Trial Casts Spotlight on Brutal Home Invasions : Crime: Victims overcome fear of retaliation to describe violence allegedly committed by Vietnamese youths who are accused of preying on Asian families.

The Taiwanese mother barely opened her front door when several clean-cut Vietnamese youths rang the bell of her West Covina home last year, looking for “Dave.”

But that tiny crack was all they needed. Wielding guns, they burst in.

“Where are the moneybags?” they demanded, after cutting the phone lines, tying up family members, putting blankets over their heads and manhandling them.

The crime was one of hundreds of home invasions that plagued Asian families in the San Gabriel Valley last year. Authorities believe that more than 200 of the invasions reported to the three sheriff’s substations in the San Gabriel Valley were committed by a group of young Vietnamese men on trial in Pomona Superior Court.

As proof, deputies cite a remarkable statistic: In the 12 months since the four men and three accomplices were arrested, only eight home invasions have been reported.

The crimes, called home invasions because they are planned and executed with military-style precision, are traditionally committed by Asian criminals against Asian families, but they are also growing more popular with other ethnic groups.

Home invasions often go unreported because victims are too terrified of retribution to go to the police. But the Taiwanese family in West Covina--which lost $10,000 in cash and jewelry--decided to talk, and so did 40 other victims, many of whom laboriously took the witness stand last week.

As they told their harrowing tales in several Asian languages, the four defendants, members of a Southern California gang called V Boys, sat impassively in manacles. Three others have pleaded guilty and are serving time in state prison.

The four defendants are Vu Nguyen, 21; Vinh Chau Tran, 22; An Thanh Nguyen, 21, and Tri Quoc Vuong, 18. They are charged with 34 felony counts of residential robbery, residential burglary, sexual battery and assault with a deadly weapon, and face 15 to 71 years in prison if convicted.

Charges of assault with a deadly weapon were filed because the defendants burned many of the victims with lit cigarettes to force them to reveal where money and jewelry were hidden, said Larry Morrison, the deputy district attorney prosecuting the case.

The gang also stole passports, green cards, credit cards and Social Security cards, all of which can be readily sold on the black market, authorities said.

Police say that Southeast Asian gang members often cruise San Gabriel Valley neighborhoods looking for telltale signs of Asian occupants: A Chinese good luck symbol hanging over the front door, shoes left on the front porch, Asian-style shrubs and gardens.

Typically, the gangs strike during the day, when only aged parents and mothers with small children are likely to be home. They ask for a fictitious person, then force their way in with guns.

Upon leaving, they often take a family photo with them, a chilling reminder that they will seek revenge if the crime is reported, authorities say. The fear of retribution is so strong that prosecutors last week asked The Times not to publish the names of victims who testified against the V Boys.

Witnesses in the case have provided police with a long catalogue of brutality:

* A 12-year-old Chinese boy from Rosemead required eight stitches in the head after being pistol-whipped because the suspects believed that the family had not handed over enough cash, Morrison said.

* An 80-year-old Chinese woman in Rowland Heights who failed to produce enough money was handled so roughly that her arms turned black and blue from bruises.

* A Filipino family of nine in Hacienda Heights was terrorized on Thanksgiving, 1993, when the suspects tied up and threatened two children, ages 3 and 5. The family was so traumatized that they were unable to celebrate the holiday this year, said Deputy Basil North, who investigated the crimes.

The suspects “would go out and rob on a daily basis, then go back to the motels where they lived with their girlfriends and drink beer and party,” North said.

The four V Boys were arrested Dec. 3, 1993, while fleeing from a residential robbery in West Covina, police said. During a police chase, they threw two guns from their red Toyota Supra, which were recovered and found to have been stolen from a Rowland Heights home earlier that day.

Home invasion robberies, along with extortion of small shopkeepers, have long been a problem in Asian communities worldwide. Asian criminals know that Asian families often keep cash and valuables at home and they know that fear and cultural differences may deter them from going to the police when victimized.

Australia is experiencing a crime wave of home invasion robberies, as is Calgary, Canada. Sacramento County has logged 99 home invasion crimes this year. In Orange County, bandits repeatedly dunked a 2-year-old’s head in the toilet until the mother handed over $500 in hidden cash.

In Hayward, victims were shot with a stun gun. In Stockton, robbers scalded an elderly woman with boiling water. At least seven victims have been killed.

Criminals from other ethnic groups appear to be following the lead.

A jury in Pomona Superior Court recently found three black defendants from Belize guilty in a home invasion robbery of an East Indian family in Diamond Bar in which a 13-year-old girl was raped.

In Orange County, Asian gangs have branched out to white victims, targeting homes in Westminster and San Juan Capistrano. Police have also reported at least five cases of Latinos committing home invasions against Latinos in Santa Ana and Costa Mesa.

“There are some copycat crimes happening,” North said. “Home invasions have been going on for a long time; it’s just never been as prolific.”