At Trong Minh Nguyen’s final parole hearing, board members refused to release the Calgary gangster, in part, because rival gangsters had ordered him killed.
When Nguyen was ultimately released, he would be dead in six months in a chilling ambush, caught on video.
“File information notes you currently have a ‘hit’ on your life,” reads part of the parole decision issued in December 2020.
“You have shown you will use violence and/or retaliate without hesitation and it is a definite possibility you may have to deal with this hit on you one way or another.”
Nguyen was fatally shot in his Langdon, Alta. driveway in October, six months after he finished serving his sentence for conspiracy to murder a rival gangster. His sister-in-law was also wounded in the shooting.
‘Number 1 in power’
In 2018, Nguyen was sentenced to 10½ years in prison for his second, unsuccessful plot to murder a rival gangster, Vinh Tung Truong aka Fat Vinh. With credit for the time he’d already served, Nguyen had 3½ years left on his sentence.
Before he was sentenced in 2018, Nguyen told the judge he was ready to turn his life around. He said he planned to “stay on the right track; stay away from crime, criminals and be a contributing member of society.”
But in prison, Nguyen was the leader of a gang, known by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) as security threat groups (STGs).
“You were viewed as the ‘number 1’ in power for a security threat group…and you were storing weapons with the intent to exterminate other rival gangs,” reads the decision.
‘Main pipeline’ into prison for drugs
Despite being incarcerated, Nguyen’s influence “reached far into the community” as well as into provincial jails and other prisons stretching from Saskatchewan to B.C., the board wrote.
Nguyen was considered “the main pipeline into the institution” for drugs and other contraband through the use of drones, visitors and returning inmates, according to evidence presented at his hearing.
“It is also noted you were storing weapons and making work and accommodation arrangements for released inmates,” wrote the board.
According to his prison files, Nguyen was involved in 11 intelligence and contraband incidents.
The case management team assigned to Nguyen considered him “highly successful” in circumventing the prison’s security.
Nguyen’s most recent time in prison was his second stint for trying to kill Truong and it was the second time the board kept him in prison until the expiration of his sentence.
Federal legislation dictates that inmates serve the last third of their sentence in the community, often under conditions, in order to re-acclimatize to life on the outside. But in cases where an offender poses an undue risk to the community, the board can detain the prisoner until the end of their sentence.
Nguyen was found to be too high a risk to violently reoffend.
On April 22, when Nguyen was released at the end of his sentence, RCMP issued a warning to the public, including releasing the area of southern Alberta where the gangster would be living .
On October 7, neighbourhood security video posted to a website shows two men with guns approach Nguyen’s vehicle as it pulled into his driveway in Langdon.
The gunmen opened fire, killing Nguyen and injuring a passenger.
The video has since been removed.
“We feel that it was tragic that this video made its way to mainstream media, as it was shocking and disturbing to many. The RCMP feels for the family that the video was leaked.”
No arrests have been made but the investigation is considered “active” and Mounties are asking anyone with information to contact RCMP or Crime Stoppers.
FOB vs. FK war
Nguyen got involved in organized crime as a teen.
He and and his family of eight moved to Canada when he was six-years-old. By high school he was dealing drugs.
Soon, Nguyen was a high-ranking member of the FOB gang.
The FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) and its rival FK (FOB Killers) gangs were responsible for a bloody street war which led to the deaths of at least 25 people between 2002 and 2009.
At one point, Nguyen was one of the largest suppliers of cocaine in the city, the board wrote.
“You were a “multi-kilo” level cocaine trafficker for the street gang since 2001,” noted the board.
‘History of returning to gangs’
In 2006 Nguyen fired several shots at Truong who survived. He served every day of his six year sentence and was released from prison in 2011.
The next year he decided to try killing Truong again. A police informant spoiled his plot and Nguyen was convicted of conspiracy to murder.
At sentencing, Nguyen’s family played a role in the judge’s consideration of mitigating factors.
Court heard the family had moved provinces for Nguyen in hopes of creating a fresh start.
At his parole hearing, Nguyen spoke of wanting to go back to school, return to church and start a Vietnamese food business with his brother.
But as the board wrote in its decision, Nguyen had a “history of returning to gangs.”
“You are in a leader position in the gang community,” wrote the board, noting Nguyen had “tremendous influence that went beyond the walls of the institution and reached the community.”