5T (gang)
| Founded | Mid 1980s |
|---|---|
| Founded by | Arose from Vietnamese Youths who came to Australia with their parents after the fall of Saigon in 1975. Tri Minh Tran was their leader. |
| Founding location | Cabramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Years active | 1985–99 |
| Territory | Cabramatta |
| Ethnicity | Vietnamese |
| Membership (est.) | Exact members unknown |
| Allies | Various street gangs |
| Rivals | Various Asian street gangs |
5T was a Vietnamese crime gang active in the Cabramatta area of Sydney, Australia in the final two decades of the 20th century.
Background
With the fall of South Vietnam in 1975 and the combination of harsh economic sanctions, the legacy of destruction left from the Vietnam War, policies of the Vietnamese government, and further conflicts with neighboring countries in Cambodia and a brief border war with China. it caused an large international humanitarian crisis known as the Vietnamese boat people. With over a million Vietnamese people known to escape on small non seaworthy boats, many of the refugees failed to survive the passage, facing danger from pirates, over-crowded boats, and storms. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, between 200,000 and 400,000 boat people died at sea. The boat people's first destinations were the Southeast Asian locations of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Hong Kong. With Southeast Asian countries increasingly unwilling to accept more boat people on their shores. After negotiations and an international conference in 1979, Vietnam agreed to limit the flow of people leaving the country. The Southeast Asian countries agreed to admit the boat people temporarily, and the rest of the world, especially more developed countries, agreed to assume most of the costs of caring for the boat people, and resettle them in their countries. From refugee camps in Southeast Asia, the great majority of the Vietnamese boat people were resettled in more developed countries. Significant numbers were allowed resettlement in the United States, Canada, Australia, and countries throughout Europe from the late 70s and declining in the 90s.
Beginning
The 5T gang’s origin was started by Vietnamese teenagers and young adults who came to Australia as refugees but its unknown when they began using the name 5T. The formation of 5T was said to in the mid-1980s. The term, stands for five Vietnamese words starting with T; 'Tình', 'Tiền', 'Tù', 'Tội' and 'Tử', translating to 'Love, Money, Prison, Punishment, Death'. However, 5T also means 'tuổi trẻ thiếu tình thương' which roughly translates to 'the young lacking love.'[1] Some Gang members were tattooed with the emblem consisting of a straight horizontal line and 5 joined vertical lines on their arm.
Tri Minh Tran rose to leadership of the 5T gang by the age of 14 in 1989. Born in Vietnam in 1975, Tran arrived in Australia at the age of 7 as a refugee. By the age of 11, he had spent six months in a children's institution for carrying a sawn-off shotgun and in the next couple of years was suspected of the murder of two rival gang members.[2] The 5T gang dominated over the Cabramatta heroin trade, predominately at a street level.[3] Politician John Newman said: "The Asian gangs involved don't fear our laws. But there's one thing they do fear -- that's possible deportation back to the jungles of Vietnam, because that's where, frankly, they belong.[4]
Disbandment
The murder of Tran in 1995 sparked a power struggle within the organization.[5] This was ultimately furthered with the death of the 5T successor. The successors of the 5T includes (Madonna) [Ro Van Le]. The leader and namesake of the gang, however, was subsequently murdered outside a Western Sydney pub in 1999 shortly after being released from prison, subsequently leading to the eventual demise of the 5T Gang.[6]
References
- ^ Thomas, Stacy (23 February 2017). "Johnny Nguyen's taste for drug turned him into Vietnamese gang 5T's ice tester boy". The Daily Telegraph.
- ^ Morton, James; Lobez, Susanna (27 November 2014). Gangland Australia: Colonial Criminals to the Carlton Crew. Melbourne University Publishing. ISBN 978-0522859713.
- ^ "Cabramatta". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 8 April 1997. Archived from the original on 12 January 2012.
- ^ Grimm, Nick (29 June 2001). "Ngo found guilty of Newman assassination". ABC. Archived from the original on 31 July 2016.
- ^ Cawthorne, Nigel (5 July 2013). The History of Australian True Crime. Arcturus Publishing. ISBN 978-1782127048.
- ^ Kennedy, Les (17 May 2002). "5T gang member shot dead while on parole". The Sydney Morning Herald.