Snakeheads use various methods to get their customers to the West. They may employ the use of stolen or alteredpassports, improperly obtainedvisas, andbribes to move people from nation to nation until they arrive at their final destination.They also may use fake business delegations and tour groups as a way of beating immigration controls.[2] The rate of payment for successful smuggling can be as high as US$70,000.[3]
One notable snakehead member wasCheng Chui Ping or "Sister Ping".[4][5] Another isGuo Liang Chi, known mainly by his street name of Ah Kay, who was the mastermind of theGolden Venture cargo ship tragedy in 1993 that was financed by Sister Ping.
ANorth Korean emigrant seeking to enterSouth Korea may turn to a snakehead gang to be voluntarily smuggled out of North Korea. If the emigrant is unable to pay the snakeheads back, the emigrant may risk becoming a victim ofhuman trafficking.[6]
In theLincoln Rhyme novelThe Stone Monkey byJeffery Deaver, the villain is a shadowy snakehead, nicknamed "the Ghost," who is intent on killing a family ofChinese immigrants who are the only witnesses alive who can identify him to the authorities.
TheAlex Rider novelSnakehead byAnthony Horowitz is the seventh novel in the series, in which Alex must infiltrate a Snakehead gang for ASIS (Australian Secret Intelligence Service).
In the video gameGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas, one ofCJ's missions forces him to board a cargo ship carrying illegalVietnamese immigrants run by a Vietnamese gang called the "Da Nang Boys". The leader of the gang is referred to only as "The Snakehead". The operation is a direct allusion to theGolden Venture fiasco in 1993, as the game itself takes place in the early 1990s.
In the "Laughing Magician" story arc of the comic bookHellblazer,John Constantine enlists the aid of a snakehead gang boss.
The 1980Shaw Brothers productionLost Souls directed byMou Tun Fei concerns the exploitation of illegal immigrants and features a gang of nasty snakeheads as the villains.
TheFringe episode "Snakehead" features a gang that smuggles immunity-boosting parasites by feeding them to the Chinese immigrants that they are transporting, then cutting them out of the victims once the parasite has starved them to death.
In an episode ofLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit titled "Debt", the SVU squad led byElliot Stabler investigate a case of child neglect and uncover a conspiracy by a local snakehead to smuggle female Chinese immigrants for an illicit prostitution ring.
The TV seriesHawaii Five-0 (2010) featured a snakehead in the pilot episode who is sentenced to life imprisonment – later to be revealed as a subordinate of thearchvillain Wo Fat.
The zombie fiction novelWorld War Z byMax Brooks features a snakehead gang member as a character, revealing how the gangs have exploited the desperation of infected families hoping to escape China for Central and Western Asia.
The moviePremium Rush refers to the snakehead gang as the recipient of the envelope that is being delivered.
The main antagonists in the 1998 movieLethal Weapon 4 are members of a snakehead gang which is found to be smuggling Chinese people into the United States and exploiting them.
Wang, Peng (2013). "The Increasing Threat of Chinese Organised Crime: national, regional and international perspectives".The RUSI Journal.158 (4):6–18.doi:10.1080/03071847.2013.826492.S2CID154487430.
Keefe, Patrick Radden (2009).The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream. Doubleday.ISBN978-0-385-52130-7.
