Years of the Dragons By DENNY LEE

...few will forget the screams of kidnapping victims and the crackle of bullets flying through crowded Chinese restaurants that marked the era of gang domination in the neighborhood. For better or worse, gangs were embedded in Chinatown's fabric.

"It's a part of our history that we need to remember,'' another former gang member said. "Gangs were a major part of Chinatown's soul.''

Unlike Cantonese immigrants from Hong Kong and other urban centers who once dominated the social hierarchy, the Fujianese and other recent immigrants were generally rural people. "They were farmers," Mr. Chin said. "They're going to school rather than getting involved with gangs."

In the Pagoda Theater, a teenager was shot to death in the 70's, reportedly for refusing to join a local gang.

I went to the Pagoda in the late 70's to watch mostly Cantonese movies. It wasn't as lawless as the article suggests.