Federal and local law enforcement authorities Friday arraigned 51 alleged Chinese gang members operating in New York city's Manhattan and Queens.

The accused face charges that include attempted murder and conspiracy to murder, smuggling aliens, illegal gambling, debt collection and trafficking counterfeit goods.

US attorney David Kelly said the gangs used violence to protect their financial profits and territories in Chinatown and Flushing, Queens and instill fear in communities with freshly arrived and vulnerable immigrants populations.

These groups, he said, made tens of thousands of dollars a week, coordinating some of their crimes with associates in Asia who helped to deliver counterfeit goods or arrange for the smuggling of people into the United States. The government is seeking millions of dollars in forfeitures from the defendants.

Law enforcement officers said the Chinese gangs have changed since the 1990s, when US law enforcement authorities cracked down on schemes in which the Chinese gangs used large boats or trucks to smuggle aliens into the country.

They said Chinatown was no longer victimized by gangs that once presided over nearly every block, making it impossible to do business there without submitting to extortion and making every innocent person a potential victim.

Now, victims tend to be those who seek loans or engage in gambling and rack up heavy debts. Kelly said these people have chosen "to throw themselves at the feet of those who are engaged in this activity."