Some were in crates marked as “pet nail clippers.” Others were hidden under packaged rattlesnakes, a complaint filed in Federal District Court in Brooklyn said.
The crates concealed exotic delicacies that were illegal contraband, the complaint said: raw goose and duck intestines, sent from China and destined for New York City shops and restaurants.
Federal agents arrested six people on Tuesday and charged them with smuggling the organs through Los Angeles between August 2022 and May 2023, though the complaint also mentions illicit shipments as recently as January.
The defendants also trafficked in “duck-blood products from unapproved establishments in China,” according to the complaint.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture oversees the meat and poultry trade to ensure that imports are safe. The only such imports allowed from China are catfish and “heat-treated/cooked” poultry products, according to the complaint.
But goods seized during the investigation included goose and duck intestines, according to the complaint. In one instance, an investigator observed cartons containing about 3,000 pounds of intestines, it said. In another, a business received about 666 pounds of spicy duck intestine from a vendor who operated using the digital platform WeChat, it said.
The organ meat is a sought-after delicacy for hot pot meals. A feature article in Shanghai Daily noted that while fattier pork intestines might be stewed or fried, “the ‘lighter’ and crunchier duck or goose intestines are the star in spicy Sichuan hot pot.”
Prosecutors say Ming Huang Chen, 40, also known as Joe Chen, ran an operation that imported, transported and sold the illegal merchandise from China, along with his domestic partner, Runhua Hou, 32, also known as Racheal Hou.
The unnamed “originators” of the conspiracy were located in California and China, according to the complaint. Those people sought out “transporters” to get the goods to New York, including Mr. Chen, while Mr. Chen and others sold to wholesalers and directly to consumers, prosecutors charge.
Two wholesalers, Hangming Fang, 38, who ran a Brooklyn business called Chu Feng Food Wholesale, and Shanqing Ou, 38, were also charged. The remaining two defendants, Hangting Lin, 32, and Minghao Lin, 38, were accused of transporting the illicit goods.
All six were released on bond after appearing before Magistrate Judge Cheryl L. Pollak in Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday afternoon.
Prosecutors said Mr. Chen’s and Ms. Hou’s bail was set at $100,000 each — double that of the other defendants — because $37,000 in cash was found during a search of their Sunset Park home as they were arrested.
The authorities also found a van parked outside the home that contained 385 pounds of pork, poultry and beef, a prosecutor, Kamil Ammari, said in court. He also noted that Mr. Chen had no driver’s license and that Ms. Hou’s was suspended. The couple declined to comment as they left court.
In one instance described in the complaint, a shipping container arrived at the port in Long Beach, Calif., with customs forms saying it held “1,966 cartons of pet grooming tool pet nail clippers” manufactured in Japan. But it actually contained illegal poultry from China, prosecutors said. The goods were flown from Los Angeles to Kennedy Airport, and then delivered to a freezer that Mr. Ou rented in Brooklyn.
The sender was listed as 668 Seafood Market on Eighth Avenue in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, according to the complaint. The recipient was listed at an address in Queens for Mr. Lin, who was also linked to a company called JNJ Food Trading in Sunset Park.
Mr. Ou admitted to an investigator that he was a “WeChat distributor” of food products and coordinated logistics for transporting and storing goods, according to the complaint. Another WeChat vendor in California is mentioned, but not named, in the filing.
