Abstract
Although it is widely acknowledged that Chinese businesses are victims of extortion by Asian youth gangs, there is little reliable information with which to examine the patterns and social processes of the problem. This paper explores the structure of extortion and other forms of victimization based on surveys of 603 Chinese-owned businesses in three Chinese neighborhoods in New York City. It focuses on the patterns, processes, and extent of Chinese gang victimization, and on how the political economy and sociocultural contexts of the Chinese community have regularized and institutionalized the forms of gang victimization.