Vietnamese gangs wage war in Canada

Sarah Kennedy:

It was a busy night inside a downtown Calgary martini lounge when several gunmen burst through the front door and opened fire.

Known gangster John Pheng was gunned down in cold blood in front of a terrified crowd early last year.

His killers fled and were never arrested but the shooting sparked a vicious street war between rival Asian gangs Fresh Off the Boat (FOB) and Fresh Off The Boat Killers (FOBK) that has claimed six lives so far.

No arrests have been made in any of the gang-related murders.

Charges for weapon and driving offences have been laid against members but most end up being released on bail.

The problem, police say, stems from a code of silence on the part of all witnesses and the gangsters’ families.

In an exclusive interview with Sun Media in September, Do Hong —the mother of gang member Dat Le, 22, gunned down with buddy Peter Tran — said parents fear retaliation. They also have a mistrust of police bred from experiences in Vietnam.

“Parents don’t want to get shot,” she said, through a translator. “I don’t want to get shot.”

Most of the rival gangsters, in their late teens and early 20s, are first-generation Canadians who grew up together in Calgary’s Vietnamese community, said Hong.

It’s not known what sparked the deadly rivalry, although some speculate it initially had to do with a girl which escalated into a war of retaliatory shootings.

These gang members are heavily involved in the city’s drug scene, with many recognized as dealers and dial-a-dopers.

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