The Jackson Boyz, JBZ or Jackson Street Boys, JSB are or were a

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

based

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...

street

gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

and criminal organization The gang, composed of

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

and

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

members, has been centered in

San Francisco's Chinatown The Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street in San Francisco, California, () is the oldest Chinatown in North America and one of the largest Chinese enclaves outside Asia. It is also the oldest and largest of the four notable Ch ...

, and was named for Jackson Street. The Jackson Street Boys also have a presence in other U.S. cities. However, there are members of the gang who are students in middle schools and high schools in addition to their Chinatown presence. The gang was involved in many criminal acts including the burning of a Chinese restaurant sparked by the owner's debt to the gang. Although the suspects were arrested, they were soon released.

Formation

The Jackson Boys gang was the successor to the

Wo Hop To Wo Hop To, or WHT (和合圖), is a triad group based in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. The name translates to "Harmoniously United Association", or "Harmonious Union Plan", and is thought to have been founded in 1908 in Sai Ying Pun as a secret politica ...

Triad which ruled the streets of

in the 1980s and early 1990s. The Jackson Street Boys was founded by three brothers, Bobby Tsan, Johnny Tsan and Tommy Tsan, who were former

Wah Ching Wah Ching ( zh, s=华青, t=華青, first=t, j=Waa4 Cing1), meaning Chinese Youth, is a Chinese American criminal organization and street gang that was founded in San Francisco, California in 1964. The Wah Ching has been involved in crimes inclu ...

members who had defected to the

after the Wo Hop To forced the Wah Ching out of San Francisco. After law enforcement cracked down on the Wo Hop To around 1992, the Jackson Street Boys resumed what a SFPD officer described in 2000 as "the same stuff on a smaller scale and without the same visibility", including extortion of local merchants and operating gambling dens.

Criminal activities

One of the more noted crimes that the gang was involved in occurred on June 30, 1995. One faction of the Jackson Street Boys opened fire on another on a busy Chinatown street, Stockton Street, during the daytime. Seven innocent bystanders were struck, including a pregnant woman. Three males, ages 18, 16, and 14, were arrested in connection with the shooting. Jackson Boys were also the primary trafficker of illegal fireworks back when fireworks were blatantly sold on the streets of Chinatown.

References

{{Reflist Chinatown, San Francisco Chinese-American gangs Gangs in San Francisco