The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream

While we hear about people coming over the southern border of the United States, we rarely hear about human smuggling along the northern border with Canada or from the oceans on both coasts. This tells of a ship that ran aground in New York City in the 1990's, what happened to the passengers, and the hunt for the Snakeheads responsible for the smuggling.I enjoyed this book. I had never heard of the Golden Venture. Seeing how it all comes together from the beginning to the end was fascinating. It is good knowing that the system worked although slowly. The people who were smuggled in from China had quite the trip. I liked seeing the trip from signing up with Sister Ping to getting a ship then getting on it then the trip from China to the U. S. with the grounding of the ship, and the consequences of being caught. I liked knowing that even overseas that someone was reporting what was happening although there was one big circumstance that changed how the information was received. Read the book and find out what it was. I also liked following the law enforcement agencies within the U. S. and foreign countries as they track down the snakeheads as well as those who helped them.I was glad that one group of people who ended up in prison in Pennsylvania were followed during their imprisonment and releases. To see that community come together--lawyers, townsfolk, and finally politicians--restores my faith in humanity. The area is described as conservative but the townsfolk carried about the men in prison. They prayed and helped them. The men's art became a way to thank the townsfolk and make money for them. I liked how friendships were formed and lasted.No matter how it all started, I have a better understanding of why people leave their countries of origin to come to the United States. This is worth reading.

Review of The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream by Patrick Radden Keefe
I do not often choose to read nonfiction but when I came across The Snakehead I felt compelled. 
In the 1990s, I worked for the public library system in York, PA. One of the volunteers I knew there was involved with a group of inmates at the York County Prison. These inmates were detainees from the Golden Venture, which had run aground on Rockaway Beach in New York City in 1993. 
Although there was a lot of coverage about this group in the local news, I do not recall spending a lot of time reading about them. I do remember that they created some spectacular artwork by folding paper into intricate figures, including ships, birds, and dragons, to pass their time in prison. What I had forgotten was that the reason they were on that ship, and the reason they came to New York City in that way, was to enter the United States illegally.
I am not sure how to clear any of them were about the illegal part, but they had been told, and expected, that they would likely be detained briefly in New York City's jails and then released on their own recognizance. Once released, they would melt into the bustling Chinatown area and likely never be sought, or found, for further charges. They would become part of the neighborhood. They would find a job and do their work and live with others doing the same thing. They would save their money and send it back to China to enable other family members to board another ship and come to the United States, just as they had.
A trip to York County was not in their plans. It effectively kept them from disappearing into a community and avoiding legal charges.
 A snakehead is a person who organizes these voyages. The trips are not direct. They are exceedingly dangerous. Ships are overloaded. The passengers go from port to port, often changing ships and changing their names – and owners change ships' names! – making traceability difficult at best. But a group of determined immigration officials made it their business to find out what they could and try to stop as much of this human trafficking as they could.
Patrick Keefe has written a fascinating and well-researched account of what happened with the Golden Venture and why. But he also looks into the history of how the United States has handled this issue over the years. 
Many of the people charged in the Golden Venture debacle were involved in other, similar schemes. Mr. Keefe anchors the book with Sister Ping, the snakehead who assisted many passengers on the Golden Venture. At the time, she was one of the most successful snakeheads in the business. He writes about her early life, how she got into human trafficking, and how and why she became successful. Keefe also writes about the passengers and what happened to some of them. He describes some of the people who worked for her, with her, and against her. Sometimes one person took all three approaches.
America is said to be built by its immigrants. The Snakehead is a story about immigration with deep roots and sticky questions for us to examine. And as we see in the news every day, immigration is a story that continues to unfold and becomes even harder to assess and control. The Snakehead helps to enlighten the reader about the snags and difficulties encompassed by clashing perspectives on what it is to be involved in human trafficking and immigrate to a new country.
For those of you who are looking for a light read, you should look elsewhere. It was a slow but worthwhile read that requires close attention.

If you are considering trying to read more non fiction in 2024, I cannot recommend books by Patrick Radden Keefe more. His books are enlightening and well researched, but they are also told in such a narrative style that I cannot put them down.The Snakehead is about human smuggling rings in the 80s and 90s that were centered in Chinatown in New York. It did an excellent job of setting up why there was (a) a demand for Chinese immigration to the US and (b) why the us immigration system created a market for smugglers instead of legal paths of immigration. Even though I teach a lot of the background information, I still learned so much about 19th century migration patterns and the ways the US blocked Asian migration, I still learned so much. The Snakehead also followed the rise and downfall of some of the most prolific smugglers, and following their careers and the US attempts to catch them was fascinating.This book had it all - gangs, smuggling, crime, murder, so much! It was, like all of Keefe’s books, so fascinating. Add it to your TBR’s!!

Bought this before I’ve finished the third read by him. Very good researcher and teller of non-fiction tales. Great description, great organization of material. Happy to have discovered him.

This an action packed story about the tenacity, daring and resourcefulness of the chinese people. No doubt these are illegal migrants but these Chinese people are so hardworking and they save their earnings and within a short span of time they are flourishing in America while the native Americans are drowning in poverty and self pity. They should be welcomed in America because they inject fresh blood into a decaying society that is full of inequalities. The American dream is very much alive but it won’t fall into your lap. The American dream belongs to the sort of migrants, legal or otherwise that manage to enter USA. I throughly recommend this book.

This is a surprising book. It is also well written and proceeds with a decent pace. Given the potential complexity of some of the key players multiple identities the author handles both the story of the Chinese Immigration to the USA and the extensive cast brilliantly. A great uncovering of such a complex subject.

Wie schon bei Say Nothing und Empire Of Pain zeigt der Autor, was für ein großartiger Rechercheur und Autor er ist. Er hat einfach das richtige Gespür für originelle, überraschende Storys: jedes Buch eine Empfehlung (auch wenn Say und Empire noch besser und vielschichtiger sind als dieses Buch hier).

A fascinating story, well written and well presented…just too long. I thought it would never end, but Radden Keene is a thorough, meticulous researcher and author and I’m glad to have read it all. The criminality uncovered in our immigration policies infuriates me. How can we continue to treat people in these ways????

Simply one of the best books I’ve read in a long while. Meticulously researched with details about an intriguing/phenomenal snakehead trade led my an unassuming protagonist - 5/5 stars and recommended to everyone interested in true crime or a good read