California State Senator Leland Yee, a Democratic candidate for secretary of state, was arrested early Wednesday on public corruption charges during a series of raids by the FBI in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area, authorities said.

The 65-year-old Yee, a former San Francisco school board member and a Democrat in the state Assembly, was taken in handcuffs from his home to the Federal Building in San Francisco. He is scheduled to be arraigned today, according to local news reports, which also said that authorities had made numerous arrests in predawn widespread raids involving suspected gang members.

California State Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) talks in his office about the state's budget impasse in San Francisco, California in this July 3, 2009, file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that sources said that the raids involved hundreds of federal agents and local police and stemmed from a fatal shooting about five years ago.

Authorities searched Yee’s office in Sacramento and his home in San Francisco's Sunset District.

Another search was at the San Francisco Chinatown office of the Ghee Kung Tong Free Masons. It is linked to the arrest this morning of Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow. He was reportedly the head of Ghee Kung Tong, one of several fraternal organizations in San Francisco's Chinatown. The Hong Kong-born Chow had returned to Chinatown after serving time in prison on gun charges.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that sources said that the predawn, multiagency raids involved hundreds of federal agents and local police stemmed from a fatal shooting about five years ago.

Yee, who has served in the state Legislature for more than a decade, was elected to the state Senate in November 2006 and represents District 8, which includes San Francisco and San Mateo County.