmosphere of Seoul’s bustling Kang-Nam “room salon” district. As is Korean custom, liquor is purchased by the bottle, with prices ranging from $150 for Crown Royal whiskey to $1,500 for cognac.

Although authorities insist that there is not a “historical pattern” of criminal activity in Koreatown, they acknowledge that the combination of liquor and large sums of money exchanged at hostess bars has created definite problems.

“In any area where we have alcohol and those kinds of activities, there’s a potential for criminal activity,’ said LAPD Capt. Tom Lorenzen, chief investigator for the Internal Affairs Division.

Within the Koreatown hostess bar scene, according to business owners and police sources, Jang is a well-known fixture.

The detective is charged with soliciting a bribe Sept. 8 after visiting businessman Jung Sik Kim in the Wilshire Division lockup where he was held after being arrested on charges of spousal battery. Kim told police that Jang--a detective in the LAPD’s Southwest Division who had no official reason to meet Kim--saw him twice in jail and picked him up, along with a sister of his best friend, upon his release.

During the ride, Kim told police, the woman said he could remedy his legal problems by paying $3,000 in cash to Jang.

Toting an envelope with cash provided by police, Kim met Jang four days later at the Cotton Club, a popular Koreatown nightspot on 8th Street where sources say the officer worked as a security “consultant” and bouncer for owner Shin Soo (Erik) Kim.

(Jang denied in a recent interview that he worked for Kim, saying only that their relationship was personal.)

At a table inside the colorful club, Jung Sik Kim allegedly handed Jang a photo-mailer envelope with $3,000 in $20 bills. Unknown to Jang, the conversation was being taped by a recorder strapped to Kim’s body.

During that conversation, police said, Kim asked how the money would be spent. Jang replied that “$2,000 will be paid to INS because of his status and visa extension status,” Internal Affairs Investigator Byong Kwon testified at a court hearing.

“Mr. Kim told me that Mr. Jang was explaining the $1,000 would be paid to the detective who handled Mr. Kim’s domestic violence arrest case,” Kwon said.

Police say Jang was misleading Kim and intended to keep the cash.

Later that evening, as bar owner Kim drove Jang into the club parking lot after a visit to a nearby health club, Internal Affairs Division investigators swooped down on their fellow officer. Kim was also arrested on charges of carrying a semiautomatic handgun in his car.

Inside Jang’s briefcase--which he refused to allow the officers to open before receiving a telephonic search warrant--investigators found the envelope with the $3,000. The envelope, they said, contained Jang’s fingerprints.

Also in the briefcase, which was recovered from Kim’s car, was a film script titled “Koreatown” and two semiautomatic handguns with hollow-point rounds, according to court documents.

Kim, who prosecutors fear might leave the country before testifying at trial, is due to provide court testimony at a pretrial hearing Monday.

Murder of Woman From Hostess Bar

LAPD officials had begun investigating Jang after they were informed by the Sheriff’s Department that he was a suspect in the murder of Kyong Sue Kim, 42. Her body was found near Mt. Wilson on May 13, hours after she was with Jang at a hostess bar.

“Jang is the last person who we know was with her,” said sheriff’s Detective Joseph Martinez.

Jang told detectives that he met Kyong Sue Kim at the High Class club on Beverly Boulevard so she could pay him $1,000 he had lent her. In an interview with The Times, Jang declined to explain the loan.

“It’s a long story,” he said, “and I don’t want to get into it because it’s under investigation.”

Asked if he killed Kim, Jang quickly replied: “No.”

The club owner, Son Hui Lee, said the victim was waiting inside when Jang entered about 11:30 that night. They went through the swinging doors of a semiprivate booth with black velvet walls and sat on a plush couch surrounding a table.

As Korean disco music filled the club and a glittering ball spun from the ceiling, Jang spent about $200 on half a bottle of Crown Royal, several beers and two plates of dried squid and peanuts. He left about 1:30 a.m., the owner said, and the woman followed about five minutes later.

The woman, who met Jang several years ago at a Koreatown bar, allegedly had ties to area gamblers, loan sharks and drug dealers, law enforcement sources say.

“Her background indicates that she had some associations with other persons involved in criminal enterprises,” said sheriff’s Detective Rich Graves.

One LAPD source questions why the department waited until Jang was a murder suspect before launching a probe.

“It’s a shame,” the source said, “that it took somebody’s life for them to finally do something. It’s not like they never had allegations surrounding this guy.”

Four years earlier, commanders in the Asian Crime Investigation Section--known as ACIS--where Jang then worked, were told of the allegations about the bribe and misconduct at hostess bars.

On Feb. 22, 1991, LAPD officers and investigators with the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control were staking out Club Joy, a hostess bar on Beverly Boulevard. About 11 p.m., according to the LAPD documents, Officer Won Chu entered the bar undercover.

“Chu observed that . . . Jang [and his partner] were seated with two young Korean females” and had “a number of alcoholic beverages on the table,” the documents state.

The officers, who were wearing their guns and badges, asked Chu his plans. “Chu stated that he was duty-bound [to report them] and advised them to immediately leave,” the documents show.

Chu reported that Jang paid only $130 of a $200 tab. Officers are forbidden to accept freebies or special discounts.

Outside, investigators in a van saw Jang, his partner and two women enter what appeared to be an unmarked LAPD car.

The car’s driver, apparently noticing the van in pursuit, raced along Oxford Avenue about 50 m.p.h. and lost the van, the documents state.

The next day, Feb. 23, the officers told then-Lt. Margaret York, who supervised the Wilshire Division detective unit and now commands Internal Affairs.

York was also informed that a reputed Koreatown cocaine dealer, Ki Tae Kim, told Wilshire officers early in 1991 that he and a friend had paid Jang and his partner a $5,000 bribe to “stop harassing” them, documents show.

“Kim told [Detective Jim] Freund that he witnessed the transaction and that the transaction occurred sometime in November or December, 1990,” according to the documents.

York asked then-Capt. Greg Berg, who commanded the division that included the Asian crime section, to investigate, the documents state. About one month later, Berg told York a probe by Jang’s fellow Asian crime section officers found no wrongdoing, the records state.

But, according to LAPD sources, Wilshire Division officers kept receiving reports about alleged misconduct by Jang and other members of the unit. The officers were accused of taking free food and liquor and collecting on bad checks for business owners, documents show.

Wilshire commanders notified Internal Affairs, which launched its own probe Aug. 14, 1991. That probe concluded that Jang had not been thoroughly investigated.

“Half of the key witnesses had not been interviewed,” the Internal Affairs documents state, “and evidence relative to the investigation had not been collected.”

Jang was investigated by Asian crime section Detective Susumu Masuda, who acknowledged to Internal Affairs investigators that he did not interview the women who were with Jang and his partner or any employees at Club Joy.

Masuda, the documents show, also failed to aggressively pursue the most serious accusation--the bribery allegation made by Ki Tae Kim, the reputed cocaine dealer.

“Masuda did not recall if he asked Jang any questions relative to taking any money from Kim,” the documents state.

Masuda told investigators that he called a friend of Kim and contacted his parole officer. However, Masuda could have found Kim had he run his name on the LAPD’s criminal computer.

When Internal Affairs investigators ran Kim’s name, they discovered that he had been in Chino state prison when Masuda conducted his probe. By then, the trail had gone cold. Kim had been released and his whereabouts were unknown.

Masuda declined to talk to The Times about the investigation. His ex-supervisor, Lt. Robert Swanson, the former Asian crime section commander, did not return calls for comment. York, now a captain, also declined to comment.

Probe Allegedly Called Off

Masuda told Internal Affairs investigators that he had been told by Swanson not to “do any more” regarding Kim, the documents state. “Masuda indicated that had Swanson directed him to continue the search for Kim, his efforts would have been more thorough.”

The Internal Affairs documents say Swanson told investigators he was following Berg’s orders.

Questioned by Internal Affairs officers, Berg said he was unaware that his detectives failed to contact the key witnesses or investigate the bribery allegation, the documents state.

Berg, now a commander supervising the LAPD’s narcotics section, told The Times that his officers thoroughly probed the Club Joy incident.

Berg also said he would want to follow up allegations such as the $5,000 bribe. “We would obviously want to talk to somebody who made a comment like that,” he said.

At that time, however, Berg told investigators “he would not take a second- or third-hand allegation from some petty thug.”

Jang told The Times that he was not aware of any past Internal Affairs investigation against him.

But records show that Jang gave a statement to Internal Affairs in 1991 in which he admitted being at the bar with a female friend but denied any wrongdoing.

Former LAPD Assistant Chief David Dotson, who oversaw Internal Affairs when it investigated Jang, said in an interview that there were “constantly resurfacing suspicions” about Asian crime section officers.

Most of those allegations ended in a morass of charges and countercharges, with the investigations being dropped, Dotson said. But given the frequency of the accusations, he added, he suspected that some were true.

“My gut feeling was that [Asian crime section] people were flying a little bit too high,” Dotson said. “They were accepting what they just viewed to be the perks of the job. But they were probably obligating themselves to people in the process.”

Dotson also blamed LAPD brass. “We pushed these Asian unit people into close relationships with the Asian community,” he said, “and that put them open to these types of allegations.”

The Asian Crime Investigation Section was established more than 15 years ago to investigate growing crime reports in the local Asian community. But it often served as a quasi-community relations unit that “lacked a fixed caseload,” Berg said.

Capt. Dan Koenig, the current commander of the Asian crime section, said things have changed. Acknowledging that even he had “mixed dealings” with the unit in the past, he said it now primarily handles murders and violent crimes.

This year, Koenig added, the unit has solved half of its 280 cases.

“What they do today,” the captain asserted, “is good, solid police work.”

Times staff writer Peter Y. Hong contributed to this story.