" Towne got the message. “Where do you work?” he asked the vice cop. “Right now we’re working in Chinatown.” “What do you do there?” “Nothing.” “What do you mean, nothing?” “Well, that’s pretty much what we’re told to do in Chinatown, is nothing. Because with the different tongs, the language and everything else, we can’t tell whether we’re helping somebody commit a crime or prevent one. So, we just … we do nothing. "

― Sam Wasson , The Big Goodbye: Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood