F I R S TP R E V649NEXTLAST

The Assassination of Fong "Little Pete" Ching
Fong Ching arrived in San Francisco in 1874, penniless and was educated at an English-speaking mission school. He started a legit shoe business but made his real money through extortion, horse race-fixing, and running gambling houses and brothels. The baby-faced Little Pete, as he was called, quickly rose to leadership in the Sam Yup tong. With the help of corrupt police officials he began to take over the gambling houses and brothels of the rival Sze Yup tong. As his power grew he also became known as the King of Chinatown. But he also became a marked man and in 1886 a would-be assasin was killed by his bodyguard. Soon Little Pete took to wearing chain-mail vest and two pistols everywhere he went. He even hired a white bodyguard in hopes that would dissuade his rivals.

On January 23, 1897 Little Pete came downstairs from this building and entered the ground floor barber shop. Since he owned the building he felt safe enough to leave his German Shepherd guard dogs upstairs and even sent his bodyguards out to get a paper. Seconds later two gunmen hired by the Sze Yup tong rushed in and shot Little Pete in the head. He died while still seated in the barber's chair. Two men were arrested for the crime but eventually released. Both tongs geared up for a fight and only an intense police effort kept the situation from escalating into a war. No one was ever convicted for Fong Ching's death, word in Chinatown was that the real killers were already on a ship back to China by the night of the killing.
[ MAP F-14 ]