Thefts by Gangs Who Prey on Fellow Asians on the Increase

The owner of a Chinese restaurant in Northridge says he works hard for his money--it took him more than 10 years of working seven days a week to save enough money to buy a better house for his family.

But that comfortable San Gabriel Valley house this past April became the scene of a frightening ordeal in which three Vietnamese gang members robbed him of jewelry and nearly $20,000. The gang members tied up the restaurant owner, his wife and mother-in-law with duct tape, threatened them with guns and ransacked their home.

The robbery was among the latest in a series of crimes in which Asian gangs prey on other Asians, robbing them of cash and jewelry, police said.

Two years ago, Los Angeles police identified one of the main gangs thought to be responsible for several such robberies of Asians in the San Fernando Valley. Since then the robberies have become more frequent and this year they began occurring in such normally tranquil communities as Thousand Oaks, Camarillo and Simi Valley, authorities said.

The problem has plagued Asian communities in the San Gabriel Valley, Orange County and central Los Angeles for several years but is becoming worse in the Valley and neighboring communities as more Asians move to the area, police said.

Some of the gang members learned their methods while serving in the army of the reunited Vietnam. Others belonged to street gangs in their home countries before coming to the United States.

Police say the highly mobile gangs typically are interested in stealing money rather than in dominating a neighborhood. They use what police say amounts to psychological torture--threatening, for example, to kill or rape a victim’s children--to frighten the parents into revealing where valuables are hidden.

The gangs target Asians because many Asians do not trust banks and keep their cash and expensive jewelry at home, police said. The gangs may spend weeks gathering information about potential robbery targets’ incomes and valuables before they strike.

Often, they lie in wait for their victims, bind them with wire or duct tape and sometimes beat them.

‘Already There’

“When I got home, they were already there,” said the restaurant owner, who settled in the United States in 1974 after fleeing to Hong Kong from his native China. “They had tied up my wife and my mother-in-law for three hours. I tried to leave, but they grabbed me and held two handguns to my head. I said, ‘Hey, please, I give you the money, don’t be nervous.’ Finally they cooled down. They said, ‘Where is the money? Where is the money?’ ”

The 39-year-old said he now lives behind barred windows in a house also protected by a German shepherd guard dog, an expensive alarm system and security lights. He carries a handgun day and night.

“Every night when I go home, it’s like World War II,” he said, referring to his heavily fortified house. “I tried to come to the United States to be free, but suddenly, everything is upside down. I am scared.”

In May, police arrested a 15-year-old Vietnamese-Chinese youth suspected of being one of the gang that robbed the restaurant owner. The case is being heard in Los Angeles County Juvenile Court, said Los Angeles Police Detective Bill Park.

So far this year, at least six robberies of Asian residents and business owners by Asian gangs have been reported in the Valley, up from two last year, police said. Three others occurred this year in Simi Valley, authorities said, and Camarillo and Thousand Oaks each had one.

Responding to the increase, the Los Angeles Police Department recently doubled the number of Asian Gang Detail officers to eight. The unit helps detectives in the department’s 18 divisions solve crimes by Asian gangs, said Park, a member of the detail.

The latest such robbery occurred Sept. 9 in La Canada Flintridge. In that incident, a 40-year-old Asian woman was stabbed in the arm after insisting that there was no cash in the house, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. The robbers, both believed to be Asian and about 20 years old, bound the woman and her husband and daughter and stole two Rolex watches after ransacking the house, authorities said.

On Aug. 16, Viet Van Nguyen, 30, was beaten and slashed by three or four Vietnamese robbers who waited inside his Simi Valley house and tied him up when he returned home shortly before 4 p.m., police said.

The suspects, who have not been caught, are believed to be gang members who have committed similar crimes in the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, authorities said. There are about five Asian gangs, each with 20 to 40 members, known to have committed robberies in the Valley in recent years, Park said.

In April, along with the $20,000 taken from the Chinese restaurant owner, Asian gangs made off with $16,300 in cash and jewelry from a Canoga Park house and stole $10,000 in cash and valuables from another family in the Valley, Park said.

On the Move

Unlike their counterparts in black and Latino gangs, Asian gang members do not identify with a particular neighborhood, preferring to remain mobile. They roam from one Asian community to another, sometimes venturing as far as Northern California and Washington state, which makes them difficult to catch, Park said.

Some Asian gangs have names--Black Dragon, Valley Boys, Nip Boys and Asian Bad Boys, for example--but members have less group loyalty than do members of black and Latino gangs, he said.

Frequently, victims fear retaliation from their attackers and ask police to drop their investigations, authorities said. That occurred, for example, after the March 18 robbery of a group of Chinese men living together in a house in Camarillo, said Detective Sgt. Mike Barnes of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities were about to arrest a suspect in Monterey Park when the victims suddenly refused to cooperate with investigators, Barnes said.

Police say the gangs act with military precision and swiftness. After distracting whoever comes to the door in answer to their knock, the robbers sneak into the house.

“Each gang member has a certain responsibility, like going into the rooms, tying up everyone in the living room,” Park said.

Authorities are arresting more Asian gang members than in the past as they learn more about the gangs’ movements and methods, Park said. He said about 85% of the crimes have been solved, although authorities do not always obtain enough evidence to prosecute.