Cambodian gang's members arrested in teen's killing

http://www.ocregister.com/

January 13, 2010
By KIMBERLY EDDS and ELYSSE JAMES
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

via CAAI News Media

Steven Kao, 21, of Santa Ana.
COURTESY OF THE TUSTIN POLICE DEPARTMENT

TUSTIN The gunning down of a 16-year-old boy connected to a tagging crew is the latest attack by a Cambodian gang known for its reputation for violence, an investigator said.

Six people, including four of the gang's members, were rounded up in a multi-county raid Tuesday night in connection with the late-night killing of 16-year-old Juan Carlos Rodriguez.

The shooting of a 12-year-old boy hours later while he was sleeping in his bed in Santa Ana may have been retaliation, authorities said. The boy, shot in the leg, is expected to make a full recovery.

Rodriguez, shot in the back, died early Sunday morning after being shot during a shower of bullets that rained down outside a house party. His killer, according to Tustin police, is a member of the Tiny Rascal Gang.

"It was a straight murder mission," said Tustin Sgt. Jeff Blair, a former gang investigator who spent years dealing with the Tiny Rascal Gang.

It was a tale of two parties on Myrtle Avenue. Members of the Tiny Rascal Gang were at one house. Down the street, a group of taggers was partying, police say.

Things got ugly around 2 a.m. when Ravy Nhem, 20, and Pablo Kachirisky, 21, of the Tiny Rascal Gang walked by the other party and someone questioned them about their gang affiliation, Blair said.

Seeing they were outnumbered but apparently unwilling to back down from the challenge, Nehm and Kachirisky went to nearby King Liquor to call for backup from fellow gang members. Tiny Rascal Gang members Steven Kao, 21, and David Escobar, 20, showed up and they went back to the tagging crew's party and started arguing, Blair said.

Still outnumbered four to everyone at the party, the Tiny Rascal Gang members left and called for more reinforcements and guns.

The Tiny Rascals came back – and started shooting, Blair said. More than a dozen bullets were fired into the group. Rodriguez was shot in the back.

His friends dragged him into the house but didn't call police. He sat there for two hours, Blair said.

About 4:30 a.m., someone called Tustin police to report there may be a body inside an apartment on South Myrtle. Rodriguez was dead when police found him.

Whether Rodriguez was one of the instigators who demanded to know the gang member's gang affiliation is unclear, Blair said. It is clear he paid the price for it.

On Tuesday, just 36 hours after Rodriguez was gunned down, dozens of officers from the Tustin, Santa Ana, Irvine and Long Beach police departments, along with members of the Orange County Probation Department, raided three homes in Santa Ana, one in Anaheim and one in Murrieta.

Kao heard police were looking for him and used a pay phone in Long Beach to call police, Blair said. Long Beach police held Kao until Tustin detectives could pick him up.

One of the largest Asian gangs in the United States, the Tiny Rascal Gang has carved out its reputation through a path of violence and drugs.

The gang first emerged in the 1980s in Long Beach, a product of simple survival, not turf protection. Thrown into the streets of Long Beach, the children of Cambodian refugees had to protect themselves from Hispanic and black gangs. They fought back with violence, eventually expanding their expertise into drugs and home-invasion robberies and murder. Initially, the gang was restricted to just Cambodians, but the rules were later relaxed to include other Asians and white members.

With their shaved heads, baggy pants and Old English tattoos, the gang mimics Hispanic gangs. The resemblance is so striking even Tustin police had a tough time distinguishing the gang from other Hispanic gangs when they first moved into a Tustin safehouse in the early 1990s, Blair said.

What makes them different is their talent for getting their hands on guns and their reputation for brutality.

"They're not going to slug it out in a fistfight," Blair said. "They're going right to the guns."

In 1994, seven members of the Tiny Rascal Gang raped, robbed and strangled a mother in her Tustin home. She survived by playing dead. Her 3-year-old son was home at the time.

Tiny Rascal Gang member Michael David Cowles was arrested along with six juveniles. Twenty-one years old and 6 feet, 8 inches tall, Cowles cut an imposing figure and was believed to have been the ringleader. He is serving time in state prison for the attack.

A year later, five members of the Tiny Rascal Gang broke into a San Bernardino home and executed Son (Henry) Nguyen, 44; his wife, Trinh Yen Tran, 35; daughter, Doan Hoang, 15, and sons Daniel Nguyen, 11, and David Nguyen, 10. A 3-year-old son was shot but lived.

The gang was looking for money and valuables, according to published reports.

The gang has expanded from Seattle to Philadelphia. Amateur music videos posted on YouTube show slideshows of gang members flashing gang signs. One tattooed member is in a wheelchair. Another holds a baby in a group gang picture. Another flashes signs in front of a bookcase filled with stuffed bunny rabbits.

"You don't want to mess with a real G," sings the singer in the background music.

Kao, Nhem, Kachirisky, Escobar and 19-year-old Belinda Vu of Anaheim were arrested on suspicion of murder. Karrina Hernandez, 21, of Tustin was arrested on suspicion of accessory to murder but was released pending further investigation, according to police.

Nhem was out on $100,000 bail in connection with a Dec. 5 arrest on suspicion of lewd contact with a minor, according to Orange County court records.

The investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to call Tustin gang Investigator Manny Arzate at 714-573-3193 or 714-573-3200.