A series of crimes of a notorious gangster

Bloody payoffs

From late 2010 to mid-2011, many cases of “gangster” behavior occurred in Vinh City, causing much public outrage. Using professional measures, detectives were able to capture the person behind those cases, a gang led by Le Van Linh (born in 1972; residing in Ha Huy Tap Ward, Vinh City), also known as Linh “Cot”.

This criminal gang continuously causes many shocking cases involving many people.protection field, bidding, auctions, debt collection, as well as other disputes. Not only are there shootings to intimidate gangsters, but there are also shootings at innocent people...

On the evening of August 26, 2010, due to a conflict with the group of Nguyen Ngoc Hieu, aka Hieu “Vuong” (born in 1990; residing in Cua Nam ward, Vinh city), Le Van Linh sent his son Le Quoc Hung (aka Hung “Linh”, born in 1992; residing in Ha Huy Tap ward, Vinh city) to call Hieu’s group to meet at Vinh City Stadium, Cua Nam ward to settle all grudges. Although still young, relying on the “shadow” of his father Le Van Linh, Le Quoc Hung often harassed, challenged each other to fight, and was a very effective arm of Linh “cot”.

That night, Hung called some other people to the southern gate area to lie in ambush and wait for Hieu “Vuong”’s group to arrive. When leaving, Hung’s group prepared some knives, swords, and 2 sam-let guns.

At around 11pm the same day, when they discovered a 4-seat Captiva car without a license plate driving slowly in the Vinh stadium area, thinking that Hieu “Vuong”’s group was looking for them, Hung’s group grabbed guns and fired bullets at the rear of the car. 8 bullets penetrated the car’s side and rear windshield, one of which hit the head of the person sitting in the car.

The victim was identified as Tran Nhat Tan (born in 1980; hometown in Quynh Luu district) who was shot “by mistake” while he was looking for a night-time restaurant. Fortunately, the bullet only went into the soft tissue, although he lost a lot of blood, but was taken to the emergency room in time so Mr. Tan’s life is not in danger.

Another incident, on the afternoon of March 15, 2011, father and son Le Van Linh - Le Quoc Hung, along with Tran Hoai Ky (aka Dong "bu"), Nguyen Anh Tu and Vo Thanh Tuan went to the Li Li coffee shop (Hung Phuc ward, Vinh city) to meet the owner to collect a debt. At the shop, an argument and a fight broke out and they used swords to slash two people, seriously injuring them and they had to be taken to the hospital for emergency treatment.

Linh “cot” gang not only dared to act boldly to show off to other gangs and groups, but also was ready to “punish” anyone who dared to touch their side. On the afternoon of May 28, 2011, Tran Hoai Ky went to Linh “cot” house to play. There, Ky heard his senior tell him to prepare to “teach” the journalist who dared to write about him a lesson. On the morning of May 30, 2011, Le Quoc Hung called Ky to prepare the “hot goods” to go to work.

When Hung arrived, Ky took out the knife and put it in the car, then all four of them drove together in two cars along Lenin Street. Discovering the journalist's car that boss Linh "cot" was aiming for ahead, they divided the task of following it. When they saw the car entering the gas station at 2 Le Hong Phong Street (Hung Binh Ward, Vinh City) to refuel, Ky told Tu: "Go and slash the journalist who is filling up the gas." Receiving the order, Tu took the knife and ran over, slashing his left shoulder down to his left arm, then escaped.

According to the assessment results of Nghe An Provincial Police, the above journalist suffered 10% permanent disability. Previously, the police agency received a complaint from a construction company in Hanoi that was threatened by Linh "Cot" gang and was not allowed to participate in bidding for a construction project in Nghe An. Not only that, Linh "Cot" also colluded with some gangsters from Hai Phong to control the mineral exploitation sector in Nghe An and Ha Tinh... On July 10, 2011, a special project was established by detectives to destroy the gang of gangsters that had been rampant for a long time, causing panic among the people in Vinh City.

The case started with the intentional injury case at Li Li Coffee Shop. However, during the contact process, the victims were afraid to report. Through professional measures, the case team was able to identify the subjects involved in the slashing case at Li Li Coffee Shop. On the afternoon of October 20, 2011, the Investigation Police Agency of Nghe An Province temporarily detained Le Quoc Hung (son of Linh "cot"), Tran Hoai Ky, Nguyen Anh Tu, Vo Thanh Tuan and Tran Anh Tuan for the crime of intentional injury. Linh "cot" escaped. The investigation agency issued a wanted order for Linh for the crime of intentional injury.

Fugitive from arrest warrant still trafficking drugs

While on the run from the arrest warrant, Linh “cot” met Nguyen Thi Hanh (46 years old, residing in Vinh City), a “boss” who specialized in transporting drugs to Laos to Vietnam to distribute to drug dealers from Nghe An to Ho Chi Minh City. When she met Linh, Hanh had just bought 430 grams of “crystal meth” from Laos and was preparing to bring it to Ho Chi Minh City to sell to regular customers.

But when Linh expressed her desire to buy, Hanh took out 430 grams of “ice” for Linh to see. After trying the “goods”, Linh told Hanh: “This product has a fruity smell so customers don’t like it much. Nowadays, they only like the kind with a fishy smell. Just keep this product and I’ll sell it for you and pay you later.” After the deal was done, Hanh agreed to sell 430 grams of “ice” to Linh “cot” for 258 million VND.

At the end of October 2011, a regular customer in Ho Chi Minh City gave Hanh 700 million VND to prepare to go to Laos to "collect goods". Hanh called Linh and asked if she wanted to buy goods together, and Linh agreed. The next day, Linh brought 35,000 USD to a coffee shop and gave it to Hanh. Hanh brought all the money to Laos to buy 2kg of "crystal meth" from a man named Noi. To hide the drugs and bring them back to Vietnam, Hanh went to the market in Laos to buy 2 20-liter paint buckets, then poured out some of the paint and put the drugs in.

After carefully disguising herself, Hanh called her son Nguyen Canh Chien (25 years old) and his men to go to Laos to transport drugs back to Vietnam. Before leaving, Hanh told Chien that if he successfully brought the "goods" back, he should give Linh "cot" 1kg, and bring the remaining half to Ho Chi Minh City to deliver to customers. When the drug ring run by Nguyen Thi Hanh was destroyed, Le Van Linh sensed danger and fled to Laos and then to Cambodia. However, because he was an important link in the drug trafficking ring, Le Van Linh was wanted by Ha Tinh Provincial Police on February 27, 2012.

The investigation agency said that Linh was very reckless and cunning. This gang specialized in protection rackets, debt collection, and hired stabbings. He always had 50 underlings under his command who were ready to use knives, guns, and sacrifice themselves for their seniors. When he was in hiding, he was helped by his henchmen from all over, so it was very difficult for the detectives to find him.

After more than 1 year of hiding and hiding in Laos and Cambodia, on February 6, 2013, Le Van Linh was arrested by the Nghe An Police Investigation Agency. On July 11, 2013, at the first instance trial, defendant Le Van Linh was sentenced by the Nghe An Provincial People's Court to 4 years in prison for the crime of "Intentionally causing injury". During that time, Linh "cot" continued to be extradited to Ha Tinh for investigation and trial for drug trafficking. On April 17, 2015, the Ha Tinh Provincial People's Court opened the first instance trial of Le Van Linh for the crime of Illegal drug trafficking. For the crimes he committed, Le Van Linh was sentenced by the Trial Council to 20 years in prison, in addition to being fined 20 million VND.