Los Angeles Legendary Sleuth
Chapter 950 - 433: Ten Years (Case Closed)
FBI New York Office, Criminal Investigation Department.
Interrogation Room.
Zhou Tiansheng was handcuffed to the interrogation chair.
A group of people gathered in the observation room next door, all to see the famous Southeast Asian gambling kingpin.
"Creak..."
The observation room door opened, and Negan walked in.
"Hey, boss."
"Director." Everyone greeted him.
Negan nodded, seemingly in a good mood, as he looked at Zhou Tiansheng in the interrogation room through the one-way glass.
"Luke, you and Louise will handle the interrogation."
Luke was a bit surprised.
Michael was envious and jealous; this boss really plays favorites. How about me? What about me? What about me!
However, considering that it was Luke who captured Zhou Tiansheng, he didn't complain.
New York should have been their turf, yet an outsider caught the suspect.
In the interrogation room, Zhou Tiansheng lay back on the recliner with his eyes closed, perhaps reminiscing about his glory days.
"Creak..." The door sounded as Luke and Louise entered the interrogation room.
Zhou Tiansheng slowly opened his eyes and looked at Luke and Louise, "How did you find me?"
"You had Zhang Qilong killed, right."
Zhou Tiansheng said helplessly, "Two days, just give me two more days, and you'd never catch me."
Luke said, "You found this cosmetic surgery clinic through Zhang Qilong's connections, worried that he might leak information, so you had him silenced."
"Who's Zhang Qilong? I don't know who you're talking about." Zhou Tiansheng spoke calmly, his face showing little emotion.
Louise said, "Currently, countries in Southeast Asia are all after you, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam, all of them want to extradite you.
You are now a hot commodity.
We can keep you here in America for trial, or hand you over to any one of those countries.
Your criminal record in those countries can fill up a truck, you should know what that means."
Zhou Tiansheng laughed, "Even if I confess, I'll be tried in the US, as if I won't be in prison."
Louise said, "I think it's necessary to remind you that New York State has paused the death penalty.
And, as long as you cooperate with the investigation, we can turn you into a state witness and secure a nice plea deal."
"You seem to not know much about Southeast Asia, Malaysia has abolished the death penalty, and Myanmar hasn't executed anyone in many years; it's not only in America where human rights matter."
"Then we'll hand you over to those countries that still have the death penalty. Moreover, even if those countries don't have the death penalty, their law enforcement transparency is far inferior to that of New York's.
Your outcome might be worse than a death sentence; I shouldn't need to explain that."
"As far as I know, the transparency of American law enforcement isn't that high either."
Louise said, "I don't want to argue with you. You have five minutes to think about it."
Zhou Tiansheng quickly made up his mind, perhaps having thought it through before getting caught, "I want a deal."
Luke replied, "That's possible, but the condition of the deal is that you must first confess."
"Deal." Zhou Tiansheng knew what the FBI really wanted.
Zhou Tiansheng, unlike ordinary suspects, had a real bargaining chip in the form of his hidden wealth in the hundreds of millions of US dollars.
"You're right, I know you can track my connections with Zheng Lagong, so I didn't go through his channels to find the clinic, instead, I found someone from the Flying Dragon Gang's rival faction, a thug named Zhang Qilong."
Luke pressed on, "How do you know Zhang Qilong?"
"I don't know him; it was introduced by Song Jinbao, and Song Jinbao is the one who killed him.
I just instructed Song Jinbao to find a 'clean' cosmetic surgery clinic."
"How did Song Jinbao kill him?"
"I don't know.
If I have to worry about such trivial matters, what do I need him for?"
Luke made a note on his notebook, "Did you also have Ma Jiansheng the accountant killed?"
"I know you've caught Mo Shaohong; he should have already told you, right."
"I still want to hear you say it yourself."
"That's right, I had Mo Shaohong kill the accountant Ma Jiansheng.
He knew too much; as long as he was alive, my hidden assets would be exposed eventually.
He had to die."
"Describe how the accountant Ma Jiansheng was killed."
"Do you think I would do it myself?"
Zhou Tiansheng flicked his fingernails and said, "You should ask Mo Shaohong. I originally thought he was a good hitman, but he got caught by you guys anyway.
Don't tell me he hasn't confessed yet, or I'll look down on you."
Luke didn't press further and changed the subject, "Tell us about Zheng Lagong; how did he die?"
"Zheng Lagong was also killed by Mo Shaohong."
"Zheng Lagong helped you smuggle yourself into New York; you owe him, so why instruct Mo Shaohong to kill him?"
"After Mo Shaohong killed Zheng Lagong, I did give him some money, but to say I instructed it, well, that would be unfair."
"Don't you find that statement contradictory? If you didn't instruct it, why pay Mo Shaohong?"
Zhou Tiansheng yawned, "Actually, the one who truly wanted to kill Zheng Lagong should be his 'good assistant' Mo Shaohong. I was just blackmailed by Mo Shaohong indirectly."
"Why did Mo Shaohong want to kill Zheng Lagong?"
"It's a long story, Zheng Lagong and Mo Shaohong were originally members of a Thai gang, about 12 or 13 years ago, Zheng Lagong suddenly wanted to develop in New York.