Gangs Put Vietnamese in State of Siege

Hyunh Phuoc, a former South Vietnamese soldier, stands ready for combat in his Canoga Park house--fortified by a $2,000 security system and a semiautomatic rifle in easy reach. So far, he has not had to use it.

Lam Ta was robbed last weekend just as he was closing up the Reseda furniture store he manages. Four thin, stylishly dressed youths--one in a Mohawk haircut, another wielding a gun--threatened to kill him if he made any trouble. The youths bound Ta, kicked him and shoved him into the store’s bathroom. After ransacking the cluttered store and grabbing fistfuls of cash, they fled.

Although their experiences are very different, Phuoc and Ta are both victims of a wave of gang-related Vietnamese crimes sweeping the San Fernando Valley. One has been robbed and beaten; the other lives in fear of a similar fate.

Roving Bands

Roving bands of Vietnamese youths, ranging in age from 13 to 22, are preying upon other Vietnamese, often robbing even family members, said Los Angeles Police Detective Raymond Paik. Reports of the crimes have spread through the Vietnamese community, prompting many to retreat to their homes and tightly secure their businesses.

“In the last four months, it’s really gone crazy,” said LAPD Detective Jim Bryan. “And right now, the major problem is in the San Fernando Valley.” By last week, the trend had became so pronounced that police warned Vietnamese residents in the Valley not to open their doors to strangers.

Most worrisome to police are the mounting reports of crime victims being beaten. “They seem to be getting more aggressive,” said LAPD Detective Bud Mehringer. “Initially, they just displayed guns; now a couple of people have gotten pistol-whipped. It’s just a matter of time before something happens.”

Youths who police describe as “a bunch of new-wave kids” or as “punk-looking” gain entry into homes by asking for a member of the family or pretending to be distant relatives, Paik said. “They use any ruse they can think of to get into the house,” he said.

Once in, they blindfold and tie up family members and take what they can: money, jewelry, stereo equipment, television sets, videocassette recorders. Some of the youths have been connected to a Valley-wide car theft ring, primarily involving Toyotas and Datsuns and often stealing as many as 20 in one night, police said.

The gangs prefer Vietnamese victims because they are familiar with the cultural norms that typically keep people from going to police, Paik said. “The Vietnamese are very much intimidated by gang members of their own ethnic group because they know that in their old country these threats were carried out,” he said.

The Valley’s growing Vietnamese population, concentrated in Canoga Park and Reseda, makes the area attractive to Vietnamese gangs, police say. Although current population estimates are not available, the most recent U. S. Census figures indicated that about 13,000 Vietnamese lived in the city of Los Angeles in 1980. Officials believe that number has grown substantially.

An increasing number of Vietnamese are protecting themselves, installing security systems and buying guns.

“I’m scared because they had a gun and they put their hand on the trigger,” said Ta, the manager of the Reseda furniture store. “I think I will get a gun to protect myself.”

Although ex-soldier Phuoc rarely fears for his safety, he recently bought an AK-47, a semiautomatic carbine once used by the Vietcong. Although it is unlikely that thugs could make it past his heavy security gate and barred windows, Phuoc, 53, wants to take no chances.

‘I Protect Myself’

“I protect myself,” he said. “The police try to protect us, but they cannot be around here all the time. This street is big and the gangs can hide.”

The gang members identified by police are believed to be transients and have been known to rob members of Vietnamese communities from Seattle to Houston. Some have been spotted as far away as New York City, detectives said. “They’re very mobile, and they’ll go where the money is,” Paik said.

They will sometimes attend a party of another Vietnamese youth, survey valuables in his home, then return to steal them, said West Valley LAPD Officer Harry Hollywood.

“They play with your son, they know if your family has money,” said one Vietnamese woman who has been robbed. The woman, who requested anonymity, said she thinks the youths use the money to buy drugs. Police agree that this is a possibility, Bryan said.

Although about 20 gang members have been identified by Los Angeles police officers and seven of those arrested, police are frustrated because descriptions of suspects are usually sketchy. Victims often refuse to identify their assailants or to testify in court.

Authorities attribute the reticence to cultural barriers that cause Vietnamese to mistrust police and to fear reprisals. Many of the victims are told that, if they go to police, they or members of their families will be killed or that their houses will be burned, Paik said.

“They’re scared and upset,” said Detective Richard Salazar at the West Valley police station. “There’s a real reluctance to get involved, in identifying people even in a lineup and, in some cases, in just reporting robberies.”

Law enforcement officials are further hamstrung by language barriers. Many of the victims speak little or no English. The Los Angeles Police Department has just three officers who speak Vietnamese, only one of them fluently, Bryan said. “You can imagine the difficulties when you can’t even talk to these people,” he said.

Officer Hollywood sees the need for police to reach out to the Vietnamese, create a climate of trust and convince them it is in their best interest to go the authorities. He said police have attempted similar efforts and achieved some success a few years back with the Latino community.

“Who knows how long it will be before we can build that kind of rapport? We can’t quite get the community to feel comfortable with us,” he said. “We feel we’re just getting to the tip of the iceberg as to what’s happening out there.”

Called 911

Kim Le Gonzalez said that, despite her broken English, she called 911 after a videocassette player and several videocassettes were stolen from her small video store a week after it opened. But she did not report the would-be extortionist who asked her for $200 and warned her that she “better be careful” when she refused to pay.

“He say, ‘If you don’t pay me, I shoot you,’ ” Gonzalez said. But she did not plan to report the attempted extortion to police “until he does something wrong,” she said.

In the meantime, Gonzalez cowers in her store when she sees Vietnamese youths loitering outside. “They come and scare me all the time,” she said. “I don’t know who are good and who are bad.”

Her husband keeps urging her to take posters out of the window so someone can see in to report trouble to the police. She said she feels better with the posters hiding her from the youths.

Gonzalez hopes only to stick it out until her lease expires in two months. Then she plans to close the shop “and go back looking for a job.”

Second Robbery

Another Canoga Park shopkeeper who asked to be identified only as Kim said she filed a police report about an armed robbery the day after last Christmas. It was the second robbery at her small grocery store, which has also been burglarized five times.

Two teen-agers bought a 60-cent drink and, when she gave them change, threw the coins back at her and jumped behind the counter, one holding a silver-colored gun to her head, she said.

“I tried to fight with them for the gun,” she said, but couldn’t wrestle it away. “I’m lucky the gun didn’t go off.”

Kim said she fears the gang members will come back and hurt her. “If they know I’m the one giving the information, they’ll come back and shoot me,” she said. “They know where you live.”

In the months since the robbery, Kim, a mother of three, has kept a watchful eye out for the youths. “Every day I have to be careful, see if the gang is around here.” Many of her mostly Vietnamese customers have had their homes robbed too, she said.

“They’re afraid to go do it to American people,” she said of the youths’ habit of preying upon their countrymen. “American people can bring them to jail.”

Police in the West Valley Division, where most of the Valley crimes have occurred, have amassed photos of 36 suspects to show victims, said Salazar.

When Kim reported the robbery to the police, she went to the station and examined those photographs. Although she recognized many of the faces, she told police she wasn’t sure which belonged to the two youths who had robbed her. The armed robbers are still at large.

In the meantime, some members of the Vietnamese community in the Valley worry that the incidents may cast a bad light upon their people.

Furniture manager Ta said he is embarrassed by the actions of the youths and fears that Americans will think poorly of all Vietnamese because of a few. Said Ta: “I worry because they make my country look bad.”