Violent Koreatown gangster who extorted karaoke bars, controlled party girls gets 22 years

A man who violently extorted Koreatown’s karaoke bar owners for money and controlled the neighborhood’s for-hire women who entertain guests was sentenced to over 22 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday.

Daekun Cho, 39, from Woodland Hills, was found guilty of extortion and carjacking in late March. During the five-day trial, prosecutors detailed how he charged Koreatown’s karaoke bar owners protection fees, and had controlled doumi — for-hire party girls driven around the neighborhood’s bars — and their drivers with the threat of force since 2018.

“For years, this defendant terrorized merchants in Koreatown with his violent, shake-down schemes and intimidated victims into remaining silent,” U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Martin Estrada said in a statement. “Extortionists who seek to profit through violence are on notice that we will use federal tools to hold them accountable and the consequences will be severe.”

Prosecutors connected Cho to the Grape Street Crips, a predominantly Black gang based in Watts’ Jordan Downs housing project, through tattoos and his Instagram account. Text messages from Cho shown during trial said that if business owners did not pay him, they would “see the real demon” or “face the consequences,” or he would “kick u out of ktown,” the release said.

In May 2021, a doumi driver refused to pay Cho more money and was attacked by Cho and another man who beat him with metal baseball bats until he was unconscious, then stole his minivan.

In July 2022, he shot at a car with doumi inside after a driver broke one of his rules, breaking glass that struck a woman in the neck. When another driver stopped paying in January 2023, Cho stole $1,000 from him and threatened to kill him.

When Cho was first arrested, authorities seized two guns, a partially built ghost gun, loaded magazines, an illegal knife, two baseball bats and over $20,000 in cash, authorities said.

During the trial, Cho’s defense attorney said he was trying to “bring a modicum of order to the jungle,” claiming Cho was trying to help protect businesses from new start-ups that might cut into the market.