For decades, Cheng Chui Ping smuggled thousands of people from China to the United States. She created a lucrative business and a robust network that brought immigrants through treacherous routes.

A woman was convicted Wednesday of using her Chinatown storefront to orchestrate human-smuggling schemes, including a treacherous voyage in 1993 that ended in the deaths of 10 Chinese immigrants.

This was Ping's Hester Street store in Chinatown. For decades, Cheng Chui Ping smuggled thousands of people from China to the United States. She created a lucrative business and a robust network that ...