Man Gets Nearly 4 Years in Smuggling of Immigrants

A man convicted of arranging the smuggling of 280 Chinese immigrants on two crowded fishing boats was sentenced Monday to nearly four years in prison.

Prosecutors described John Luong, 27, as the leader of a gang that brought the immigrants ashore south of San Francisco, where they were to be taken to New York to work off the price of their passage. He was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison.

One boat landed at Moss Landing, the other at nearby Half Moon Bay on the same day in June 1993. All the passengers were captured immediately except for 19 who were found later in New York, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven Gruel.

Most were deported, although a few were granted political asylum.

The passengers paid $27,000 to $30,000 each for the trip and were expected to work off the debt in brothels or other gang-run operations in New York, Gruel said.

Luong’s lawyer, Maureen Kallins, denied that he was the ringleader and asked for a sentence of about 2 1/2 years, the term given to three other defendants in the case.