The Wah Mee massacre was a mass shooting that occurred during the night of February 18–19, 1983, in the Wah Mee gambling club at the Louisa Hotel in Seattle, Washington, United States. Fourteen people were bound, robbed and shot by three gunmen, 22-year-old Kwan Fai "Willie" Mak, 20-year old Keung Kin "Benjamin" Ng and 25-year-old Wai Chiu "Tony" Ng (no relation). Thirteen of the victims died, but 61-year-old Wai Yok Chin, a former U.S. Navy sailor and Pai Gow dealer at the Wah Mee, survived to testify against the three in the separate high-profile trials held between 1983 and 1985.
Mak and Benjamin Ng were both given life imprisonment, after Mak's initial death sentence was overturned in 1988, while Tony Ng received a 30-year sentence, serving 28 years before he was released and deported to his native Hong Kong in 2014. It remains the deadliest mass murder in the history of Washington State.
Background Louisa Hotel and Wah Mee Club
The Louisa Hotel was built in 1909. Paul Woo purchased the building in 1963 for . 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 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 to partake in gambling, dancing and other forms of entertainment. By the 1950s, the club had been renamed to Wah Mee (), 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.
Planning and motive Regulars at the Wah Mee included many wealthy restaurant owners, several of whom were among the victims. Many of the victims were members of the Bing Kung Tong out of San Francisco. According to witnesses for the subsequent prosecution, Willie 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 were born in Guangdong Province, had previously attended Cleveland High School, were members of the Hop Sing Tong, and worked at the same restaurant in Blaine in 1981. Both were also suspects in prior crimes, including the killing of two elderly Chinese women in Beacon Hill on July 16, 1982. Ng was also known to have shot and injured teenager Michael Chinn in 1981, after the victim had confronted Ng about him slashing the tires of his car.
Tony Ng (no relation to Benjamin Ng), who had also attended Cleveland High School with them, was brought into the group as a "last-minute recruit". According to Tony's testimony 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. The day before the robbery, Tony 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 Wah Mee 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, dealer Wai Yok Chin, did.
Massacre
Sequence
On the night of February 18, 1983, Chin arrived at approximately 11:50–11:55 PM for his regular shift as a pai gow dealer, which started at midnight. With Chin, there were five staff members and two patrons inside the Wah Mee. At around midnight, Willie Mak and Tony Ng were allowed entry into the club through a remote buzz-in. For the next thirty minutes, Mak and Tony Ng loitered around the club's upper-level at the bar, the latter ordering tea and chatting with Chin, who shared a few Chinese spare ribs with Tony. Three additional patrons entered during the same timeframe.
Shortly before 12:30 AM, Benjamin Ng entered the club, carrying a paper bag containing pre-cut nylon cords. At this point, all three of the robbers drew their guns, with Benjamin shouting "Hands up!" at those inside the main room, most of whom were gathered around two gaming tables in the lower-level at the club's back. At this time, Mak burst into the security room to the right of the bar, ordering the attending security guard to keep allowing people in on arrival, while Tony checked the back of the club for anyone in the restroom. Once Tony completed the check, the ten people were forced to lay down on their stomachs on the floor of the club's lower level.
Mak remained on the club's upper level with a drawn gun, supervising Benjamin and Tony as they methodically hogtied each victim's hands and feet with rope in the gaming area. Chin convinced Tony, who was tying his bonds, to loosen the rope, as there was "no need to tie so tight, I'm an old man". Benjamin and Tony then proceeded to rob the victims. They stole several wallets, a purse and the money inside a cash register. The valuables were collected in a bag, with wallets being thrown in, while others were emptied and discarded on the floor. During this process, four more patrons arrived and were let inside; they too were tied-up, forced to the floor, and robbed. In the end, the loot amounted to approximately $20,000.
After all money had been stolen from the victims, Mak instructed Tony to take the bag and wait near the main entrance; he fled across the alley to the Hop Sing Club to wait for Mak and Benjamin. Tony testified at trial that although he had a gun, he never used it and was forced to participate in the robbery under duress. At this point, Mak and Benjamin Ng, standing on the steps connecting the club's two levels, opened fire on the victims. Because he had more freedom of movement, Chin was able to move himself under a table, partially shielding him from gunfire, before being hit in the neck and jaw by the initial volley, falling unconscious as a result. Either Mak and Benjamin also returned to the office and killed the cornered security guard. Both gunmen then paced around the victims, firing and reloading several times, not stopping until they had run out of ammo completely. Afterwards Mak and Benjamin exited through the main entrance, met up with Tony and together, the trio fled down Maynard Alley.
Shortly after the robbers escaped, a man arrived to enter the Wah Mee after his work shift ended, but he received no response after using the doorbell and did not see the doorman through the small window into the security office. He was joined by a second customer, who was also confused about the locked entrance, with both men repeatedly ringing the doorbell and banging on the door. The noise caused Chin to slowly regain consciousness. Chin was able to loosen his restraints, crawl up the steps to the ground level, and eventually stand up to stagger through the two entrance doors, collapsing in front of the two patrons. Seeing the bullet wounds on Chin, one man asked who had done this to him, to which Chin responded "[Benjamin] Ng and Mak. That's all I can tell. The door locked already. Call ambulance". One man helped carry Chin away from the club, being spotted by two police officers on South King Road, who called the situation in at 12:44 AM.
Chin was rushed to Harborview Medical Center and questioned along the way in the ambulance, again confirming he knew two of the perpetrators. Meanwhile, police used a prybar from a fire department vehicle to force open the entrance doors. At around 1:30 AM, four officers entered the Wah Mee and found twelve dead; one more victim, Wah Mee manager John Loui, subsequently died of his injuries at the hospital, and Chin was the sole survivor. The news about the shooting spread quickly and over sixty people had gathered outside the cordoned-off police operation at the time of entry.
According to the police, thirty-two shots were fired in total; twenty-six of those were fired from the same .22 caliber gun. Each victim had been shot in the head at least once.
Victims All 13 victims, twelve men and one woman, were of Cantonese-speaking Chinese origin, most from Hong Kong or Taishan. Four of the dead, 48-year-old John S. Loui, 54-year-old Hung Fat Gee, 52-year-old Henning G. Chinn, and 54-year-old Gim Lun Wong, were employees at the Wah Mee (manager, cook/waiter and doormen respectively). The remaining nine were patrons, identified as 52-year-old restaurateur Moo Min Mar, 47-year-old Jean Bick Chinn, 60-year-old retired postal worker Jack Mar, 68-year-old Kokusai Theater projectionist Dewey Mar, 59-year-old line cook and former U.S. Army sergeant Wing Wong, 60-year-old fisherman and cook Lung Wing Chin, 51-year-old car repair shop owner and part-time employee Chin Lee Law, 47-year-old chef George Mar, and 55-year-old cook and legionnaire of Cathay Post 186 Chong L. Chin. Besides Moo Min Mar and Jean Chinn, who were husband and wife, none of the victims were related. With the exception of Henning Chinn, all victims were members of the Bing Kung Tong.
Arrests Chin was able to identify both Mak and Benjamin for the police; the identity of the third gunman was unknown to him.
In the early morning of February 19, the Seattle police went to the home of Benjamin's brother, Stephen, who told them that Benjamin lived with his girlfriend in her parents' home. The police arrested Benjamin at the girlfriend's residence, where he had been sleeping. After obtaining a search warrant, the police returned later that afternoon to find $7,500 in cash, two loaded .38 caliber revolvers, an M-1 rifle and ammunition in the bedroom.
Mak called and turned himself in to police hours later. Shortly after his arrest, he confessed that he had "shot them all", a statement he later repudiated. Police recovered more guns and cash from Mak's home on February 19, but none of the guns matched those used in the murders. An unidentified third man, who accompanied Mak to the surrender, was questioned and released. Two men, including Mak's older brother, were accused of destroying evidence of the crime; Mak had borrowed a car from one of the men the night of the massacre.