One day in 1993, a crew member sarcastically said to the passengers on the ship: "It's not far away, you can swim there! Isn't it just for this day that you have been walking for so long? Why are you standing still? Jump off!"
This It is the darkest moment before dawn every day. People's panic and confusion are useless at this time.
They looked at the coastline that seemed not far away, and looked at the brightly lit city, that is the United States! The United States they miss so much! The paradise of their dreams!
They have no room for regrets, and the "broad road" is right in front of them!
A young man gritted his teeth and jumped into the cold sea water with a "plop". The first one would be followed by a second one, and other people followed closely and jumped off the boat with a "plop".
The shrewd "Sister Ping"
It was the early morning of June 6, 1993. A severely damaged cargo ship that was originally used to load cargo was extremely lucky that no shipwreck occurred after a long voyage.
286 stowaways with beautiful dreams boarded this cargo ship and finally arrived at Rockaway Beach in New York after a 137-day voyage.
Before setting off, they knew that the stowaway boat could not dock at any seaport, but the smugglers told them that everything had been arranged and a speedboat would take them to the coast.
Anyone who has embarked on this road has been familiar with this process. They know that this method is indeed a common method of smuggling.
But no one expected that in the early morning of this day, no speedboat appeared.
It was in the early morning of this day that ten living lives were mercilessly swallowed by the cold sea water.
This is the "Golden Adventure" stowaway incident that occurred in 1993. There is a Chinese woman who represents a "great good person" in the hearts of many Fujian people and is closely related to this tragedy.
This "good person" is a criminal who is wanted by the US government with a heavy reward. She is Zheng Cuiping, who is known as the "Snakehead Queen" and "Smuggling Queen".
Of course, Zheng Cuiping was not a big smuggler from birth. She eventually embarked on this criminal path. In addition to being greedy for money, she was also inseparable from her family.
Zheng Cuiping was originally from Shengmei Village, Pingjiang Town, Fuzhou, Fujian Province. She was born in 1949.
Shengmei Village is a small fishing village. As the saying goes, if you rely on the mountains, you will eat the mountains, and if you rely on the sea, you will eat the sea. The villagers of Shengmei Village also make a living by fishing.
Zheng Cuiping’s father, like other villagers, would take her to work on a fishing boat when his children were very young.
Such a living environment has allowed Zheng Cuiping to accumulate a wealth of marine knowledge and a good understanding of the climate and environment, and she also appreciates the hard work of fishermen.
Later Zheng Cuiping’s father went to Hong Kong and worked as a sailor on a freighter of a freighter company. After saw the colorful world outside, his father set a "goal" for himself: to go to the United States.
Taking advantage of the convenience of sailing around, my father's dream finally came true in 1964. He found an opportunity to stay in the United States and never returned to Hong Kong.
Zheng Cuiping was only 15 years old. She had no complaints about her father's choice. Instead, this incident planted the seeds of the "American Dream" in her heart.
She also wanted to go to the United States. Although Zheng Cuiping finally did this, it was already several years later.
She went to Hong Kong first. Nine years after her father left home, Zheng Cuiping's family moved to Hong Kong.
She is not very rich, but has some savings. How to live in Hong Kong is a big problem.
Zheng Cuiping is very shrewd and has great business acumen. She had already planned it early, and soon her own department store was opened. The business of
store was very good, and Zheng Cuiping was also good at running it. After making some money, she opened the second and third department stores.
The profits from doing business became more and more abundant. Zheng Cuiping saw the opportunities for cross-strait trade, so she struck while the iron was hot and opened a clothing factory in Shenzhen.
Although Zheng Cuiping's wealth is still far from that of the rich, compared to many people, their family is already living a very comfortable life.
But this does not satisfy Zheng Cuiping. She always hopes to go to the United States.
Her husband is also a member of the same group. He once managed to sneak into the United States, but was deported not long after.
Zheng Cuiping knew that she still needed to wait for a more suitable opportunity.
The time has arrived in 1981. At this time, Zheng Cuiping's family has been living in Hong Kong for 7 years.
An American couple came to Zheng Cuiping's store to buy things. Zheng Cuiping wanted to make friends, so she was naturally very enthusiastic.
She told the other party about her yearning for the United States. The two couples were moved by her enthusiasm and agreed to help her work in the United States.
Unlike many people who wanted to go to the United States, Zheng Cuiping already had a small fortune at the time, but she still applied for a visa on the grounds of being a nanny.
She told the staff responsible for the review that her purpose in coming to the United States was to hope that her children could get a better education, even if she wanted to be a nanny.
Zheng Cuiping successfully obtained the visa, and her American dream was realized through legal channels.
On November 17, 1981, Zheng Cuiping set foot on the land of New York, USA.
Like many Chinese people, her English is not good. She made the same choice as these people, entrenched herself among her own people, and settled down in Chinatown.
Being good at interpersonal relationships, she quickly integrated into local life and opened her grocery store.
Opening a grocery store in the United States was not her goal. After she became completely familiar with the local environment, Zheng Cuiping discovered that there was a "good business" waiting for her.
"Sister Ping is a kind person."
There are many Fujian people living in Chinatown. They are united and friendly, and they do not forget to take care of their fellow countrymen in a foreign country. Zheng Cuiping got to know many people during her coming and going, and many people got to know her. .
Relatives and friends kept coming to Zheng Cuiping, wanting to ask her for help.
One type of help is to help and take care of people who have crossed over illegally.
Zheng Cuiping is a businessman, so she naturally sees the huge benefits to the business. Although she knows that this is an illegal business, she does not think it is a bad thing. Interests and risks are often positively correlated, so she agreed immediately.
Zheng Cuiping has more and more contacts with other smugglers, and has become more familiar with the smuggling industry. In order to obtain greater benefits and for her own safety, in addition to providing support and placement, Zheng Cuiping began to organize smuggling on her own.
In the beginning, because there were very few trusted people, the scale of the organization’s smugglers was relatively small, with only about 10 people at a time.
Of course Zheng Cuiping knew that this was an illegal act and she would be sentenced if caught by the police, so she was very cautious.
Every time she arranges a stowaway, Zheng Cuiping will set up a complicated and cumbersome route.
When picking up stowaways, she would either go there in person or appoint someone she trusted.
's cautious style rarely gives her a chance of being caught by the police. However, there is another reason why many people are willing to ask Zheng Cuiping to arrange smuggling.
She did not regard those stowaways as "cargo", which is different from other smugglers.
In the eyes of many smugglers, stowaways are just "goods" they use to make profits. As long as they pay money and get on the ship, they are at their mercy.
They naturally have no feelings towards "goods", and will scold or even beat each other if they don't go their way.
Zheng Cuiping will not. She will try to make the stowaways as comfortable as possible and respect them. Moreover, some stowaways will fall into difficult situations after arriving in the United States, and Zheng Cuiping will not hesitate to lend a helping hand.
Under Zheng Cuiping's arrangement, the risk of smuggling is lower and people are relatively less vulnerable, so naturally more and more people come to her for "help".
Zheng Cuiping's business quickly expanded and made a lot of money.
At this time, the business was not just done once, she discovered another way to make money.
In the 1980s, many people from coastal areas such as Fujian went to the United States, and a large number of them went there through smuggling.
If they are not caught and deported, they will stay in the United States to work or start a small business.
Most of their hometowns and relatives are still in China, so they also hope to send the money they earn to their families.
The difficulty is that most of them have illegal identities. If they send money through formal channels, they will definitely bring themselves great trouble.
If I brought it back through someone else, I would be a little worried. Zheng Cuiping seized this business opportunity and took over the matter.
At that time, she was completely different from when she first arrived in the United States. As a smuggler for a long time, she was already rich. In addition, she also had a reliable and huge network of connections.
She converts the money that the stowaways want to send home into RMB, and then arranges channels to send it to their families for them, and she will also take a certain commission from it.
From this "business", Zheng Cuiping made even more considerable profits. With the arrival of stowaways, there are more and more such "customers".
The money transfer route arranged by Zheng Cuiping is very reliable and has a short turnaround period. The money transfer network she controls is growing like a snowball.
Zheng Cuiping started the lending business non-stop.
The stowaways have to hand over a large amount of money to the smugglers, which often drains their wealth. When they first arrived in the United States, most of the stowaways had no jobs and their lives were difficult, but Zheng Cuiping was willing to lend them money.
Of course, such a loan cannot be without repayment. Zheng Cuiping will charge quite high interest from them; stowaways who cannot pay back the money when due will have to work in her shop.
In the eyes of the folks in her hometown, Zheng Cuiping is prosperous. Not only is she able to help people out, but she also bought a building in the United States.
Although no one can see this building, everyone can see the largest and most luxurious house in the village, which was built by Zheng Cuiping.
This mansion has become a billboard for the "American Dream" in the eyes of local people. Many people secretly hope that they can go to the United States to "dig for gold" and then return to their hometown to build a mansion to honor their ancestors.
Many people in the village think Zheng Cuiping is a kind person because she spent money to set up a school in the village and specially hired teachers to teach the children English.
But at the same time, Zheng Cuiping is a criminal. She uses her influence and connections to constantly break social rules.
The U.S. government has been searching for and trying to arrest Zheng Cuiping and her associates.
Of course Zheng Cuiping has accomplices, and there are quite a few of them. Among all the partners, Guo Liangqi and Wen Yuhui can be regarded as her long-term partners.
Wen Yuhui was also a Fujianese who smuggled himself to the United States, and the person who arranged for him to go to the United States was Zheng Cuiping.
After Wen Yuhui worked hard in the Chinese community in the United States for several years, he transformed into a smuggler.
Guo Liangqi is one of the bosses of the gang organization Fuqing Gang. Human trafficking is also part of the gang business. Guo Liangqi and Zheng Cuiping often interact with each other.
plead guilty and go to trial
In 1993, Zheng Cuiping and Wen Yuhui cooperated again. This time they received a lot of customers, more than 200 people! From this business alone, both of them could make a lot of money each.
did not expect that various problems would arise during this trip.
The cargo ship had an accident when it arrived at Kenya. It had to anchor and could no longer move towards its destination.
The stowaways can neither stay in Kenya nor return the same way they came. What should
do?
Zheng Cuiping and Wen Yuhui thought of a way. They found Guo Liangqi. After promising a heavy reward, Guo Liangqi agreed to help them buy a new cargo ship.
The stowaways waiting in Kenya are extremely anxious, but at this time they have no choice but to wait for the unified arrangement of the smuggler.
When they learned that a new ship would come to pick them up, everyone was very happy. But when the ship bought by Guo Liangqi appeared in front of everyone, people began to panic.
This ship has a grand name - "Golden Adventure", but it is actually an old and dilapidated old cargo ship. Is it true that a ship like
will not get into trouble?
Although the stowaways were panicking, the smugglers did not give them any other choice. They could only board the ship with anxiety.
Fortunately, the "Golden Adventure" did not have any major problems during the voyage, and the stowaways were excited to see that the United States was close at hand.
,200 people were crowded into the narrow warehouse, and they could even feel the gas exhaled by the people next to them spraying on their faces. Everyone was reveling in their hearts: this voyage like a journey to hell is finally coming to an end!
However, the stowaway boat cannot get too close to the beach. They can only wait on the high seas for the speedboat to pick them up.
The freighter rocked around and around, but the speedboat never appeared.
The crew told the stowaways that the speedboat would not come and they had to jump into the sea and swim to the shore by themselves.
Although it seems that the coast is right in front of you, and everyone on the boat is familiar with the water, it is not easy to swim so far in the biting sea water in the early morning. If you are not careful, you may never come back.
After getting off the boat, it turned out that many people were in danger and the police were alerted.
The American police arrived quickly after hearing the news. They tried to rescue people in the sea one by one, but 10 people still died in the sea.
Although the survivors have set foot on American soil, their smuggling has completely failed this time, and they will all be deported soon.
Americans are extremely disgusted with stowaways, and so many people died in this incident, which also aroused criticism and rebuke from public opinion.
The government paid more attention to the snakeheads and began to arrest them everywhere. Guo Liangqi and others were arrested one after another.
Zheng Cuiping luckily escaped arrest this time. She quietly returned to her hometown, intending to temporarily avoid the limelight.
Surprisingly, despite the tragedy that occurred on the Golden Explorer, many people still went to Zheng Cuiping to ask her to arrange a stowaway.
At the same time, the US government also began to issue bounties around the world, and they were determined to catch Zheng Cuiping.
The cunning Zheng Cuiping kept herself firmly hidden, and she also used fake passports to travel between China and the United States several times.
It was not until 2000 that Zheng Cuiping finally fell into the French Open.
And this was because of a small mistake made by her son, which Zheng Cuiping herself had always concealed.
Zheng Cuiping’s son lost his green card in Hong Kong. The person who picked up the green card handed it over to the police station.
The green card showed that he was a U.S. citizen, so the green card was treated as an ordinary lost item and sent to the U.S. Consulate .
A staff member of the U.S. Consulate noticed the green card and recognized the man as Zheng Cuiping’s son.
This was an important clue, so he contacted the Hong Kong police and told the other party this important clue.
Through analysis, the police believe that Zheng Cuiping's son is a key figure. As long as he remains in Hong Kong, Zheng Cuiping is likely to meet him.
The police immediately issued a task: to closely monitor Zheng Cuiping's son and try to "fish" Zheng Cuiping out through him.
The police pretended to be airport staff, then called Zheng Cuiping’s son and informed him that his green card was at the airport’s collection office and asked him to claim it.
This bait was thrown out to let Zheng Cuiping know that she had a chance to meet her son at the airport. But the police had no idea because no one knew whether she was in Hong Kong at this time or whether she wanted to see her son. .
No matter what, the police have arranged a dragnet at the airport to watch Zheng Cuiping appear.
The day after calling her son, she actually showed up at the airport!
The police surrounded them and Zheng Cuiping was successfully captured! Two years later, she was extradited to the United States to stand trial.
The American police paid close attention to this case. In order to convict him, they worked hard to search for reliable evidence and witnesses.
Before Zheng Cuiping, Wen Yuhui, Guo Liangqi and her other accomplices had mostly been arrested. With the efforts of the police, they became tainted witnesses in Zheng Cuiping's case.
When the case was formally heard, the situation was very unfavorable to Zheng Cuiping.
She could not face the trial and acted extremely emotional. Although the judge kept stopping her, she still refused to stop her defense. She defended herself eloquently for more than an hour.
But this did not play any role. The jury still found her guilty. The court finally announced that Zheng Cuiping had committed multiple crimes and was sentenced to 35 years in prison .
As soon as the news came out, many people who had been cared for by "Sister Ping" expressed their difficulty in accepting it, and even expressed their willingness to suffer the punishment on her behalf.
Zheng Cuiping also refused to accept her fate. She appealed for five consecutive years and tried to struggle, but nothing changed.
In 2010, she finally gave up and accepted her fate, no longer appealing.
Life in prison was not easy, and her physical condition was getting worse and worse.
Due to limited medical conditions, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two years later.
On April 24, 2014, the "Snakehead Queen" in the eyes of the police and "Sister Ping" in the hearts of stowaways died of illness at the age of 65.
On May 23, when Zheng Cuiping was buried, more than 160 black Lincoln cars appeared at the funeral. These people had received her "favor" and came to see her off on her last journey in return.
It is said that thousands of people came to see her off that day. In their minds, Zheng Cuiping has always been the respectable "Sister Ping".
Conclusion
"Sister Ping" is an indestructible leader of the smuggling gang to the police, but to people who are immersed in the beautiful "American Dream", "Sister Ping" is a great benefactor who has changed the fate of countless people.
According to statistics, there are about 3,000 people smuggled into the United States through Zheng Cuiping.
It is irrefutable that Zheng Cuiping did help a lot of people, but she also made a lot of profit from it. Countless people lost their lives while smuggling. What she did was an illegal and criminal business, and she will definitely be punished by law!
-End-
editor丨书书
