PHILADELPHIA, PA — A saga of crime, betrayal, and justice reached a climax yesterday as Jason Rivera, 38, of Brooklyn, New York was sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the abduction, extortion, and murder of two Philadelphia drug dealers. Rivera had been found guilty on all counts following his trial in October 2022.
This case dates back to the summer of 2014, when Rivera, along with associates John Dao and Trung Lu, were enlisted by the “Born To Kill” street gang to forcefully collect a drug debt from three marijuana dealers who had failed to pay.
The victims in this harrowing case, brothers Vu and Viet Huynh, and their associate Tan Voong, were large-scale marijuana dealers from the Philadelphia area. They were introduced to New York gangster Lam Trieu by their friend Tam Le, both members of the Born to Kill (“BTK”) gang. Trieu arranged for his California supplier, known as “Fat Man,” to provide the Huynh brothers with large quantities of marijuana. However, the Huynh brothers and Voong allegedly owed over $330,000 to Trieu and “Fat Man,” debts they failed to pay.
When Le couldn’t collect the money, Trieu recruited Rivera, Dao, and Lu to retrieve the debt, promising them a percentage of the recovered amount. After an unsuccessful initial attempt to locate the victims, the gang managed to lure them to Le’s Philadelphia home on August 26, 2014. There, Rivera, Dao, and Lu assaulted the victims, restrained them, and confiscated $40,000 in cash.
Believing their task was complete, Dao and Lu planned to steal the victims’ luxury vehicles and return to New York. However, fearing retaliation, Le decided to murder the victims. The trio, viewing Le as their on-scene commander, complied with his plan.
The victims were transported to the Schuylkill River, where they were weighed down, stabbed, and dumped into the water. While Vu and Viet Huynh didn’t survive, Voong managed to escape and seek help. Upon their return to New York, Rivera, Dao, and Trieu were each paid thousands from the confiscated money.
Five defendants were federally indicted for this crime. John Dao, Lam Trieu, and Minh Nguyen pleaded guilty to their roles and have been sentenced. “Fat Man” pleaded guilty to a drug trafficking offense in the Southern District of New York. Tam Le was convicted of murder and related offenses after a trial in Philadelphia County and sentenced to death. Hai Nguyen pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI concerning his efforts to assist Tam Le in fleeing after the murders. Trung Lu remains a fugitive in Vietnam, with the FBI offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
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