“His Audi was parked behind a restaurant I’m interested in. The Hanoi House.”
“That figures,” replied Roger. “We heard through a source that he was the silent partner of a restaurant, but didn’t know the name and haven’t had time to work on him.” Roger paused, then noted, “So this is connected to a possible homicide.”
“How do you know that?” said Jack, before remembering that Connie had called AOCTF yesterday to ask them about the Hanoi House. Having worked for the last twenty-six hours straight, yesterday seemed more like a week ago. “Never mind, I know,” he added. “And for your info, it’s no longer a possible homicide.”
“Involving Tommy boy?” asked Roger.
“Don’t know yet. Laura and I expect to be meeting an informant tomorrow.” Jack saw Laura raise her eyebrows at his comment and added, “At least, with any luck we will. What can you tell me about Tom Nguyen or the Hanoi House?”
“The Hanoi House not much, except they have a bunch of low-level dealers running a dial-a-dope business out of there. We work a level above those punks. Drug Section isn’t interested either. Too low on the food chain.”
“And Tom Nguyen?”
“He’s a VC-3. He would be a good guy to work on, but we’re too busy chasing the shooters who are below him.”
“A VC-3? What’s that stand for? Viet Cong?”
Roger snickered and said, “In his case, it probably could, but doesn’t. We’ve had to come up with our own system to keep track of these guys in our minds. There are so many common names with the Chinese and the Vietnamese, that it’s next to impossible to keep track of who is who.”
“Tell me about it,” replied Jack, sympathetically. “I’ve only had a few investigations that touched a bit on Asians. Between the Trans, Nguyens, Wongs … it’s hard to keep straight.”
“Yeah, not to mention that some of them really do seem to look alike,” replied Roger. “So for the Asian criminals in British Columbia we devised a system. VC-3 stands for Vietnamese Criminal, third rank from the top. Sometimes we add a name to it and say Tom Nguyen VC-3 to help keep it straight, but the important thing is to know their position in the group so you know what degree of importance to put on whoever or whatever it is you’re talking about.”
“So he’s the third guy down. Pretty important,” noted Jack.
“One of many third guys down. Let me give you an outline. The VC-1, who currently is friendly with Satans Wrath —”
“That would be Dong Tran?” said Jack. “Sixty-two years old and heads an importing company?”
“Yup. Figured you would know him,” replied Roger.
“I’m up on Satans Wrath, but haven’t had time to take a good look at the Asians yet.”
“You know that Dong Tran VC-1 is the connection Satans Wrath uses as a go-between for the Chinese?”
“Yes, but I also know Dong Tran likes to run his own show as well,” replied Jack. “I’ve been leaving him for you guys, although I realize you’re busy with the shooters.”
“That we are, so any help you can give us is much appreciated. Anything you want, let me know. I’ll send you over some reports and photos of these guys as soon as we’re done talking.”
“Thanks, I really appreciate that,” replied Jack.
“Basically the head Chinese mobster in Vancouver, or CC-1 as we call him, is Benny Wong. He’s sixty-seven years old and for the Chinese, he’s like the guy that Marlon Brando played in the old Godfather movies.”
“Do they have to kiss his hand?” asked Jack, jokingly.
“Naw, just his ass. Wong owns a shipping company, deals in commercial real estate and several other ventures. The Chinese triads are a really complicated bunch to figure out because they’ve been around forever. They victimize a lot of the new immigrants who are straight citizens, but have a tendency to fear the police.”
“Things like extortion, gambling, loan-sharking and protection rackets,” Jack remarked.
“Exactly. Fortunately, your interest is in the Vietnamese, who aren’t as well established or organized. They operate their grow-ops like independent farming operations, but funnel their product through whomever Satans Wrath tells them to. At the moment, Dong Tran VC-1 looks after that end of the business. He is who Satans Wrath use as their go-between for Benny Wong CC-1.”
“I suspect Satans Wrath want to keep the Vietnamese as independent farmers. Easier to control than if they were to unite under one banner.”
“Definitely. So going back to Dong Tran VC-1, there are five bosses directly below him that we know of.”
“What you would call VC-2s?”
“You got it. Then each VC-2 has about four or five VC-3s working for them.”
“Who is Tom Nguyen VC-3’s boss?”
“Bien Duc VC-2. But if you’re investigating a murder, then you should know that most run-of-the-mill drug-related murders, such as defaulting on debt, do not need approval from the VC-2s. The VC-3s hold the power to do that. It would only be if a murder could have serious ramifications, like an all-out war … or trying to kill a cop or a judge or something, that a VC-3 would need permission from higher up.”
“Do the VC-3s get their hands dirty?”
“Not personally. They select the shooters to do the murders. The status of being picked as a shooter puts you one step up from the street criminals.”
“Not much of a promotion, but I don’t imagine they’re picked for their brain power. More likely it’s their lack of brain power that promotes using them.”
“That’s for sure,” replied Roger. “Most are punks. You can tell the ones who have done a hit by watching them swagger around after. Of course, the VC-3s pretend to respect them and give them a pat on the back with promises of great things to come.”
“You guys have your work cut out for you.”
“We don’t have the manpower to go after who we would like. To try and stop the current bloodletting, we are forced to concentrate on the shooters.”
“Informants? Wiretap?”
“We run a lot of wiretap, but these guys are experienced enough not to let much slip. As far as informants go, it is next to impossible to get any of the shooters to inform. They know that if they co-operate and are found out, they’re dead. If they go into Witness Protection, then a loved one or a relative will be killed.”
“And you think you have someone leaking info’ to the Chinese in your office.” Jack sighed.
“It seems to be Chinese-oriented, but regardless, if you’re meeting a Vietnamese informant tomorrow, be damned careful what you put down on paper or who you tell. CC-1 and VC-1 meet regularly. If it is serious enough, I could see the information being passed on.”
Jack thanked Roger and after he hung up, he passed on what he had been told to Laura who copied the information down in her own notebook.
When Jack was finished, Laura perused her notes and said, “If AOCTF is right, it looks like Tom Nguyen VC-3 would have told the two punks in the car and Harry Ho in the van to do the hit … but why?”
“Which is what we need to find out. Speaking of Harry Ho, what did you learn from his P.O.?”
“Ho is currently serving probation on top of a previous probation period for his third conviction of trafficking in cocaine.”
“Bet that teaches him a lesson,” said Jack sarcastically. “No, wait, yesterday he sat in a van and picked out someone to be murdered. Could it possibly be