Reputed Asian street gang leader Cuong Gia Le admitted in federal court yesterday that he killed three people in Falls Church -- two at a restaurant and the third at a pool hall.
In exchange for his cooperation with investigators, prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty in the slayings, which occurred over the last seven years.
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Le, 27, a native of Vietnam who told the court that he moved to the United States in the early 1990s, pleaded guilty to a total of nine counts in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. The gang slayings at the Majestic Restaurant in 2001 and the Hi Au Pool hall four years earlier were characterized in court papers as retaliatory. Additional charges included attempted murder in aid of racketeering, firearms and racketeering.
Prosecutors contend that Le, a former Springfield resident, and six other men committed the crimes, as well as home invasions and robberies in Virginia and Maryland, as part of an Asian racketeering organization known as the Oriental Playboys. The racketeering charge invokes the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which originally targeted organized crime. Recently the RICO Act has been used in efforts to dismantle street gangs.
Investigators have said that the primary purpose of the gang was to make money through threats and acts of violence and robberies that targeted primarily Asian businesses. Le's conviction is the 16th resulting from a three-year investigation into the Oriental Playboys.
According to court documents, in October 2000 the defendants traveled from Northern Virginia to Baltimore County, where they robbed the residents of one house of $40,000 in cash and jewelry valued at $30,000. That same month, the documents said, they invaded a home in Fairfax County, where they forced the occupants into a bathroom while they stole electronic equipment, cash and other property.
In May, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III dismissed the prosecution's motion to pursue the death penalty against Le, ruling that the petition was filed too close to the trial date.
Prosecutors appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, but before the panel ruled, the government offered to drop 12 of the charges against Le and guarantee a life sentence if he would cooperate with its ongoing investigations.
"We are very satisfied with the plea," said Frank Salvato, one of two lawyers representing Le yesterday in court, adding that the trial court's decision to dismiss the prosecution's notice to seek the death penalty "created a thorn in the government's case." Salvato said that later Le will be able to appeal to the court for a reduced sentence.
In court yesterday, Ellis questioned Le to make sure he was physically and mentally fit to admit to the slayings.
"Do you feel okay?" Ellis asked, his words translated by a Vietnamese interpreter.
"I feel happy, also sad," replied Le in English.
According to court records, Le was associated with an Asian gang known as DF (also known as the Dragon Family or Dragon Fly) in 1997. On Jan. 26 of that year, investigators said that Le agreed to help a fellow gang member kill a rival. Together they went to the Hi Au Pool hall in the Eden Shopping Center in Falls Church and, armed with shotguns, killed Long Nguyen.
Although Le was never charged in the slaying, it was among those he admitted to yesterday.
Le was indicted by a federal grand jury in December in the slayings at the Majestic in which Long Phi Nguyen, 27, and Binh Anh Luu, 20, were shot to death as they stood outside the restaurant and exchanged angry words with Le. Two other people were wounded.
Other defendants in the case helped Le avoid capture. He was a fugitive for more than two years before being captured in July 2003 near Seattle by the U.S. Marshals Service.
