The first wave of New York City astreet gangsa in Chinatown began in the early 1970s. The bosses planted their foundations through their associations with reputable, established Chinese-American criminal organizations. Their influence instantaneously caught on with young impressionable Asian teenagers all throughout the five boroughs, and by the late 1980s, hundreds of Asian teenagers outside of Chinatown claimed to be affiliated with a recognized gang. The rest of the city called them punks, thugs, gangsters, and criminals. But they simply called themselves hangouts.