2002 TRIPLE SLAYING LINKED TO FEUD OVER ECSTASY TRAFFICKING

Federal Records Reveal Rivalries Of Alleged Smugglers

A 2002 triple slaying in a Union City home has been linked to a feud
between two top Bay Area drug traffickers, federal court records show.

The disclosure came amid the arrests of five people last week and
searches of homes in Oakland, Danville, Hillsborough, San Mateo and
Burlingame. Beginning in 2000, the five suspects smuggled large
quantities of ecstasy into the United States, hiding the illegal
party drug in high-end imported pianos, BMW transmissions and leather
sofas, authorities said.

A sixth suspect in the ecstasy-trafficking case, Kai Zheng, 37, of
Canada, is believed to have orchestrated a triple slaying in Union
City four years ago, wrote Drug Enforcement Administration Special
Agent Kenny Lee in a 62-page affidavit filed in U.S. District Court.
An informant told federal investigators that Zheng, who officials
believe fled to Canada three years ago, arranged the Union City
slayings to eliminate a rival in the local drug trade.

On Sept. 12, 2002, Gingfan "Johnny" Li, 33; his 26-year-old fiancee,
Deborah Yao; and Li's friend, 32-year-old Kevin Kwok, were found dead
in the living room of the couple's rented Compton Court home in Union City.

Each died from blunt force trauma during a violent struggle, and
investigators said at the time that the three appeared to have been
targeted by assailants who opened drawers and removed heater vents in
a possible search for something.

A piano believed to have been involved in ecstasy smuggling was found
inside the home after the killings, according to the DEA affidavit.

Investigators later learned that both Li and Kwok had been "heavily
involved" in trafficking ecstasy, documents indicate.

Hillsborough resident Johnson "Uncle Hong" Mai, 43, the alleged
ringleader, and a cohort smuggled at least 906 kilograms -- or more
than 3 million individual doses -- of ecstasy into the Bay Area, Los
Angeles and Houston, authorities said.

In the Bay Area, Mai is known as the source of pink-colored ecstasy
tablets that bear "the imprint of a lady or a woman's face" an
informant told police, according to court records.

One of the defendants in the ecstasy case believed that Zheng "had
orchestrated the murders after Zheng learned that Li wanted to kill
him in order to be the sole distributor of Mai's (ecstasy)," the
affidavit said.

Although an informant reported seeing Mai and Zheng search Li's home
before police arrived, another person may have actually committed the
slayings, authorities said in court records. Zheng fled to Canada in
April 2003 because of talk about his apparent role in the killings
and "subsequent pressure from law enforcement," according to the affidavit.

The five people arrested in the drug case are Mai; his wife, Lisa
Lee, 42; Eric Yu Heng Cai, 34, of Burlingame; Zhi En Huang, 37, of
San Mateo; and David Yuen, 37, of Oakland.