George Washington Appo (1856-1930) was a Chinese-Irish career criminal credited with inventing a new method of pickpocketing. Appo grew up in the gang controlled Five Points neighborhood of New York City and became addicted to opium. He served time at Sing Sing Correctional Facility and the Matteawan Hospital for Insane Criminals, where his father died. In 1898 Appo was targeted as an Eurasian "half breed" in Louis Beck's campaign against miscegenation. He is buried in Westchester County.

His father Quimbo Appo immigrated from China in 1842 and was also a notorious criminal.

A Pickpocket’s Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York by Timothy J. Gilfoyle.

New York Tribune, June 25, 1912

Chinaman Who Killed Four Persons in Prison 35 Years.

Fishkill-on-Hudson, N.Y., June 24.—Quimbo Appo, regarded as one of the most interesting patients at the Matteawan State Hospital for the Insane, died to-day at the age of eighty-nine. He was brought here thirty-four years ago from New York City as a “green goods” man.

Quimbo Appo was sent to state prison thirty-five years ago for killing John Kelly, a prize fighter, in a quarrel over a game of checkers. Since his arrival in this country in 1842, the Chinaman was alleged to have been responsible for four deaths.

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Quimbo Appo (1822-1912) was born Lee Ah Bow in Ningbo, China and sailed to California during the Gold Rush. He eventually made his way to New York City and opened a tea shop on Spring Street. After murdering his landlady and committing a string of other murders, he earned the nickname “Chinese devil man.” The Village Voice called him “the most famous Oriental in New York.” He married Catherine (Fitzpatrick) Appo and their son George Appo, who also led a life of crime, invented a new form of pickpocketing.

In 2011, China City of America was proposed as a $6 billion theme park, college, hotel, food court, and casino in Sullivan County bordering a wetland preserve. Through an EB-5 program promising permanent residency in exchange for foreign capital, the founders enticed Chinese investors with access to Donald Trump and other politicians. Various local events were sponsored, including the 2016 Bagel Festival in Monticello. “The China City team provided delicious BBQ, free gifts and water to hundreds who attended…China City of America collected hundreds of support letters at the end of the event...will also help create many jobs in the region...” The founders were arrested in 2022 for defrauding investors.

The victims of an unsolved 2014 quadruple murder in Guilderland, NY: Fujianese immigrants Jin Chen and Hai Yan Li and their American-born sons Anthony and Eddy.

The investigation was significantly hampered by language barriers, and links to gambling and organized crime were rumored. Eighteen mattresses were reportedly found in the family basement. The father had worked at the King’s Wok restaurant.

Front Page of The New York Times, October 25, 1897.

NINETEEN LIVES LOST

New York Central Express Plunges Into the Hudson River Near Garrisons.

EIGHT CHINAMEN AMONG THE DROWNED.

“Chinaman, supposed to be WONG GIN from a letter addressed to that name found in his clothing. Drowned in the combination car. Chinaman supposed to be HOP SING from that name being found on a piece of paper in his clothing. Drowned in the combination car. Six unidentified Chinamen, all young men except one, who is apparently forty-five or fifty years old and strongly built…”

In 1897, the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad crashed in Garrison, NY, killing at least nineteen individuals aboard. Roughly half the dead were Chinese. Some were found in the combination car with freight and not in the day coach, which suggests that the train was segregated.

The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, an umbrella organization with ties to San Francisco’s Chinatown, claimed the bodies of the dead and held funerals in New York City. Sam Ping Lee, the co-founder of the Chinese Equal Rights League, attended the town hall inquest.

The names of the deceased Chinese were not widely reported in English language papers, aside from unverified listings in The New York Times. Instead, these individuals were listed as unidentified Chinamen. When making settlement payouts, the railroad company priced each of these lives at $2000, compared to $2500 given to a Mr. John Ryan for sustaining minor injuries.