Cabramatta’s criminal underworld and a tragic loss | Forensic Files

[Music] Cabramatta is a suburb of Sydney in Australia located 30 kilometers or 18
miles southwest of the central business district only about 30 percent of the 20,000 residents of Cabramatta were born
in Australia it is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the country the largest percentage of residents are
Vietnamese followed by Chinese Tyus Cambodians and too many other nationalities in the late 80s and 90s
Cabramatta was a hotbed for crime heroin was rife throughout the suburb Cabramatta railway station was known as
the junky Express with users pouring in from all over looking for their fix and where there is a huge drug problem there
is crime violent gangs home invasions robberies bashings extortions kidnappings and murder
[Music] John Norman Co was born in 1946 in Austria he moved to Australia with his
parents when he was four and they settled in Cabramatta John attended Cabramatta primary school and delayed
our Liverpool boys high school in 1969 at the age of 23 he became one of New South Wales youngest - trade union
organizers in 1972 John changed his name by deed poll - John Newman and in 1973 he got married to his wife Mary two
years later they had a son David in 1977 John's political career officially began
as an ornament for Fairfield Council which covered Cabramatta only a few weeks before Christmas in 77 John's wife
Mary and their son David were killed in a car crash Mary was handing out pamphlets for the
upcoming Fairfield council elections she was also pregnant at the time with their
second child after this tragedy John threw himself completely into politics he worked day and night he was
re-elected as an alderman for Fairfield Council in 1980 and again in 1983 in 1985 he became Fairfield's deputy mayor
and in 86 he was the acting men on the 1st of February the same year John ran for priests election for the New South
Wales state seed of Cabramatta and he was elected so John was now a member of the New South Wales Parliament and MP
representing the seat of Cabramatta as part of the Labour Party his close friend Kent Chapman became his electoral
officer from the moment John entered Cabramatta state seat he fought relentlessly
against the increasing presence of drugs gangs and crime that was taking over the
entire suburb the most notorious gang in Cabramatta at the time was 5 T 5 T evolved out of the Vietnamese prison
gangs in California the gangs there were known as 40 each member had a gothic type of tattoo on their arms or the back
of their necks and only prisoners who committed felony offenses were worthy enough to become part of the gang the
five T gang was started by mainly troubled youths the children of Vietnamese immigrants who made their way
to Australia after the Vietnam War v T stands for five Vietnamese words with the meanings love money prison crime and
revenge or death five T also means childhood without love the leader of the gang was tremont Ren in 1989 trend who
was only 14 years old stabbed a man to death he along with two other gang members were charged but the charges
were later reduced to manslaughter the two other gang members pled guilty but treatment Rend pleaded not guilty after
a trial in the children's court he was acquitted and set free and with that tree and believed he was unstoppable
5t started selling heroin in the streets of Cabramatta the purity was so good that they attracted customers from all
over city and even further away one heroin shot from Cabramatta was said to be three times stronger than one board
in this centre of Sydney which meant deaths from overdoses were commonplace it was not an unusual sight to see
unconscious people lying in the streets of Cabramatta with syringes all over the
ground apart from the sale of drugs five T were notorious for extortions and home
invasions the extortions were done on business owners in the area they had to pay five hundred dollars every week
protection money failure to pay man the business would be destroyed by the gang and anyone inside would be assaulted
business owners were also expected to keep heroin hidden inside whatever they traded in so five team members would
hide drugs inside fruit vegetables fashion items hardware and pretty much anything else you can think of five tea
would also visit restaurants if the owner asked them to pay the response from the gang would be to assault the
patrons and employees and trash the place business owners knew if they ever called
the police that would face severe retribution as for the home invasions the gang would choose a wealthy person
or a rival drug dealer and they'd followed them home then they kick in the doors smash windows and run inside
brandishing knives and guns and assault the occupants and steal whatever they could as they left they warned whoever
was inside not to report it to the police or they'd come back and kill many members of the Vietnamese community had
a severe distrust of people in uniform anyway given what they had experienced in Vietnam so they were reluctant to
talk to the police five tale used fear to create an even bigger wall of silence between the
public and police there wasn't much police could do against the game for starters only about
1/3 of home invasions and extortions were reported and of those that were reported no one was willing to actually
give evidence and testify against the gang 5t continued to grow and get more powerful by 1993
5t had 40 members and 200 associates those 240 people actually outnumbered the police in Cabramatta
on the occasions that a member happened to be arrested they were instantly provided with a high-priced lawyer and
always seemed to be able to get out on bail over and over again it would happen the gang always celebrated the release
of a member by going to a local restaurant it was important for them to show their faces in public and to show
others that the police couldn't stop them the charges would usually fall over before they got to court anyway any
witnesses the police did have wouldn't turn up or would go into hiding or worse nobody would take the stand against a5t
it was john newman who pointed out repeatedly that the reason behind the gang being so successful was fear the
fear they were injecting into the community and of the total lack of fear of the gang members this is john newman
speaking in 1989 in september 1989 John wrote to the New South Wales Police Minister warning him of a lack of police
resources in Cabramatta and pleaded with him to please deal with the problem it wasn't until 1993 that John really
started upping the ante publicly on the 24th of March he wrote an article about home invasions titled urban terrorism in
which he warned Asian families to lock their doors because people are not just caught up they are terrorized in the
worst possible way with the threat of murder in a return visit the same month he declared for every home hold up
reported there are two which remained silent on the 28th of April John spoke to the New South Wales Parliament where
he said there had been 34 reported home invasions in Cabramatta in the last 12 months and the only answer provided by
the parliament so far had been to send out a minister to Cabramatta to meet with members of the community John
pointed out to the Parliament that this Minister met with the wrong people one was linked to stand overs one was
linked to drugs and the other was linked to the illegal sex trade quite obviously these people were part
of the problem not part of the community members being terrorized John also campaigned for the deportation of gang
members back to Vietnam if they were convicted of an offense he was seen as racist by many because of this he was
successful in starting task force oak a specialized police operation looking into Asian gang crime in Cabramatta
also the New South Wales government reclassified home invasion they created a specific offense called
aggravated break-and-enter and they introduced a harsher penalty for those convicted however the home invasions
continued in September 1993 there were three particularly violent home invasions committed in three days in
response John handed out pamphlets in Coober matters main street with instructions as to how to protect
yourself and your family he also encouraged residents to trust police and to report what they saw in December 1993
John's car was vandalized and his asian affairs advisor received two letters that threatened John's life John didn't
take it too seriously and in an article he described via taxes cowardly an occupational hazard and something that
above all would not deter him from continuing on the 6th of January 1994 John received a message on his electoral
office answering machine it said hello Newman you die first we paint your car then we take your toenails you died two
days later John's car had paint thrown all over it it was parked in the driveway of his
home at the time John's response to the threat was to hand out more pamphlets in
Cobra matters Main Street warning residents to please take care he also wrote to the New South Wales
Speaker of the Legislative Assembly asking him to look into security measures for local electoral offices
particularly when threats of violence had been made to staff on the 24th of March he rode another
letter to the New South Wales Police Minister pleading with him to do something about the home invasions that
were still commonplace and were terrorizing the Cabramatta community he also requested an increase in the
sentence from 10 to 15 years for those convicted of the offense in May he gave a speech
at the New South Wales Parliament where he talked about the threats he had received later in 94 he was interviewed
on ABC radio and when asked about the threats he said quote I don't think they are at the serious extent yet of
actually wanting to kill me I think they're threatening me I'm cutting off their supply but I know the Asian mode
of thinking and unless I personally sort of heard these people I'm not too sure if they're serious they could be I mean
my dear mother's worried every time she hears me on the radio she says look back
off it's not worth it on Monday the 5th of September 1994 John was in his electoral office with Easter fiancee
Lucy Lane and his close friend and electoral officer Ken Chapman they were counting fundraising money from an event
they held on the weekend at 8:00 p.m. John drove to the Cabramatta diggers Club for a monthly meeting where he
reported state matters concerning the Labour Party he spoke about different issues including gang crime and he
talked about a trip you'd taken previously to Los Angeles where he'd taken notes about the actions made there
to combat gangs the meeting finished at 9:10 p.m. and at 9:29 p.m. John arrived home he parked his car in the driveway
and started putting a car cover over his fiancee Lucy saw him and walked outside
to help him put the car cover on as they were doing so a hooded man wearing an army style jacket appeared out of the
dark he fired four gun shots at John two of them hit him one hit the roof of their car and one hit the porch area of
the house the hooded man ran and jumped in the back seat of a waiting car which then sped off
Lucy Springs while chasing after the car but it was quickly out of sight Lucey then ran back to the house and
called triple-a [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I've already called your phone number on
the driver [Applause] their name it Derek had actually caught triple 0 20 seconds before Lucy he heard
five gunshots coming from John's house he walked outside and saw a car driving past the car didn't have the headlights
on but he recognized that it is either a Ford XD or a Ford XE he also thought the
color was either a dark blue or green but due to the darkness in the street he was unable to give any other information
he ran back inside his house and called triple zero after that call he ran to John's house and saw John lying on his
back he took the phone off Lucy to finish her call then attempted to resuscitate John until help arrived John
was dead by the time paramedics arrived in fact the paramedics believed his death had been instant because of the
wounds one bullet had entered the upper left side of his torso and the other his
upper right side both near vital organs a number of police soon arrived the crime scene was established and the
street was cordoned off a broadcast was released just minutes after the shooting
with a description of the car they were looking for based on what Derek had seen
and it didn't take long for journalists and film crews to turn up and cover the story when John's mother Helen arrived
she broke away from the police who were trying to hold it back and she ran to John she jumped on his body and hugged
him fiercely to the officers surprise her nose started bleeding uncontrollably it's believed that was most likely a
result of her blood pressure rising another thing that haunts the police who were on scene was Lucy who was sitting
on the front doorstep of the house screaming and crying a few hours after the murder a senior police officer gave
a press conference where he gave limited details about the murder but he did state where it happened and who the
victim was it was at this moment that John's murder was recognized as Australia's first-ever political
assassination meanwhile detectives concentrated on getting witnesses to talk they wanted to
act while the events were still fresh on people's minds also given the nature of
the assassination and the possible gang involvement they didn't want those same witnesses later choosing to keep their
mouths shut so they acted immediately and took them to Cabramatta police station for
questioning all of the witnesses gave different accounts some believed they'd heard four shots others three and others
five was determined early on in the investigation that there were four shots as four cartridges were found at the
scene a neighbor who lived in John Street hey kool-aid was any study at 9:30 p.m. talking to his flatmate he
heard the gunshots and both he and his flatmate ran outside hey Co could hear screaming coming from John's house and
he saw a medium-sized white sedan with its headlights off driving towards him heyco looked at the car and made a
mental note to remember the registration plate another witness was John's friend
Ken Chapman he was working at home at the time of the murder 45 minutes later a member of the
Cabramatta branch of the Australian Labor Party who lived the next door to John called him to let him know Ken
drove the John's house and was stopped at the police cordon he ended up going to the neighbor's house and called other
senior members of the Australian Labor Party to notify them about John's death at one point he came out of the house
and saw John's body he said that was a moment he'd never forget eventually one of the detectives asked him to go to the
police station for an interview Ken pointed a finger at one person without hesitation he said politically the
person most to gain by John's death would be fool no fool no was born on the 9th of July 1958 in a village near
Saigon Vietnam he attended a school in Saigon and once he finished he studied arts with a major in French in 1975 the
Communist North Vietnamese took over Saigon putting an end to the Vietnam War many of the residents were sent to
re-education camps where they could be held for years suffering both mental and physical harm who know was sent to these
camps both in Saigon and in Vung Tau a port city almost 100 kilometers south full made several escape attempts after
one of his attempts he ended up in another camp in Carmel almost 400 kilometers south of Vung Tau he remained
there for 16 months and with his brother Trung full made 12 attempts to escape by
boat they were eventually successful and went to Malaysia where they stayed at a
refugee camp after spending some time there for me and his brother Trung made their way to Sydney Australia
as soon as Fulmer arrived he joined a Vietnamese youth group which operated in hostels for recent immigrants he
volunteered as a broadcaster at a local radio station where he read Vietnamese poetry two years after arriving in
Sydney he became an ethnic adviser at Canterbury Council in 1987 he moved to Queensland where he worked for different
Vietnamese groups such as the Vietnamese Catholic community and the Vietnamese community organization he also
volunteered once again for local radio in 1999 he moved back to Sydney and settled in Cabramatta as he had done
before foom joined various local groups including the Cabramatta community center the Fairfield migrant Resource
Centre Cabramatta Skillshare the Cabramatta town centre committee end of the Vietnam War Memorial Committee he
became so prominent in the suburb that in 1989 he became the deputy mayor of Fairfield Council and it was at this
time he met John Neumann in 1990 the New South Wales ethnic affairs commission appointed Fong as the full-time
commissioner and considering Cabramatta is formed by a lot of Vietnamese residents this made for extremely
affluent within the community he also started two different businesses a real estate company and a Vietnamese
newspaper he had aspirations to go further in politics and he joined for the New South Wales Liberal Party
however he didn't get prisa like bid for a liberal seat so in 1991 he nominated himself and ran as an
independent for the New South Wales state seat of Cabramatta he was competing directly against John Newman
film you issued press releases and announced he would bring changes and he would listen to the people if he was
elected he launched his campaign in a local bar which was known as a hanging out for 5 T into their associates as
well as other known crime figures in the area it was a controversial move however film received full support from
Nick Baelish who was then the mayor of Fairfield and his today Cobra Matters member of parliament the
election didn't go in funks favour he ran behind both the Liberal candidate and John who was the Labour candidate
John won the election easily securing 3 times the amount of votes in 1993 form changed sides and joined the Australian
Labor Party John's party Nick Baelish once again fully supported fundo and stated I believe the membership of the
party would be greatly enhanced by the presence of mr. no John wasn't so convinced he had been keeping his eye on
for me since the previous year as he suspected he was involved in business with Tremont rent the 5te gang leader
John began following foon's every step very closely funds beginning in the Labour Party was extremely successful he
raised $50,000 in one night and recruited many new members he even reopened one branch of the Labour Party
that had been previously closed the branch of Keene lavell the suburban next to Cabramatta
in less than a year he had more than 100 members most of them Vietnamese none of
the branch meetings were actually held at can leave a although they were held at the Mekong club the Mekong Club
opened on the 6th of July 1993 the opening was officiated by Bill Hayden the governor-general of Australia
john newman refused to attend the opening as a matter of principle as the place was filled with poker machines he
considered it to be nothing but a gambling den film was the mekong club's honorary president whom said that
gambling was simply a fact of life and since it was exist in any way they should use the money to help out the
residents of Cabramatta only five days after the mekong club opened fung started to withdraw money from the club
to himself in the form of cash advances and loans in cash advances alone he withdrew 78641 dollars forms official
title was honorary president of the club but he did far more he managed the club's finances including negotiating
the loans that financed the club as well as acted as the club's representative in
other financial transactions he did this without the approval of the licensing Court of New South Wales he also hired
and managed the staff when the administration and all the gaming and liquor operations firm kept the entire
club's financial records and registers inside his office and his office wasn't even at the club nobody else was allowed
to look at the club's books the mekong club paid for full mobile phone power bills jewelry his car even things like a
lawnmower when the club didn't have a lawn to mow apart from the questionable financial control form was exerting at
the club John Newman had heard the 5t gang were regular visitors they were said to be holding meetings there where
they would discuss crime plans extortions home invasions and heroin distribution it was at this point that
John asked for inspections on the mekong club when phoom heard about this he placed
the Marion lay who was essentially his right hand as the honorary president she was interviewed on the radio and stated
there was absolutely nothing criminal happening inside the club and they were only being targeted because there were
agents in December 1993 there were various assaults near thermicon Club John issued a press
release pushing for Fairfield council to investigate and monitor the club the council did send an inspector to
check our security but the inspector went during the day all the trouble was happening at 9:00 still forum was an
alderman at Fairfield City Council and the fact that security checks were being asked on the club he represented didn't
look good for him around at this time foom was also arranging for his Century City a city in Taiwan to be a sister
city of Fairfield sister cities are an agreement between two cities to promote cultural and commercial ties Fairfield's
mayor Nicolay leach endorsed the film's push to have his Century City as a sister city however it was a very
complicated matter Taiwan was going through its independence from China and China was fighting to remain as one the
Australian government was actually supportive of China so if the arrangement with the city from Taiwan
occurred that could create a big political problem between China and Australia on the 15th of February 1994
the Taiwanese director general sent a letter to form stating he wanted to visit Fairfield in June to finalize the
sister city arrangement he also insisted that he wanted his Century City to be officially referred to as who since UCD
Taiwan Republic of China this created an issue because the only ones authorized to be referred to as the Republic of
China were the People's Republic of China attached to the letter the Director General sent a check for one
hundred and seventeen thousand dollars John wasn't having it Fairfield's labor council has received a letter from the
Cabramatta state electoral council in july 94 saying the arrangement was made without any consultation with the cabrón
Chinese community and it was also a breach of the federal labor government policy on the designated title for
Taiwan in other words the arrangement wasn't happening there was another blow for full delivered by John Neumann
another public blow from suffered was when he launched a media debate about legalizing sex work in New South Wales
John's response to the phone was through the media quote the solution is not simply the legalization of the industry
but more so how you control the Associated crime counselor know has no idea of the difficulties involved and
should concentrate on the real issues of local government such as Cobra matters parking cleaning and public amenities
ken Chapman gave a statement to police highlighting the various details of the complicated relationship between phoom
and John and he wasn't the only one to mention form hey kool-aid the witness who lived in John Street and made a
mental note of the registration plate of the car that passed him recalled a plate
that was very similar to forms Toyota Camry the registration plate hako remembered was GHQ four five six forms
registration plate was the stq nine five six on top of that heyco said the car was a white sedan four means Toyota
Camry was indeed white detectives checked the roads and traffic Authority computer to search for the registration
number hako gave them there was no exact match so they compiled a list of all similar registrations that match the
white sedan in Cabramatta there were several but they kept in mind that forms was one of them two other witnesses a
married couple known only as mr. and mrs. L came forward and said that at 9:45 p.m. on September 3rd two days
before John's murder they were returning home which was close to John's house mr.
L saw a man standing next to a parked white sedan mister L immediately recognized the man is full known he'd
seen him appear on TV and newspapers as well as at restaurants community functions and walking around the streets
of Cabramatta mr. L was surprised to see such a public figure there when he'd never seen him in the area
before mrs. L didn't recognize him at first since it was dark but they ended up driving directly past him and were
only a meter away and she clearly saw it was full now at that time another witness who also lived close by said
that a 3:00 p.m. on September 3rd she saw a white Camry sedan parked on Bearden Street close to John Street
there was only one person in the car the witness couldn't make out who it was in
the Camry drove off after about five minutes three more witnesses all sisters living in a house on Bowden Street said
that between 9:30 and 11:00 p.m. on September 3rd a green Ford was parked near their home one of the sisters
described the car in detail as a jade green Ford Fairlane ZJ she saw the car from her bedroom window a state park
with the engine running for five minutes before it was turned off the car remained parked for about an hour she
wasn't able to see who was inside as it was too dark what interested detectives about this was that a car parked outside
the sister's house would have a clear view of John's house but it wasn't close enough to John's house to raise
suspicion it was a great place to do surveillance television and radio ran hourly updates on John's murder and how
the investigation was progressing many journalists television reporters and media personalities were in Cabramatta
covering the event one journalist said it was one of the biggest news events this country has ever seen
the Australian prime minister at the time was Paul Keating he was in Japan when the murder occurred when
interviewed he describes John as a friend and simply said he was lost for words the New South Wales premier John
Fay said that he couldn't comprehend what happened it seemed too surreal detectives kept knocking on doors to see
if they could uncover any more information the truth was that although several witnesses had spoken and one
even named a possible suspect there still wasn't much to go by in terms of actual evidence all of the witnesses
were shown vehicle identification books in order to give a positive identification of the cars they saw and
almost every witness pointed at a different model car Lucy who is the closest one to the killer didn't get a
good look at him she described him as a skinny kind of person wearing baggy clothes a yellowish or greenish army
jacket and something covering in his head a ballistics expert identified the spent cartridges as coming from a 32
caliber gun they had markings from what appeared to be a flat firing pin the ballistics expert had never seen such
markings before so it was rare he wasn't able to locate any weapon in Australia that could match on the 6th of September
police searched John's electoral office inside they found documents that pointed
at Lucy they detailed an affair she had while she was with John this provided speculation mainly for the media to look
at Lucy and wonder if it might have been her old lover who killed John they also
found a number of documents that gave a detailed account of Fong's activities and it showed clearly how much John had
investigated him police decided to pay for a visit but he had left the country he left two
days after the murder on a trip to Taiwan representing Fairfield Council he returned on the 14th of September
detectives were waiting for him at the airport they took him to Cabramatta police station for a recorded interview
some denied any involvement or knowledge of the murder he also denied buying or having any knowledge about a gun for me
said that on the day of the murder September 5th he went to see a Buddhist monk at the
Buddhist church at 6:30 p.m. then he went to the Mekong Club arriving at 8:15 p.m. he stayed for a staff meeting and
afterwards fit dinner between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m. he left the club and went to his
where he stayed for about an hour about 10:30 or 11:00 p.m. he returned to the mekong club and stayed until closing
time which was mid dawn during the night he claimed he received two phone calls one was at his office from mikhalych to
inform him that a politician had been shot the second call was received at the club from lay leach again to inform him
it was John Neumann who had been shot when Fullman left the club at closing he was escorted to his car which was parked
at its usual spot he said he'd had the keys the entire night so there was no chance someone else could have used it
he drove home where he was met by his nephew and a friend the detectives allowed for him to leave
the station after this interview the media was waiting for him it's not up to me to make speculation and if I know
that I was talk to the police there was a dispute as to whether or not John should receive a state funeral which
were usually reserved for prime ministers premieres and other distinguished Dec servicemen premier Fay
ended up deciding John should be given a state funeral since he died whilst in public office and it was the first
political assassination in the country nearly all political figures attended together with both sides of Parliament
family and friends the New South Wales Parliament had a joint sitting of both houses to honor John and premier Fay
gave a speech part of which said quote it is with regret that I'll move this condolence motion to mark the passing of
John Newman the Honourable member for Cabramatta and to offer the deepest sympathy of this house to his family and
fiance all members of the Parliament were deeply shocked by John Newman's death and by the horrible circumstances
in which it occurred the shooting of a member of parliament has also rightly outraged all of Australia it is too
early to speculate about the motive but if John Newman's murder was a political act it was an attack on every member of
this house and on each of his constituents we in Australia pride ourselves on the
fact that our community leaders including our politicians should be able to serve their communities without
fearing for their own personal safety John Newman's death has caused us to reappraise this view for 24 hours
Parliament suspended all activity as a measure of respect detectives continued to focus on form and his activities on
September 3rd when he was seen near John's house and September 5th when John was murdered detectives interviewed two
of Fong's employees at the Mekong Club the first was David Din who gave a statement on October 18th he said he was
working the entire night of September 5th and he didn't even hear about the murder until the next day this seemed
odd since tall most everyone in Cabramatta had heard about the murder the night it happened
on December 13th Dinh was formally questioned at the police station his questioning was recorded this time Dinh
said that he had heard about the murder the night it happened whilst working at the club the other
worker interviewed was Quan Dell the owner of a green Ford sedan it was first interviewed on September 19th he
described himself as a good friend of forum he admitted he didn't like John Newman
as John had blocked his membership to the Labor Party on September 5th he said he was at the maycon Club he left the
club once at 9:30 p.m. to drive to his house and pick up his children he said he took phones white Camry without forms
permission and event returned to the car 10 or 15 minutes later he said he parked
it in the same spot so full wouldn't know he had taken it on December 13th he was interviewed again and he said he had
only actually left the club for four minutes in total no longer on December 14th
foon was interviewed again and at this time he turned up with a lawyer he was electronically recorded and gave the
same version as before the detectives asked him to explain the discrepancy between his version and
dowse version since according to dow he'd taken funding to white Camry during the night and according to Foom he'd had
the keys to the car the entire time and he said there was no way anyone could have taken it form answered that he was
mistaken in his previous interview and he didn't actually have his keys with him the entire time so it was possible
claimed out to his car when asked about being seen on September 3rd near John's house by witnesses mr. and mrs. el whom
denied being there he said he didn't even know the streets but then he changed his position and said he
actually used to visit a friend that lived in that area in the meantime people informs Kemp started speculating
that John had corrupt connections with criminals in one article a journalist said John's fight against crime was
nothing but a facade to hide his own dark motives Miriam Lai appeared on an ABC television
show four corners and said that John had a dark past he associated with mafia members and that head set himself up for
his own murder to happen another person who was considered a suspect was Tremont
Wren leader of the farty gang however he himself was shot dead in August 95 his closest associate in the 5t gang was
also shot dead in that attack it was looked at closely but eventually ruled out as having any involvement in John
Newman's murder the murder of Tremont Wren changed things Ariane Cabramatta - without his leadership members of the 5t
branched out and formed their own gangs gang violence increased for a period of time since there were more gangs to
compete against each other on the 11th of september 1995 detectives made a request to the New South Wales Crime
Commission to investigate certain aspects of John's murder the assistance of the Crime Commission was sought by
detectives because they still didn't have any hard evidence and if the Commission had the power to oblige
witnesses to cooperate otherwise that legal penalty could be imposed including a jail sentence
so because the Crime Commission had this power what witnesses say to the crime can be
is not admissible in a criminal court as witnesses are essentially forced to cooperate however it can still help
investigators advance with a case the Commission called in a number of witnesses to kent street sydney where
their building was located and some of the witnesses were able to help fill in the holes of what happened on the 5th of
september 1994 after hearing this information detectives sent a brief of evidence to the Director of Public
Prosecutions twice the brief was rejected on both occasions prosecutors said there simply wasn't enough evidence
to charge anybody close to four years passed before a cranial inquest was held on the 2nd of February 1998 and took
place at Westmead coroner's court and the deputy state coroner Gene Stephenson led the inquest the coronial inquest
tends to be sought out when all lines of inquiry have been exhausted and the case
remains unsolved the big difference between a coroner's court in a criminal court is hearsay evidence is allowed in
the coroner's court whereas hearsay evidence is generally not admissible in a criminal court although there are some
exceptions witnesses also have to appear before the coroner if they are called however they can decline to answer
questions if the answer may incriminate them as you heard in case 13 the family law court murders for persons of
interests were named at the inquest for no and three of his employees at the mekong club Kwang Dale and David dim who
we have already spoken about and a fourth employee to UM Tran the first witness called at the inquest was Lucy
she gave evidence of a meeting that John had with a man who donated money to forms election campaign but never
actually knew what happened to the money she also said John had been looking into
the murder of a 17 year old boy where there were strong allegations that the 5t gang was responsible some witnesses
had told John they wanted to talk but they were afraid of going to the police lastly Lucy emphasized the turn John
used repeatedly when talking about four he said he was a crook the second witness was the forensic pathologist who
said the first shot was probably the one that entered John's left side of the chest and - that was the fatal one the
bullets spun him around 180 degrees and when the second bullet was shot it entered his right chest area the third
witness was a police ballistics expert who said the murder weapon could be one of three one of which he specified was a
Beretta 32 caliber pistol the fourth witness was Ken Chapman who once again pointed at for the fifth
witness 10 Ewan said film had previously shown him a photograph of John Neumann and asked him can you kill this man for
me Pamela Dell the separated wife of Wayne Dale gave evidence of conversations in Vietnamese that her
husband and Foreman had before the murder six months prior to John's murder she heard that jerk Neumann we are going
to shoot him we'll kill him when she separated from Queen Dale she threatened to go to the police and tell them about
what had been said quayne grabbed her forcibly by the shirt and said if you ever tell anyone about what fully and I
said about Neumann I'll get a gun and shoot you you will get nothing no house no kids nothing you just keep your mouth
shut former Secretary of the Mekong Club Robert service said that after the murder David Din appeared to have a lot
more cash and he spent a great deal of it in the poker machines also he said he saw two entraining appear one day
carrying a silver pistol apart from that service noticed that Fong seemed to have full control of the
other three persons of interest in the case to entrain David Din and Kwang doubt it
was almost like they were under his spell lastly fulmen had instructed service that if police come to the club and
asked to speak to any employees then service had to immediately call a lawyer into the club would pay the bill
Charlie Chia was another person to take the stand Chiho was a security contractor he
testified that he'd been contacted by ten Yuen the man who testified filmed showed him a photograph of John Newman
and asked him if he could kill him Chiho said knew and asked him the same question so chi-ha approached his cousin
showed him John's picture and told him someone wanted to put the heavy word on him his cousin took one look at the
photo recognized John and said it was too hot for him another security contractor who worked with GEHA said
that to entraining bought two guns from him and paid him with cash taken from the mekong clubs safe Tran came back to
him later and asked him to fit a silence onto one of the guns he described as an
old 32 caliber pistol he tried but the silencer couldn't be fitted another witness said full asked him to collect
one hundred and thirty thousand dollars from a couple of Vietnamese jewelers he collected the money and gave it to film
the witness denied this was an extortion soon after that the same witness went back to see for me at his office to
collect money that formed out to him when he walked in the witness said he saw Tremont Ren the 5t gang leader he
immediately left without asking for the money owed to him because he believed phoom had the five T guarding his back
and the witness was simply too afraid the four persons of interests were called to the stand on the 14th of March
all four of them declined to give evidence lastly Telstra phone records were produced at the inquest
foom had two mobile phones one which belonged to the mekong club and the other one which belonged to the
fairfield council he used both phones but mostly carried the council phone on the night of the murder
phone towers caught the signal of Fong's phone and detectives were able to put him in certain places different to where
he said he was in his police interviews the phone records showed that he was in fact close to John's house on September
3rd when he was seen by mr. and mrs. L they also showed he was near John's house on September 5th around the time
of the murder he made two calls the first at 9:42 p.m. and at the second at 9:45 p.m. these
records led detectives to trace a path they believed from had driven after John's murder
they had him heading through the suburbs of Liverpool Moore bank and Hammond fill
towards the Georges River at Voyageur point very different to what he had told the police which was he was at the
Mekong Club then at his office then back to the Mekong Club then home the 16th of
March was supposed to be the last day of the inquest which had now been running for six weeks instead as they entered
the coroner's court police arrested Foom and to entrain with murder and solicitor murder they also
arrested Queen Dao for murder and conspiracy to commit murder David Dean was the only person of interest who was
not arrested that day the coroner Jane Stevenson congratulated the detectives on their work and finished with a
statement to all those who loved I can only say something that has been running through my head in recent times
truth is the daughter of time and I hope it's so Cruz lastly the council assisting the coroner made a suggestion
as detectives he told them to try searching the Georges River for the murder weapon as that's where phones
phone records looked like he had been headed Plus that was the area for moved when he first arrived in Australia
detectives organized for police divers to search the Georges River the river itself is 96 kilometers long but they
focused directly on the area covered by the telstra tower where film was detected in this area there were two
bridges crossing the river a few kilometres away from each other one bridge ended in a motorway and the other
in a footbridge over the river near Voyageur point the detective in charge decided the search below the footbridge
first since it was more accessible this spot is 8.4 kilometers away from John's house or five miles on the 9th of
June 1998 police divers went into the river and after searching for 20 minutes that day one of the divers located a gun
it was 20 meters away from the shoreline and four meters deep the ballistics expert concluded it was a Beretta 1935
model 32 caliber pistol the gun was deeply corroded but he was still able to remove the firing pin and place it into
a surrogate Beretta pistol to test-fire it the marks were rare just like the ones left at John's crime scene the gun
was then chained to a firearms dealer he also concluded it was a Beretta 1935 model 32 caliber pistol he also provided
the answer as to why the ballistics expert in the beginning wasn't able to identify the gun this gun had never been
marketed in Australia a second ballistics expert was shown the gun and after examining the cartridges found at
the scene he concluded they will most likely fired from a Beretta 1935 model 32 caliber pistol lastly a German
ballistics expert saw the original firing pin and he went one step further he actually linked the gun to the murder
he stated it was highly likely that the marks produced by the firing pin were the same as the ones found in the
cartridges at the scene the trials of full no Quang Dao and - and trend began in July 1999 this trial had to be
aborted after eight weeks due to a legal technicality the second trial was scheduled for six months later and it
was while waiting for that second trial but two key witnesses came forward and wanted to cooperate with police one of
them was one of the accused to entrain to entrain not only admitted his involvement in the murder but along with
the other witness known only as mr. n they gave the full story of what happened the following is the story
alleged by two and Tran and mr. n at the end of 1993 both two and Tran and mr. n
were asked to get weapons by full tranport a 22 caliber shortened rifle for $200 mr. n bought the Beretta 32
caliber pistol for $1,500 September 5th wasn't the only time they had tried to take John's life there were several
previous planned attacks the first was in April 94 John was dining at a restaurant in Cabramatta to entrain and
mr. n were waiting on the first floor of a nearby car park their plan was to rush
down the stairs when John left the restaurant and shoot him before he entered his car the problem was that
when John left the restaurant he didn't leave alone he'd been at a political function and left the place with five or
six other people one of them being Fairfield's Mir Nikolaevich trained and mr. Ren rushed down the stairs as they
had planned but upon seeing the others with John and especially Lai leach they backed off and aboard at the killing mr.
Ren in particular was worried that neatly leach would be able to identify him they went to the Mekong Club and
foamed demanded to know why they had failed one week later another plan was put into place
Wang Dale would drive mr. Ren and to entrain to John's house while clang Dale waited in the car mr. Annan Tran would
wait in John's front yard for John to come home then shoot him when they arrived at John's house train and mr.
Ren jumped the small brick fence that separated the house and hid under the electricity box they stayed there for 20
minutes before John got home the problem this time was that it was raining heavily and when John arrived he left
his car in a rush and ran inside to avoid getting wet in this very short stretch of time that train and mr. N had
to shoot John they got cold feet and were unable to go through with again they returned to the mekong club
and told phoom they had failed form asked to entry need to go to the head of security at the mekong club and ask him
if he could help get rid of someone the head of security asked for a photograph and said such a job would cost between
ten to twenty thousand dollars this arrangement fell through as well film then conducted interviews to find a
new killer and it was at this point that the men who testified at the coronal inquest neuen and Chaya were contacted
once they saw John Neumann was their target nobody wanted the job so film advance with another attempt on John's
life he was at a large function in a club - and trend mr. n and Kwang doubt went to the function with the intention
of killing him but the place was so full of people they realized there was no way
that would be able to do it without being seen the next attempt would be the fatal one at 7:30 p.m. on the 5th of
September 1994 whom had a staff meeting at the Mekong Club after they were done talking fully invited his staff to dine
at the club and sometime around 8:00 p.m. formed asked to entrain to make sure that David din who was there
working had his break before 9:00 p.m. train obliged and someone filled in for dinner at 8:30 p.m. formed David din and
Queen Dao left the club together din was wearing a green style army jacket minutes later to entrain heard a mobile
phone ringing the manager's office and when he went to answer it he realized that wasn't the mekong club phone
it was forms fairfield council mobile phone trina answered it and it was formed forming toll train had switched
phones accidentally and asked if tran could bring him the council phone Tran obliged and walked downstairs outside
the club he was expecting to see from there waiting for him he wasn't trained called form to see where he was form
said he had already left and tall train to bring the council phone to his house so Tran drove to fungus house when he
arrived he saw funk standing by his white Camry and saw quaint girls green forward
there as well he handed the council phone to full and Foreman asked him if you'd like to play cards after he was
done with work to entrain agreed they arranged for Trent to drive his car back home and for cleaned out to picking him
up there and drop him back to the Mekong Club so tree and drove his car home and
cleaned out followed he picked him up and trans saw that David Dean was in the car as well instead of going back to the
Mekong Club though they drove to John's house they stopped down the road and dare turn the engine off to entraining
then alleges that David didn't opened a bag he had between his feet it took out a set of gloves and put them on then he
pulled out the Beretta 32 caliber pistol then they waited 10 minutes later a mobile phone rang and then answered it
after talking briefly he handed the phone to two and Trent it was formed who simply said don't fall
asleep at 9:29 p.m. John arrived home and parked his car in the driveway Dean exited the car they I started the
engine and drove closer to the house for a quick getaway after dinner on he ran back into the car and dare sped off
foom was there with them watching from his white Camry as they were leaving funk passed them David Dean made a call
with the club's mobile toufool and asked him where he was they stopped at a service station and didn't handed form
the bag that contained the gun gloves and army jacket quand elle then drove to entrain and david din back to the mekong
club where they continued working as if nothing happened foom drove to voyager point where he
tossed the beretta 32 caliber pistol into the Georges river he returned to the mekong club after that and stayed
until closing time he tucked mr. Wran on the shoulder and said to him we did it on the 11th of August of 1999 David Dean
was arrested and charged with murder both to entrain and mr. Wran were granted immunity from prosecution so it
was near Fung Kwang Dale and David Dean who were standing trial with mr. n & to entrain the star witnesses the second
trial started in February 2003 until May the jury was unable to reach a unanimous
verdict in this trial 11 jurors said guilty one said innocent this law has now been changed in New
South Wales so if that decision had been reached in a trial today they would have
been found guilty but at the time jury decisions had to be unanimous so a third trial started on the 7th of March 2001
it took place in the New South Wales Supreme Court and ran for 15 weeks at the end of the trial the jury retired to
reach their verdict claim down not guilty David Din not guilty for no guilty quayne Dale and David dim were
released from custody and were free men whom no was found guilty of cleaning and
organizing John's murder yet the decision to acquit Queen Dale and David in meant there was no shooter and no
getaway driver outside the courtroom John's mother said she was happy they caught the big fish and that now John
can rest in peace on the 14th of November 2001 film was brought back to the New South Wales Supreme Court for
sentencing the judge said quote consistent with his plea of not guilty there has been no expression of remorse
or regret for now for the murder of John Newman or sentence you to imprisonment for life for me and his supporters
immediately launched an appeal his appeal was dismissed on the 3rd of April 2003 so full made a second appeal to the
High Court of Australia this appeal was also dismissed in 2008 the ABCs four-corners program aired a new episode
on the John Newman case where they questioned forms guilt they made a big point of the reliability of the evidence
of to entrain and mr. M and suggests that they may have fabricated their stories for their own benefit
quaint Dell and David in actually appeared on camera and said the entire story was in fact fabricated cleaned out
cried and said quote I know absolutely for sure that fooling he's not involved in that murder he also alleged that to
entrain had sent him a letter after the confession saying he was terribly sorry for telling the story he did but he had
to do it because his mother had threatened to kill herself after seen human child David Dean said everything
had been taken on the word of mr. n Intuit renin and there was no actual evidence against him
both continue to strongly deny any involvement in the murder of John Newman also on that episode the corrosion
expert who testified at patrol questioned the amount of corrosion on the murder weapon and also said the fact
that the weapon was found in only 20 minutes seemed unbelievable on the 6th of June 2008 it was announced a special
inquiry would take place examining funks conviction it was called the patent inquiry the first thing they looked at
was the murder weapon they were data was actually the murder weapon and the fact that was found so
fast was a point often raised by people as being suspicious the truth was divers had actually
searched the river the day before they found the weapon so yes they found it in 20 minutes but it was the second day of
searching further ballistics tests also show that yes indeed was the murder weapon they also looked at the mobile
phone tower records the confessions of to entrain and mr. M and a number of other points including an alleged
confession made by somebody who disliked John this alleged confession was recorded in secret by marion leigh but
after looking at it it was found not to be confession at all the inquiry also looked at the fact from never gave
evidence in his third trial he also never gave an accurate account of his whereabouts on September 3rd 1994 the
night he was seen near John's house by mr. and mrs. L he did give a story that he was at the cinema however phone
records proved otherwise Fung had been caught out in more than one lie and it was considered to be
unreliable all up the patent inquiry cost seven hundred and seventy thousand dollars and
at the end of it they determined that the conviction of Foom was the correct decision film was first sent to Long Bay
Jail to serve his time however during the Chinese New Year he organized an exclusive restaurant to cater a party at
the prison where he invited Fairfield's counselors and other colleagues when the
media got hold of this story the public was outraged as a result Foom was transferred to lift Gaucho but in June
2003 correctional officers found evidence that film had been a mastermind of a prison gang called w2k which stood
for willing to kill I also received credible information the gang was planning an escape they nail marked Foom
as extremely dangerous and a third transfer was arranged this time to Goulburn maximum-security prison
Supermax where the worst of the worst are held the state's most notorious prisoners it is the most secure prison
in New South Wales in 2013 full moons another appeal against his conviction it didn't get very far since he had already
been given his last appeal ten years earlier today film remains in strict isolation at Goulburn Supermax and his
papers are still marked never to be released John Newman's biggest aspiration while
representing the state seat of Cabramatta was getting rid of the gangs that dominated the area a major police
operation was launched in the year 2000 targeting the gangs many members were put behind bars and gang activity was
heavily disrupted ever since then things have greatly improved Cabramatta today is the thriving multicultural hub John
expected and hoped for it to be [Music]

Case 40: John Newman

Cabramatta is a suburb of Sydney, Australia, located 30 kilometres, or 18 miles southwest of the Central Business District. Only around 30 percent of the 20 thousand residents of Cabramatta were born in Australia. It is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Australia.

The largest percentage of residents are Vietnamese, followed by Chinese, Thais, Cambodians and many other nationalities.

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research, writing – Victoria Dieffenbacher Writing – Anonymous Host Production, scoring – Mike Migas Additional scoring – Andrew Joslyn

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RESOURCES

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Brief Summary

John Newman was assassinated in 1994 amid gang violence in Cabramatta, leading to a complex investigation and trial.

Key points

Cabramatta's Crime Crisis. In the late 80s and 90s, Cabramatta became notorious for crime and drug issues.
John Newman's Political Journey. John Newman rose through the political ranks after personal tragedy, becoming a voice against crime.
The Assassination of John Newman. John Newman was shot in a politically motivated attack, marking a dark chapter in Australian politics.
The Mekong Club's Opening. The Mekong Club opened on July 6, 1993, officiated by Bill Hayden.
John Newman's Controversial Leadership. John Newman faced criticism for his connections to gambling and crime.
Political Fallout from Murder. John Newman's assassination led to a national outcry and political debates.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Look back off, it's not worth it.

John's mother expressing concern for his safety.

12:05WatchNov 19, 2018

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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