California state Sen. Yee arrested in corruption case

State Sen. Leland Yee, an outspoken advocate of gun control and open government, was arrested Wednesday on charges that he conspired to traffic in firearms and traded favors in Sacramento for bribes – campaign cash paid by men who turned out to be undercover FBI agents.

Yee, a Democrat who represents half of San Francisco and most of San Mateo County and is running for secretary of state, was one of 26 people ensnared in a five-year federal investigation that targeted Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, a notorious Chinatown gangster who had claimed to have gone straight, officials said.

The charges, filed Monday and unsealed Wednesday, reverberated through circles of power in San Francisco and Sacramento, shaking up party politics and the secretary of state race. Leading Democratic senators, weary of recent scandals involving party legislators, called for Yee’s resignation.

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