The film stars Justin Chon, Kevin Wu, Harry Shum Jr., Eugenia Yuan, Geoff Pierson and Ray Liotta.

The film is based on Fredric Dannen's New Yorker article that chronicled the true story of Chinese-American gang life in 1980s and 1990s New York City.

[3] The central villain Snake Head Mama is based on gangster Sister Ping.

The film also received a day-and-date theatrical and VOD release in the United States on October 24, 2014.

[12] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 36 out of 100, based on 12 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.