Jury Finds Loan Shark Guilty of Threatening Hard-Up Gamblers

A man alleged to have ties to organized crime in Westminster was convicted Friday on four extortion charges of offering loans to tapped-out gamblers at casinos, then threatening them with violence if they failed to repay, the U.S. attorney’s office announced.

David Quah Tran, 40, was found guilty by a federal jury in Santa Ana of collecting debts for a loan shark who charged interest rates of 10% a week--52 times the rate permitted under California’s usury law.

Nicknamed “The Executor,” Tran threatened to kill gamblers’ children, boyfriends or girlfriends or damage their property if the weekly interest payment was not made, prosecutors said. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

Tran’s boss, Doung “Benny” Trung Lam, 36, pleaded guilty this week to one count of conspiracy to use extortionate means to collect loans. He faces up to five years in prison.

Though pleased with the verdict, Westminster police and FBI investigators said Friday they suspect there are hundreds of other victims who have not yet come forward and that hundreds of thousands of dollars were involved.

Tran and Lam targeted Chinese and Vietnamese gamblers with on-the-spot loans at the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens and the Commerce Club in Commerce, officials said.

“Many, many of these victims . . . are in the Little Saigon area,” Westminster Police Chief James Cook said, and can contact investigators at (714) 898-3315, Ext. 591.