Police Seek Eastern Link to Killing : L.A. Detectives Suspect Asian Gang Network Is Involved

Two Hollywood detectives were in Massachusetts on Tuesday investigating the apparent connection between a nationwide network of Asian gangs and last month’s murder of a Vietnamese immigrant in a Hollywood motel.

Homicide Detectives C. M. Harris and Dennis Kilcoyne went to the Boston suburb of Lowell after eight suspects--including a 16-year-old girl--were arrested as they reportedly fled the scene of an attempted jewelry store robbery on Sunday.

The store is owned by a Cambodian immigrant whose wife was pistol-whipped.

Harris and Kilcoyne told the Lowell Sun newspaper that they were there to interview two of the suspects, Trung Chi Truong, 28, and Minh Luong, 21, as possible witnesses to the murder of Son Van Vu, 33, whose body was discovered on the bed of his room at a motel in the 5300 block of Hollywood Boulevard last Dec. 9.

The victim had been been shot once in the head. The apparent murder weapon lay on a dresser. His wife reportedly told officers that the victim had frequented such gambling centers as Las Vegas and Gardena and was known to carry large amounts of cash.

The two possible witnesses, the detectives said, are believed to be associated with a Los Angeles area gang purportedly connected with Vietnamese or Chinese gangs in other cities around the country.

Son Van Vu, who reportedly fled Vietnam and entered the United States from Indonesia, was said by Lowell Detective Capt. John Cullen to belong to a Boston area gang with which he apparently “got into trouble.” He went to Los Angeles, Cullen said, only to be slain in the Hollywood motel.

Cullen said the allied gangs operate in New York, Florida, Montreal, Southern California and other locations where there are large Asian populations to be preyed upon. He said their apparent method is to travel out of their own cities and commit crimes in other territories with the aid of friendly gangs there.

Thus, Cullen said, victims are unable to pick the suspects out of local lineups or mug books.

Hollywood Detective Russell Kuster said police believe that “certain individuals” among the suspects arrested in Lowell were recently in Los Angeles and Oakland.