S.F. MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO SETTING UP DRUG DEAL

Oakland -- A 25-year-old San Francisco man accused of being a member of an
Asian organized crime syndicate has pleaded guilty to using a telephone to
set up a cocaine deal for the organization's alleged boss.

Andy Li pleaded guilty during an appearance before U.S. District Judge D.
Lowell Jensen on Wednesday. He could receive a sentence of as long as four
years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced July 15.

Li was one of 19 people indicted in 1993 as part of a federal crackdown on
the U.S. operations of the Wo Hop To, a Hong Kong-based criminal society.

His guilty plea leaves only Raymond ``Shrimp Boy'' Chow, an alleged boss of
the Wo Hop To, awaiting trial for criminal charges contained in a 103-page
federal racketeering indictment. Chow, 37, whose first trial for
racketeering ended in a hung jury in 1996, faces retrial May 18. He is
already serving a federal prison sentence for his conviction on a separate
charge of trafficking in firearms.

)1998 San Francisco Chronicle