Reputed Southern Cal gang leaders convicted of attempted murder

LOS ANGELES – Three reputed leaders of the Black Dragon, once one of Southern California's most notorious Chinese-American street gangs, were sentenced to more than two decades in prison for attempting to kill two of their own.

Khoanh Lam, 37; Minh Thang Tran, 52; and Cham Hoang, 23, were each convicted of two counts of attempted murder and two counts of conspiracy. They were sentenced Monday to 24 years and eight months in prison.

Prosecutors said their targets were fellow gang members Thanh Ho and Ving Liu.

An informant testified that Lam and Tran had ordered the deaths of the gang members because they believed they were taking extortion money from a brothel. Hoang, according to the informant, attempted to carry out the order by stabbing Ho and Liu in September 2001. Both survived.

Formed in 1984 in the largely Asian-American city of Monterey Park, just east of Los Angeles, the Black Dragon gained media attention for terrifying the Chinese immigrant community during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Members specialized in home-invasion robberies and extortion, police said.

At its height, before arrests in 1990 and 2003, the gang boasted about 100 core members, officials said. Police now believe there are fewer than 30 Black Dragon members.

"I don't see the discipline that was instilled in the membership back in the day," said Detective. R. Lee of Monterey Park. "If you were a leader, you were able to control your underlings. I don't think they have that control anymore."