How does the author use foreshadowing in Pao: A Novel?

In Part I, the incident with Gloria and the sailor foreshadows several other instances in the novel when "Uncle" Pao is visited by someone (Merleen Chin - Chapter 16), or takes on the case of someone (Marguerite Lopez - Chapter 18), who needs help of the sort only he can provide. Pao, the novel hints at here and later makes completely clear, is heavily into organized crime, "uncle" being a term similar in connotation to that of "godfather" within the Italian mafia.