In July 1989, two members of the gang murdered the manager of a local Chinese restaurant, as well as one customer; another customer was wounded and paralyzed. The murdered customer's wife, a Chinese-American, was a key witness in the subsequent racketeering trial of nine leading members of the gang. Chinese organized crime gangs, which began to emerge in Manhattan in the 1960's and 1970's, combine characteristics of Hong Kong triads, or secret criminal organizations, and cliches of American and Chinese gangster movies. Gang members, who can be as young as 13, typically dress in black and have tattoos of dragons, serpents, and tigers over their chests and arms. The gang members, who sever contact with their families, live together in safe houses. Unlike the color gangs of Los Angeles or other types of youth gangs, the Green Dragons are a form of young organized crime; there is a defined hierarchy and the gang supports itself through racketeering enterprises, primarily extortion. The restaurant murder and subsequent events allowed the FBI to conduct wiretaps and eventually to break the back of the Green Dragons.