Limit this search to....

White Devil: The True Story of the First White Asian Crime Boss
Contributor(s): Halloran, Bob (Author)
ISBN: 1940363799     ISBN-13: 9781940363790
Publisher: Benbella Books
OUR PRICE:   $22.46  
Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats
Published: January 2016
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- True Crime | Organized Crime
- Social Science | Ethnic Studies - Asian American Studies
Dewey: B
LCCN: 2015030748
Physical Information: 1.1" H x 5.4" W x 8.4" (0.80 lbs) 320 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 21st Century
- Chronological Period - 1950-1999
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
The amazing true story of the only white man to rise to the top of the Chinese mafia.

In August 2013, Bac Guai John Willis, also known as the White Devil because of his notorious ferocity, was sentenced to 20 years for drug trafficking and money laundering. Willis, according to prosecutors, was the kingpin, organizer and leader of a vast conspiracy, all within the legendarily insular and vicious Chinese mafia.

It started when John Willis was 16 years old . . . his life seemed hopeless. His father had abandoned his family years earlier, his older brother had just died of a heart attack, and his mother was dying. John was alone, sleeping on the floor of his deceased brother's home. Desperate, John reached out to Woping, a young Chinese man Willis had rescued from a bar fight weeks before. Woping literally picks him up off the street, taking him home to live among his own brothers and sisters. Soon, Willis is accompanying Woping to meet his Chinese mobster friends, and starts working for them.

Journalist Bob Halloran tells the tale of John Willis, aka White Devil, the only white man to ever rise through the ranks in the Chinese mafia. Willis began as an enforcer, riding around with other gang members to encourage people to pay their debts. He soon graduated to even more dangerous work as a full-fledged gang member, barely escaping with his life on several occasions.

As a white man navigating an otherwise exclusively Asian world, Willis was at first an interesting anomaly, but his ruthless devotion to his adopted culture eventually led to him emerging as a leader. He organized his own gang of co-conspirators and began an extremely lucrative criminal venture selling tens of thousands of oxycodone pills. A year-long FBI investigation brought him down, and John pleaded guilty to save the love of his life from prosecution. He has no regrets.

White Devil explores the workings of the Chinese mafia, and he speaks frankly about his relationships with other gang members, the crimes he committed, and why he'll never rat out any of his brothers to the cops.

Told to Halloran from Willis's prison cell, White Devil is a shocking portrait of a man who was allowed access into a secret world, and who is paying the price for his hardened life.