Hot Money: Agent of Chaos

Episode: Introducing The Chinatown Sting: Lucky Bird

Release Date: September 23, 2025
Host: Lydia Jeancott (Pushkin Industries)
Guests: Tina Wong, Shuyu Wang, Peter Matesser, David Sheehan

Overview

In this captivating crossover preview, "Hot Money: Agent of Chaos" presents the first episode of Lydia Jeancott’s new investigative podcast, The Chinatown Sting. The story peels back the layers of a groundbreaking 1980s drug case in New York’s Chinatown involving international heroin smuggling, ordinary women as drug mules, and law enforcement’s high-stakes fight in the height of Reagan’s war on drugs. At the center: Tina Wong, an accountant and mother, and her entanglement with Chinatown’s criminal underworld—a tale of luck, betrayal, and the profound need to belong.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The 1988 Chinatown Heroin Sting — Setting the Scene

[02:31]–[04:42]

• U.S. customs agents intercept three parcels from Hong Kong, each containing approx. $7 million in heroin (worth $18 million today).
• Peter Matesser (DEA): “I knew it was going to be a big case because it was a lot of heroin.”
• Agents devise a sting, emptying drugs from parcels and replacing with decoy bricks, hiding transmitters to track the operation.

2. The Operation Unfolds

[07:11]–[10:52]

• Parcels routed to two Chinatown addresses and one in Brooklyn.
• Undercover postal inspectors deliver packages; agents stake out each site.
• Memorable Moment: “One of the guys from DEA took a leak in the East River and… two sanitation police guys came up… ‘Hey, you can’t pee in the river.’” (David Sheehan, [10:21])
• Only the Brooklyn package is picked up, triggering the sting.

3. The Ordinary Women Caught in the Crosshairs

[11:04]–[14:23]

• The Brooklyn recipient: a 38-year-old mom and accountant.
• Law enforcement pressures her to cooperate: “You’re facing 10 years to life… This is your time to help out yourself.” — Peter Matesser ([12:06])
• Key Insight: All the women implicated knew each other from mahjong parlors—a tight-knit, trust-based subculture now leveraged for international smuggling.
• David Sheehan: “We’re going to seize all your assets… take all your kids away… and you’re going to go to jail.” ([14:23])
• Betrayal among friends becomes law enforcement’s main tool.

4. Unpacking Chinatown’s Cultural Backbone

[16:20]–[18:52]

• History professor Ellen Wu and journalist Michael Luo contextualize Chinatowns as products of segregation, U.S. exclusion laws, and the “stranger in the land” mentality.
• Shuyu Wang (attorney): Reflects on firsthand feelings of outsider status and the struggle to belong.

5. Tina Wong — The “Lucky Bird” at the Center

[21:37]–[27:48]

• Court records reveal Tina Wong as both a minor player and the connective tissue of the operation.
• Lydia and Shuyu track Tina down; her unbothered, cool demeanor stands out.
• Tina’s backstory: half-Chinese, half-Portuguese, struggled with outsider status even among new immigrants.
  Notable Quote: “We used to fight. We used to get picked on… Anybody that was Asian used to get picked on… Stupid kid stuff like Ching Chong.” — Tina Wong ([25:57])
• Tina learns mahjong to fit in, becomes part of Chinatown’s “family” circles.

6. The Anatomy of a Smuggling Racket

[28:48]–[33:24]

• Tina’s friend offers her a deal: receive a package, don’t look inside, get paid.
• She insists she isn’t a risk-seeker; motivation is poverty and opportunity.
• Standout Detail: The first thing Tina buys with her drug money: “I bought the most expensive food, like lobster, and took it home and ate it all by myself.” ([31:17])
• The financial reward is short-lived; ultimately, Tina grows uneasy as her involvement deepens and the risk grows.

7. The Broader Context — The War on Drugs

[33:24]–[34:38]

• Reagan-era drug laws increase mandatory minimums.
• Congress hosts hearings on “oriental traffickers” filling an organized crime vacuum.
• Federal enforcement intensifies; Tina wants out before the inevitable crackdown.

8. The Human Side: Family, Sacrifice, and Consequences

[37:21]–[40:40]

• Tina’s personal life: losing parents to cancer, struggling with jobs, sending her daughter to live with grandparents in Canada for safety.
• The emotional cost: guilt, relief, and survival mesh in Tina’s worldview.
  Notable moment: “Were you enjoying it or were you sad because you were missing her? … Truthfully, I was enjoying.” — Tina ([40:34])

9. The Sting’s Fallout and the Reluctant Witness

[41:06]–[43:30]

• The domino effect: one mother leads agents up the chain, eventually to Tina and her friend.
• Arrested at night, Tina is threatened with losing her child for decades.
• Tina refuses cooperation, even as mounting evidence and pressure threaten her family and life.
  Quote: “They took my daughter's picture… ‘You may not see her for like 25 years.’ … That was kind of a low blow. I don't think they should have did it like that. But that's their way.” — Tina Wong ([41:56])

10. Passing the Torch — The Prosecutor’s Files

[43:30]–[44:49]

• Introduction of Beryl Howell, the eager federal prosecutor behind the case — and coincidentally, Lydia’s boyfriend’s mother.
• Beryl’s old court documents, notebook, and trial materials become the backbone of Lydia’s reporting.
• The sting’s outcome will forever change the lives of all women caught in the investigation — and the prosecutor herself.

Memorable Quotes

• Peter Matesser (DEA, on sting tech):
  “You’re listening in to, like, a computer almost, and you hear the beep, beep, beep. And then when a rapid beep goes beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, that means it’s been opened.” ([07:46])

• Tina Wong (on being an outsider):
  “I think they were kind of little racist on me since I wasn’t, you know, like, because I’m only half Chinese. There was a little racism there, but that didn’t stop me.” ([26:55])

• Tina Wong (on luck and money):
  “Getting the money, it was fun, I’m not gonna lie. You don’t think of tomorrow. You just think of that day, you know, and what you could do with it. It’s like being queen for a day.” ([30:58])

• Tina Wong (the threat of sentencing):
  “They took my daughter’s picture off the refrigerator. They go, is this your daughter? I said, yes. They go, oh, you may not see her for like 25 years. You know, like, that was kind of a low blow.” ([41:56])

• Beryl Howell (prosecutor, on the case files):
  “There are notepads full of her sprawling cursive, all about a legal saga where almost nothing went according to plan.” ([43:33])

Timeline & Timestamps of Notable Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | Notes | |-----------|---------------------------|-------| | 03:19 | DEA sets up sting | First mention of heroin parcels from HK | | 07:11 | Tech behind the sting | Beeping transmitters explained | | 10:21 | Humorous stakeout story | “Pee in the river” incident | | 14:23 | Law enforcement pressure | Asset seizure & threats | | 25:57 | Tina’s childhood racism | Establishing outsider theme | | 28:48 | Tina’s entry into smuggling| Motive: friendship, poverty | | 30:58 | Enjoying “queen for a day”| Spending drug money | | 40:34 | Sent daughter to Canada | Sacrifice for stability | | 41:56 | Arrest & threat of 25 years| Emotional climax | | 43:30 | Prosecutor’s perspective | Introduction of Beryl Howell |

Tone & Storytelling Approach

Lydia Jeancott’s narration combines investigative rigor, empathetic interviews, and a deep appreciation of the cultural and historical context. The tone is both journalistic and intimate, bringing listeners directly into Tina’s world—a world shaped by luck, desperation, and the vibrant, sometimes shadowy gravitational force of Chinatown’s immigrant community.

Final Thoughts

This episode lays the groundwork for a complex true-crime saga that is as much about American cultural fault lines and the search for belonging as it is about drugs and law enforcement. It promises a deep dive into the lives of women like Tina Wong and the web of relationships, power dynamics, and historical context that brought an ordinary community to the center of an international criminal trial.