Gangs as Terrorists

The war in Vietnam ended more than a decade ago. But for many of the more than 500,000 Vietnamese who fled to the United States, freedom is turning into a nightmare.

Vietnamese gangs have been terrorizing Vietnamese communities throughout the nation. Youthful gangs prey on their own people through extortion, residential robberies, gambling and murder. While there is little evidence of a highly structured organization, the mobility and communication between these gang members is exceptional. A spokesman for the California attorney general’s office said that it is not uncommon for a gang to commit burglaries or car thefts in Chatsworth one day, appear in San Francisco the next day, then return home to Houston. Often the gang members are not from the same city. Nonetheless, they are well armed, well mobilized, well informed and well financed.

In addition to these youth gangs, there are older organizations, several of which were formed after the fall of Saigon in 1975. Law-enforcement agencies say that these groups, originally made up of former South Vietnamese military and police officers, began as paramilitary nationalist groups. Their goal has been, and in some cases remains, to free Vietnam from Communist control.

The original Vietnamese groups bore such names as Frogmen and Paratroopers. Similar groups continue to exist, training their members for military combat in Vietnam. Police say that at least one such group operates both interstate and internationally and is financially supported by money that is collected from Vietnamese businesses. Law-enforcement officials say that frequently this type of fund-raising can become extortion in the name of nationalism. And what happens to these vast sums of money is unknown.

Over the last few years, Vietnamese terrorism has continued to escalate. There have been at least 11 shootings of Vietnamese-Americans--including journalists from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Houston, Arlington, Va., and Silver Spring, Md. And last Aug. 9 a magazine publisher, Tap Van Pham, died in the arson fire of his magazine office in Garden Grove.

A group called the Vietnamese Party to Exterminate the Communists and Restore the Nation has claimed responsibility for many of these attacks, including the Aug. 9 fire. Dating back to 1981, the group has sent letters in which it labels an intended victim as pro-Communist and calls for his execution. In several of these cases the apparent motive for the attack was merely the journalist’s political view favoring the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Hanoi and Washington. However, some law-enforcement agencies believe that extortion may also be involved.

Other than the letters that have been sent, there is little proof that this specific organization exists or that it was responsible for the attacks. Nonetheless, the attacks have occurred, and for these Vietnamese newspapers free speech has been curtailed.

Vietnamese terrorist activity has expanded beyond the jurisdiction of local police departments. California Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp has established a joint state and local police task force to provide state support, but this is not enough. Federal law-enforcement assistance is desperately needed. A joint federal, state and local task force would provide the most effective means of sharing intelligence data and curbing this national problem. No American, whether new or old immigrant, should live under the constant threat of terrorism.