By Gary C. King
It was 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, February 19, 1983 when Benjamin "Bennie" K. Ng, Kwan Fai "Willie" Mak, and Wai-Chiu "Tony" Ng (note: Bennie and Tony Ng are not related) entered the once highly-romanticized Wah Mee Club in the heart of Seattle's Chinatown, located in the city's International District. Their purpose for going to the private gambling club that night, which was known for its high stakes betting, was simple — they were there to rob it and its patrons, and to leave no witnesses alive to talk about it.
The club's security consisted in part of a system that required each patron to pass through multiple doorways, each bringing the patron farther into the establishment. It was a system that had been used in Chinatown gambling halls over many years, and had proven effective. The reason that Mak and his cohorts in crime were able to defeat the system that fateful night was because they were known and trusted by the people who ran the club.
Once inside, the three immigrants from Hong Kong, each in their twenties, ordered the club's patrons and employees, 14 in all, to lie face down on the floor and bound each of their hands. Afterward, they methodically shot each victim in the head at close range as they lay on the floor, firing a total of 29 shots. Mistakenly believing that everyone was dead, the three men packed up as much money as they could find, but left with only approximately $10,000. Willie Mak, who had been planning the robbery for weeks and had enlisted Benjamin Ng and Tony Ng to help carry out the plans, believed they would bag between $50,000 to 100,000 in the robbery. As they prepared to flee, none of the men noticed the lone witness who survived, Wai Y. Chin, a frail man from Canton, China who worked at the Wah Mee Club as a dealer making $10-an-hour. Shot in the neck and jaw, Chin had blacked out and had appeared dead to the gunmen. Others say he feigned death to avoid being shot again.
After the men left, Chin managed to free his hands and crawl out the front door. He was soon found by people attempting to gain entry to the club, who promptly notified the police and obtained medical assistance. As soon as Chin's condition had stabilized and he was able to speak, he positively identified Benjamin Ng and Willie Mak as two of the gunmen. Because his condition was very unstable and at times doctors feared he would die of his injuries, he was asked by police to provide a taped deposition.
