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[Music] Cabramatta is a suburb of Sydney in Australia located 30 kilometers or 18
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miles southwest of the central business district only about 30 percent of the 20,000 residents of Cabramatta were born
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in Australia it is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the country the largest percentage of residents are
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Vietnamese followed by Chinese Tyus Cambodians and too many other nationalities in the late 80s and 90s
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Cabramatta was a hotbed for crime heroin was rife throughout the suburb Cabramatta railway station was known as
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the junky Express with users pouring in from all over looking for their fix and where there is a huge drug problem there
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is crime violent gangs home invasions robberies bashings extortions kidnappings and murder
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[Music] John Norman Co was born in 1946 in Austria he moved to Australia with his
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parents when he was four and they settled in Cabramatta John attended Cabramatta primary school and delayed
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our Liverpool boys high school in 1969 at the age of 23 he became one of New South Wales youngest - trade union
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organizers in 1972 John changed his name by deed poll - John Newman and in 1973 he got married to his wife Mary two
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years later they had a son David in 1977 John's political career officially began
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as an ornament for Fairfield Council which covered Cabramatta only a few weeks before Christmas in 77 John's wife
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Mary and their son David were killed in a car crash Mary was handing out pamphlets for the
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upcoming Fairfield council elections she was also pregnant at the time with their
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second child after this tragedy John threw himself completely into politics he worked day and night he was
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re-elected as an alderman for Fairfield Council in 1980 and again in 1983 in 1985 he became Fairfield's deputy mayor
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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
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Wales state seed of Cabramatta and he was elected so John was now a member of the New South Wales Parliament and MP
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representing the seat of Cabramatta as part of the Labour Party his close friend Kent Chapman became his electoral
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officer from the moment John entered Cabramatta state seat he fought relentlessly
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against the increasing presence of drugs gangs and crime that was taking over the
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entire suburb the most notorious gang in Cabramatta at the time was 5 T 5 T evolved out of the Vietnamese prison
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gangs in California the gangs there were known as 40 each member had a gothic type of tattoo on their arms or the back
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of their necks and only prisoners who committed felony offenses were worthy enough to become part of the gang the
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five T gang was started by mainly troubled youths the children of Vietnamese immigrants who made their way
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to Australia after the Vietnam War v T stands for five Vietnamese words with the meanings love money prison crime and
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revenge or death five T also means childhood without love the leader of the gang was tremont Ren in 1989 trend who
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was only 14 years old stabbed a man to death he along with two other gang members were charged but the charges
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were later reduced to manslaughter the two other gang members pled guilty but treatment Rend pleaded not guilty after
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a trial in the children's court he was acquitted and set free and with that tree and believed he was unstoppable
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5t started selling heroin in the streets of Cabramatta the purity was so good that they attracted customers from all
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over city and even further away one heroin shot from Cabramatta was said to be three times stronger than one board
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in this centre of Sydney which meant deaths from overdoses were commonplace it was not an unusual sight to see
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unconscious people lying in the streets of Cabramatta with syringes all over the
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ground apart from the sale of drugs five T were notorious for extortions and home
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invasions the extortions were done on business owners in the area they had to pay five hundred dollars every week
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protection money failure to pay man the business would be destroyed by the gang and anyone inside would be assaulted
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business owners were also expected to keep heroin hidden inside whatever they traded in so five team members would
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hide drugs inside fruit vegetables fashion items hardware and pretty much anything else you can think of five tea
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would also visit restaurants if the owner asked them to pay the response from the gang would be to assault the
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patrons and employees and trash the place business owners knew if they ever called
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the police that would face severe retribution as for the home invasions the gang would choose a wealthy person
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or a rival drug dealer and they'd followed them home then they kick in the doors smash windows and run inside
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brandishing knives and guns and assault the occupants and steal whatever they could as they left they warned whoever
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was inside not to report it to the police or they'd come back and kill many members of the Vietnamese community had
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a severe distrust of people in uniform anyway given what they had experienced in Vietnam so they were reluctant to
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talk to the police five tale used fear to create an even bigger wall of silence between the
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public and police there wasn't much police could do against the game for starters only about
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1/3 of home invasions and extortions were reported and of those that were reported no one was willing to actually
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give evidence and testify against the gang 5t continued to grow and get more powerful by 1993
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5t had 40 members and 200 associates those 240 people actually outnumbered the police in Cabramatta
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on the occasions that a member happened to be arrested they were instantly provided with a high-priced lawyer and
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always seemed to be able to get out on bail over and over again it would happen the gang always celebrated the release
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of a member by going to a local restaurant it was important for them to show their faces in public and to show
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others that the police couldn't stop them the charges would usually fall over before they got to court anyway any
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witnesses the police did have wouldn't turn up or would go into hiding or worse nobody would take the stand against a5t
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it was john newman who pointed out repeatedly that the reason behind the gang being so successful was fear the
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fear they were injecting into the community and of the total lack of fear of the gang members this is john newman
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speaking in 1989 in september 1989 John wrote to the New South Wales Police Minister warning him of a lack of police
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resources in Cabramatta and pleaded with him to please deal with the problem it wasn't until 1993 that John really
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started upping the ante publicly on the 24th of March he wrote an article about home invasions titled urban terrorism in
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which he warned Asian families to lock their doors because people are not just caught up they are terrorized in the
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worst possible way with the threat of murder in a return visit the same month he declared for every home hold up
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reported there are two which remained silent on the 28th of April John spoke to the New South Wales Parliament where
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he said there had been 34 reported home invasions in Cabramatta in the last 12 months and the only answer provided by
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the parliament so far had been to send out a minister to Cabramatta to meet with members of the community John
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pointed out to the Parliament that this Minister met with the wrong people one was linked to stand overs one was
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linked to drugs and the other was linked to the illegal sex trade quite obviously these people were part
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of the problem not part of the community members being terrorized John also campaigned for the deportation of gang
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members back to Vietnam if they were convicted of an offense he was seen as racist by many because of this he was
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successful in starting task force oak a specialized police operation looking into Asian gang crime in Cabramatta
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also the New South Wales government reclassified home invasion they created a specific offense called
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aggravated break-and-enter and they introduced a harsher penalty for those convicted however the home invasions
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continued in September 1993 there were three particularly violent home invasions committed in three days in
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response John handed out pamphlets in Coober matters main street with instructions as to how to protect
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yourself and your family he also encouraged residents to trust police and to report what they saw in December 1993
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John's car was vandalized and his asian affairs advisor received two letters that threatened John's life John didn't
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take it too seriously and in an article he described via taxes cowardly an occupational hazard and something that
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above all would not deter him from continuing on the 6th of January 1994 John received a message on his electoral
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office answering machine it said hello Newman you die first we paint your car then we take your toenails you died two
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days later John's car had paint thrown all over it it was parked in the driveway of his
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home at the time John's response to the threat was to hand out more pamphlets in
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Cobra matters Main Street warning residents to please take care he also wrote to the New South Wales
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Speaker of the Legislative Assembly asking him to look into security measures for local electoral offices
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particularly when threats of violence had been made to staff on the 24th of March he rode another
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letter to the New South Wales Police Minister pleading with him to do something about the home invasions that
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were still commonplace and were terrorizing the Cabramatta community he also requested an increase in the
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sentence from 10 to 15 years for those convicted of the offense in May he gave a speech
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at the New South Wales Parliament where he talked about the threats he had received later in 94 he was interviewed
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on ABC radio and when asked about the threats he said quote I don't think they are at the serious extent yet of
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actually wanting to kill me I think they're threatening me I'm cutting off their supply but I know the Asian mode
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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
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my dear mother's worried every time she hears me on the radio she says look back
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off it's not worth it on Monday the 5th of September 1994 John was in his electoral office with Easter fiancee
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Lucy Lane and his close friend and electoral officer Ken Chapman they were counting fundraising money from an event
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they held on the weekend at 8:00 p.m. John drove to the Cabramatta diggers Club for a monthly meeting where he
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reported state matters concerning the Labour Party he spoke about different issues including gang crime and he
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talked about a trip you'd taken previously to Los Angeles where he'd taken notes about the actions made there
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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
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and started putting a car cover over his fiancee Lucy saw him and walked outside
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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
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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
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the house the hooded man ran and jumped in the back seat of a waiting car which then sped off
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Lucy Springs while chasing after the car but it was quickly out of sight Lucey then ran back to the house and
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called triple-a [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I've already called your phone number on
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the driver [Applause] their name it Derek had actually caught triple 0 20 seconds before Lucy he heard
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five gunshots coming from John's house he walked outside and saw a car driving past the car didn't have the headlights
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on but he recognized that it is either a Ford XD or a Ford XE he also thought the
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color was either a dark blue or green but due to the darkness in the street he was unable to give any other information
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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
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back he took the phone off Lucy to finish her call then attempted to resuscitate John until help arrived John
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was dead by the time paramedics arrived in fact the paramedics believed his death had been instant because of the
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wounds one bullet had entered the upper left side of his torso and the other his
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upper right side both near vital organs a number of police soon arrived the crime scene was established and the
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street was cordoned off a broadcast was released just minutes after the shooting
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with a description of the car they were looking for based on what Derek had seen
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and it didn't take long for journalists and film crews to turn up and cover the story when John's mother Helen arrived
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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
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him fiercely to the officers surprise her nose started bleeding uncontrollably it's believed that was most likely a
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result of her blood pressure rising another thing that haunts the police who were on scene was Lucy who was sitting
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on the front doorstep of the house screaming and crying a few hours after the murder a senior police officer gave
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a press conference where he gave limited details about the murder but he did state where it happened and who the
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victim was it was at this moment that John's murder was recognized as Australia's first-ever political
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assassination meanwhile detectives concentrated on getting witnesses to talk they wanted to
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act while the events were still fresh on people's minds also given the nature of
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the assassination and the possible gang involvement they didn't want those same witnesses later choosing to keep their
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mouths shut so they acted immediately and took them to Cabramatta police station for
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questioning all of the witnesses gave different accounts some believed they'd heard four shots others three and others
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five was determined early on in the investigation that there were four shots as four cartridges were found at the
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scene a neighbor who lived in John Street hey kool-aid was any study at 9:30 p.m. talking to his flatmate he
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heard the gunshots and both he and his flatmate ran outside hey Co could hear screaming coming from John's house and
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he saw a medium-sized white sedan with its headlights off driving towards him heyco looked at the car and made a
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mental note to remember the registration plate another witness was John's friend
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Ken Chapman he was working at home at the time of the murder 45 minutes later a member of the
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Cabramatta branch of the Australian Labor Party who lived the next door to John called him to let him know Ken
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drove the John's house and was stopped at the police cordon he ended up going to the neighbor's house and called other
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senior members of the Australian Labor Party to notify them about John's death at one point he came out of the house
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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
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police station for an interview Ken pointed a finger at one person without hesitation he said politically the
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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
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Saigon Vietnam he attended a school in Saigon and once he finished he studied arts with a major in French in 1975 the
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Communist North Vietnamese took over Saigon putting an end to the Vietnam War many of the residents were sent to
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re-education camps where they could be held for years suffering both mental and physical harm who know was sent to these
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camps both in Saigon and in Vung Tau a port city almost 100 kilometers south full made several escape attempts after
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one of his attempts he ended up in another camp in Carmel almost 400 kilometers south of Vung Tau he remained
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there for 16 months and with his brother Trung full made 12 attempts to escape by
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boat they were eventually successful and went to Malaysia where they stayed at a
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refugee camp after spending some time there for me and his brother Trung made their way to Sydney Australia
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as soon as Fulmer arrived he joined a Vietnamese youth group which operated in hostels for recent immigrants he
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volunteered as a broadcaster at a local radio station where he read Vietnamese poetry two years after arriving in
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Sydney he became an ethnic adviser at Canterbury Council in 1987 he moved to Queensland where he worked for different
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Vietnamese groups such as the Vietnamese Catholic community and the Vietnamese community organization he also
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volunteered once again for local radio in 1999 he moved back to Sydney and settled in Cabramatta as he had done
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before foom joined various local groups including the Cabramatta community center the Fairfield migrant Resource
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Centre Cabramatta Skillshare the Cabramatta town centre committee end of the Vietnam War Memorial Committee he
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became so prominent in the suburb that in 1989 he became the deputy mayor of Fairfield Council and it was at this
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time he met John Neumann in 1990 the New South Wales ethnic affairs commission appointed Fong as the full-time
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commissioner and considering Cabramatta is formed by a lot of Vietnamese residents this made for extremely
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affluent within the community he also started two different businesses a real estate company and a Vietnamese
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newspaper he had aspirations to go further in politics and he joined for the New South Wales Liberal Party
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however he didn't get prisa like bid for a liberal seat so in 1991 he nominated himself and ran as an
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independent for the New South Wales state seat of Cabramatta he was competing directly against John Newman
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film you issued press releases and announced he would bring changes and he would listen to the people if he was
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elected he launched his campaign in a local bar which was known as a hanging out for 5 T into their associates as
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well as other known crime figures in the area it was a controversial move however film received full support from
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Nick Baelish who was then the mayor of Fairfield and his today Cobra Matters member of parliament the
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election didn't go in funks favour he ran behind both the Liberal candidate and John who was the Labour candidate
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John won the election easily securing 3 times the amount of votes in 1993 form changed sides and joined the Australian
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Labor Party John's party Nick Baelish once again fully supported fundo and stated I believe the membership of the
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party would be greatly enhanced by the presence of mr. no John wasn't so convinced he had been keeping his eye on
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for me since the previous year as he suspected he was involved in business with Tremont rent the 5te gang leader
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John began following foon's every step very closely funds beginning in the Labour Party was extremely successful he
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raised $50,000 in one night and recruited many new members he even reopened one branch of the Labour Party
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that had been previously closed the branch of Keene lavell the suburban next to Cabramatta
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in less than a year he had more than 100 members most of them Vietnamese none of
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the branch meetings were actually held at can leave a although they were held at the Mekong club the Mekong Club
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opened on the 6th of July 1993 the opening was officiated by Bill Hayden the governor-general of Australia
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john newman refused to attend the opening as a matter of principle as the place was filled with poker machines he
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considered it to be nothing but a gambling den film was the mekong club's honorary president whom said that
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gambling was simply a fact of life and since it was exist in any way they should use the money to help out the
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residents of Cabramatta only five days after the mekong club opened fung started to withdraw money from the club
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to himself in the form of cash advances and loans in cash advances alone he withdrew 78641 dollars forms official
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title was honorary president of the club but he did far more he managed the club's finances including negotiating
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the loans that financed the club as well as acted as the club's representative in
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other financial transactions he did this without the approval of the licensing Court of New South Wales he also hired
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and managed the staff when the administration and all the gaming and liquor operations firm kept the entire
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club's financial records and registers inside his office and his office wasn't even at the club nobody else was allowed
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to look at the club's books the mekong club paid for full mobile phone power bills jewelry his car even things like a
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lawnmower when the club didn't have a lawn to mow apart from the questionable financial control form was exerting at
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the club John Newman had heard the 5t gang were regular visitors they were said to be holding meetings there where
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they would discuss crime plans extortions home invasions and heroin distribution it was at this point that
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John asked for inspections on the mekong club when phoom heard about this he placed
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the Marion lay who was essentially his right hand as the honorary president she was interviewed on the radio and stated
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there was absolutely nothing criminal happening inside the club and they were only being targeted because there were
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agents in December 1993 there were various assaults near thermicon Club John issued a press
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release pushing for Fairfield council to investigate and monitor the club the council did send an inspector to
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check our security but the inspector went during the day all the trouble was happening at 9:00 still forum was an
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alderman at Fairfield City Council and the fact that security checks were being asked on the club he represented didn't
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look good for him around at this time foom was also arranging for his Century City a city in Taiwan to be a sister
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city of Fairfield sister cities are an agreement between two cities to promote cultural and commercial ties Fairfield's
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mayor Nicolay leach endorsed the film's push to have his Century City as a sister city however it was a very
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complicated matter Taiwan was going through its independence from China and China was fighting to remain as one the
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Australian government was actually supportive of China so if the arrangement with the city from Taiwan
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occurred that could create a big political problem between China and Australia on the 15th of February 1994
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the Taiwanese director general sent a letter to form stating he wanted to visit Fairfield in June to finalize the
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sister city arrangement he also insisted that he wanted his Century City to be officially referred to as who since UCD
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Taiwan Republic of China this created an issue because the only ones authorized to be referred to as the Republic of
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China were the People's Republic of China attached to the letter the Director General sent a check for one
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hundred and seventeen thousand dollars John wasn't having it Fairfield's labor council has received a letter from the
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Cabramatta state electoral council in july 94 saying the arrangement was made without any consultation with the cabrón
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Chinese community and it was also a breach of the federal labor government policy on the designated title for
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Taiwan in other words the arrangement wasn't happening there was another blow for full delivered by John Neumann
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another public blow from suffered was when he launched a media debate about legalizing sex work in New South Wales
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John's response to the phone was through the media quote the solution is not simply the legalization of the industry
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but more so how you control the Associated crime counselor know has no idea of the difficulties involved and
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should concentrate on the real issues of local government such as Cobra matters parking cleaning and public amenities
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ken Chapman gave a statement to police highlighting the various details of the complicated relationship between phoom
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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
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mental note of the registration plate of the car that passed him recalled a plate
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that was very similar to forms Toyota Camry the registration plate hako remembered was GHQ four five six forms
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registration plate was the stq nine five six on top of that heyco said the car was a white sedan four means Toyota
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Camry was indeed white detectives checked the roads and traffic Authority computer to search for the registration
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number hako gave them there was no exact match so they compiled a list of all similar registrations that match the
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white sedan in Cabramatta there were several but they kept in mind that forms was one of them two other witnesses a
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married couple known only as mr. and mrs. L came forward and said that at 9:45 p.m. on September 3rd two days
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before John's murder they were returning home which was close to John's house mr.
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L saw a man standing next to a parked white sedan mister L immediately recognized the man is full known he'd
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seen him appear on TV and newspapers as well as at restaurants community functions and walking around the streets
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of Cabramatta mr. L was surprised to see such a public figure there when he'd never seen him in the area
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before mrs. L didn't recognize him at first since it was dark but they ended up driving directly past him and were
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only a meter away and she clearly saw it was full now at that time another witness who also lived close by said
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that a 3:00 p.m. on September 3rd she saw a white Camry sedan parked on Bearden Street close to John Street
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there was only one person in the car the witness couldn't make out who it was in
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the Camry drove off after about five minutes three more witnesses all sisters living in a house on Bowden Street said
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that between 9:30 and 11:00 p.m. on September 3rd a green Ford was parked near their home one of the sisters
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described the car in detail as a jade green Ford Fairlane ZJ she saw the car from her bedroom window a state park
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with the engine running for five minutes before it was turned off the car remained parked for about an hour she
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wasn't able to see who was inside as it was too dark what interested detectives about this was that a car parked outside
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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
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suspicion it was a great place to do surveillance television and radio ran hourly updates on John's murder and how
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the investigation was progressing many journalists television reporters and media personalities were in Cabramatta
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covering the event one journalist said it was one of the biggest news events this country has ever seen
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the Australian prime minister at the time was Paul Keating he was in Japan when the murder occurred when
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interviewed he describes John as a friend and simply said he was lost for words the New South Wales premier John
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Fay said that he couldn't comprehend what happened it seemed too surreal detectives kept knocking on doors to see
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if they could uncover any more information the truth was that although several witnesses had spoken and one
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even named a possible suspect there still wasn't much to go by in terms of actual evidence all of the witnesses
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were shown vehicle identification books in order to give a positive identification of the cars they saw and
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almost every witness pointed at a different model car Lucy who is the closest one to the killer didn't get a
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good look at him she described him as a skinny kind of person wearing baggy clothes a yellowish or greenish army
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jacket and something covering in his head a ballistics expert identified the spent cartridges as coming from a 32
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caliber gun they had markings from what appeared to be a flat firing pin the ballistics expert had never seen such
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markings before so it was rare he wasn't able to locate any weapon in Australia that could match on the 6th of September
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police searched John's electoral office inside they found documents that pointed
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at Lucy they detailed an affair she had while she was with John this provided speculation mainly for the media to look
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at Lucy and wonder if it might have been her old lover who killed John they also
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found a number of documents that gave a detailed account of Fong's activities and it showed clearly how much John had
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investigated him police decided to pay for a visit but he had left the country he left two
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days after the murder on a trip to Taiwan representing Fairfield Council he returned on the 14th of September
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detectives were waiting for him at the airport they took him to Cabramatta police station for a recorded interview
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some denied any involvement or knowledge of the murder he also denied buying or having any knowledge about a gun for me
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said that on the day of the murder September 5th he went to see a Buddhist monk at the
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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
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afterwards fit dinner between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m. he left the club and went to his
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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
00:33:12
time which was mid dawn during the night he claimed he received two phone calls one was at his office from mikhalych to
00:33:20
inform him that a politician had been shot the second call was received at the club from lay leach again to inform him
00:33:27
it was John Neumann who had been shot when Fullman left the club at closing he was escorted to his car which was parked
00:33:34
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
00:33:41
he drove home where he was met by his nephew and a friend the detectives allowed for him to leave
00:33:48
the station after this interview the media was waiting for him it's not up to me to make speculation and if I know
00:33:57
that I was talk to the police there was a dispute as to whether or not John should receive a state funeral which
00:34:04
were usually reserved for prime ministers premieres and other distinguished Dec servicemen premier Fay
00:34:11
ended up deciding John should be given a state funeral since he died whilst in public office and it was the first
00:34:16
political assassination in the country nearly all political figures attended together with both sides of Parliament
00:34:23
family and friends the New South Wales Parliament had a joint sitting of both houses to honor John and premier Fay
00:34:31
gave a speech part of which said quote it is with regret that I'll move this condolence motion to mark the passing of
00:34:38
John Newman the Honourable member for Cabramatta and to offer the deepest sympathy of this house to his family and
00:34:45
fiance all members of the Parliament were deeply shocked by John Newman's death and by the horrible circumstances
00:34:51
in which it occurred the shooting of a member of parliament has also rightly outraged all of Australia it is too
00:34:58
early to speculate about the motive but if John Newman's murder was a political act it was an attack on every member of
00:35:04
this house and on each of his constituents we in Australia pride ourselves on the
00:35:10
fact that our community leaders including our politicians should be able to serve their communities without
00:35:16
fearing for their own personal safety John Newman's death has caused us to reappraise this view for 24 hours
00:35:24
Parliament suspended all activity as a measure of respect detectives continued to focus on form and his activities on
00:35:32
September 3rd when he was seen near John's house and September 5th when John was murdered detectives interviewed two
00:35:40
of Fong's employees at the Mekong Club the first was David Din who gave a statement on October 18th he said he was
00:35:48
working the entire night of September 5th and he didn't even hear about the murder until the next day this seemed
00:35:55
odd since tall most everyone in Cabramatta had heard about the murder the night it happened
00:35:59
on December 13th Dinh was formally questioned at the police station his questioning was recorded this time Dinh
00:36:08
said that he had heard about the murder the night it happened whilst working at the club the other
00:36:14
worker interviewed was Quan Dell the owner of a green Ford sedan it was first interviewed on September 19th he
00:36:23
described himself as a good friend of forum he admitted he didn't like John Newman
00:36:27
as John had blocked his membership to the Labor Party on September 5th he said he was at the maycon Club he left the
00:36:35
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
00:36:42
permission and event returned to the car 10 or 15 minutes later he said he parked
00:36:47
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
00:36:55
only actually left the club for four minutes in total no longer on December 14th
00:37:01
foon was interviewed again and at this time he turned up with a lawyer he was electronically recorded and gave the
00:37:07
same version as before the detectives asked him to explain the discrepancy between his version and
00:37:13
dowse version since according to dow he'd taken funding to white Camry during the night and according to Foom he'd had
00:37:21
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
00:37:27
mistaken in his previous interview and he didn't actually have his keys with him the entire time so it was possible
00:37:33
claimed out to his car when asked about being seen on September 3rd near John's house by witnesses mr. and mrs. el whom
00:37:42
denied being there he said he didn't even know the streets but then he changed his position and said he
00:37:48
actually used to visit a friend that lived in that area in the meantime people informs Kemp started speculating
00:37:55
that John had corrupt connections with criminals in one article a journalist said John's fight against crime was
00:38:02
nothing but a facade to hide his own dark motives Miriam Lai appeared on an ABC television
00:38:09
show four corners and said that John had a dark past he associated with mafia members and that head set himself up for
00:38:16
his own murder to happen another person who was considered a suspect was Tremont
00:38:22
Wren leader of the farty gang however he himself was shot dead in August 95 his closest associate in the 5t gang was
00:38:30
also shot dead in that attack it was looked at closely but eventually ruled out as having any involvement in John
00:38:37
Newman's murder the murder of Tremont Wren changed things Ariane Cabramatta - without his leadership members of the 5t
00:38:46
branched out and formed their own gangs gang violence increased for a period of time since there were more gangs to
00:38:52
compete against each other on the 11th of september 1995 detectives made a request to the New South Wales Crime
00:39:00
Commission to investigate certain aspects of John's murder the assistance of the Crime Commission was sought by
00:39:06
detectives because they still didn't have any hard evidence and if the Commission had the power to oblige
00:39:12
witnesses to cooperate otherwise that legal penalty could be imposed including a jail sentence
00:39:18
so because the Crime Commission had this power what witnesses say to the crime can be
00:39:23
is not admissible in a criminal court as witnesses are essentially forced to cooperate however it can still help
00:39:30
investigators advance with a case the Commission called in a number of witnesses to kent street sydney where
00:39:37
their building was located and some of the witnesses were able to help fill in the holes of what happened on the 5th of
00:39:43
september 1994 after hearing this information detectives sent a brief of evidence to the Director of Public
00:39:51
Prosecutions twice the brief was rejected on both occasions prosecutors said there simply wasn't enough evidence
00:39:58
to charge anybody close to four years passed before a cranial inquest was held on the 2nd of February 1998 and took
00:40:11
place at Westmead coroner's court and the deputy state coroner Gene Stephenson led the inquest the coronial inquest
00:40:18
tends to be sought out when all lines of inquiry have been exhausted and the case
00:40:23
remains unsolved the big difference between a coroner's court in a criminal court is hearsay evidence is allowed in
00:40:30
the coroner's court whereas hearsay evidence is generally not admissible in a criminal court although there are some
00:40:36
exceptions witnesses also have to appear before the coroner if they are called however they can decline to answer
00:40:44
questions if the answer may incriminate them as you heard in case 13 the family law court murders for persons of
00:40:52
interests were named at the inquest for no and three of his employees at the mekong club Kwang Dale and David dim who
00:41:00
we have already spoken about and a fourth employee to UM Tran the first witness called at the inquest was Lucy
00:41:08
she gave evidence of a meeting that John had with a man who donated money to forms election campaign but never
00:41:14
actually knew what happened to the money she also said John had been looking into
00:41:18
the murder of a 17 year old boy where there were strong allegations that the 5t gang was responsible some witnesses
00:41:26
had told John they wanted to talk but they were afraid of going to the police lastly Lucy emphasized the turn John
00:41:33
used repeatedly when talking about four he said he was a crook the second witness was the forensic pathologist who
00:41:42
said the first shot was probably the one that entered John's left side of the chest and - that was the fatal one the
00:41:49
bullets spun him around 180 degrees and when the second bullet was shot it entered his right chest area the third
00:41:57
witness was a police ballistics expert who said the murder weapon could be one of three one of which he specified was a
00:42:04
Beretta 32 caliber pistol the fourth witness was Ken Chapman who once again pointed at for the fifth
00:42:12
witness 10 Ewan said film had previously shown him a photograph of John Neumann and asked him can you kill this man for
00:42:20
me Pamela Dell the separated wife of Wayne Dale gave evidence of conversations in Vietnamese that her
00:42:27
husband and Foreman had before the murder six months prior to John's murder she heard that jerk Neumann we are going
00:42:35
to shoot him we'll kill him when she separated from Queen Dale she threatened to go to the police and tell them about
00:42:42
what had been said quayne grabbed her forcibly by the shirt and said if you ever tell anyone about what fully and I
00:42:49
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
00:42:57
shut former Secretary of the Mekong Club Robert service said that after the murder David Din appeared to have a lot
00:43:06
more cash and he spent a great deal of it in the poker machines also he said he saw two entraining appear one day
00:43:13
carrying a silver pistol apart from that service noticed that Fong seemed to have full control of the
00:43:20
other three persons of interest in the case to entrain David Din and Kwang doubt it
00:43:26
was almost like they were under his spell lastly fulmen had instructed service that if police come to the club and
00:43:33
asked to speak to any employees then service had to immediately call a lawyer into the club would pay the bill
00:43:40
Charlie Chia was another person to take the stand Chiho was a security contractor he
00:43:46
testified that he'd been contacted by ten Yuen the man who testified filmed showed him a photograph of John Newman
00:43:52
and asked him if he could kill him Chiho said knew and asked him the same question so chi-ha approached his cousin
00:44:00
showed him John's picture and told him someone wanted to put the heavy word on him his cousin took one look at the
00:44:05
photo recognized John and said it was too hot for him another security contractor who worked with GEHA said
00:44:12
that to entraining bought two guns from him and paid him with cash taken from the mekong clubs safe Tran came back to
00:44:19
him later and asked him to fit a silence onto one of the guns he described as an
00:44:24
old 32 caliber pistol he tried but the silencer couldn't be fitted another witness said full asked him to collect
00:44:32
one hundred and thirty thousand dollars from a couple of Vietnamese jewelers he collected the money and gave it to film
00:44:38
the witness denied this was an extortion soon after that the same witness went back to see for me at his office to
00:44:47
collect money that formed out to him when he walked in the witness said he saw Tremont Ren the 5t gang leader he
00:44:55
immediately left without asking for the money owed to him because he believed phoom had the five T guarding his back
00:45:01
and the witness was simply too afraid the four persons of interests were called to the stand on the 14th of March
00:45:08
all four of them declined to give evidence lastly Telstra phone records were produced at the inquest
00:45:15
foom had two mobile phones one which belonged to the mekong club and the other one which belonged to the
00:45:21
fairfield council he used both phones but mostly carried the council phone on the night of the murder
00:45:28
phone towers caught the signal of Fong's phone and detectives were able to put him in certain places different to where
00:45:34
he said he was in his police interviews the phone records showed that he was in fact close to John's house on September
00:45:42
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
00:45:48
of the murder he made two calls the first at 9:42 p.m. and at the second at 9:45 p.m. these
00:45:57
records led detectives to trace a path they believed from had driven after John's murder
00:46:01
they had him heading through the suburbs of Liverpool Moore bank and Hammond fill
00:46:06
towards the Georges River at Voyageur point very different to what he had told the police which was he was at the
00:46:12
Mekong Club then at his office then back to the Mekong Club then home the 16th of
00:46:19
March was supposed to be the last day of the inquest which had now been running for six weeks instead as they entered
00:46:26
the coroner's court police arrested Foom and to entrain with murder and solicitor murder they also
00:46:33
arrested Queen Dao for murder and conspiracy to commit murder David Dean was the only person of interest who was
00:46:40
not arrested that day the coroner Jane Stevenson congratulated the detectives on their work and finished with a
00:46:47
statement to all those who loved I can only say something that has been running through my head in recent times
00:46:54
truth is the daughter of time and I hope it's so Cruz lastly the council assisting the coroner made a suggestion
00:47:03
as detectives he told them to try searching the Georges River for the murder weapon as that's where phones
00:47:08
phone records looked like he had been headed Plus that was the area for moved when he first arrived in Australia
00:47:16
detectives organized for police divers to search the Georges River the river itself is 96 kilometers long but they
00:47:23
focused directly on the area covered by the telstra tower where film was detected in this area there were two
00:47:29
bridges crossing the river a few kilometres away from each other one bridge ended in a motorway and the other
00:47:36
in a footbridge over the river near Voyageur point the detective in charge decided the search below the footbridge
00:47:43
first since it was more accessible this spot is 8.4 kilometers away from John's house or five miles on the 9th of
00:47:52
June 1998 police divers went into the river and after searching for 20 minutes that day one of the divers located a gun
00:48:00
it was 20 meters away from the shoreline and four meters deep the ballistics expert concluded it was a Beretta 1935
00:48:09
model 32 caliber pistol the gun was deeply corroded but he was still able to remove the firing pin and place it into
00:48:17
a surrogate Beretta pistol to test-fire it the marks were rare just like the ones left at John's crime scene the gun
00:48:25
was then chained to a firearms dealer he also concluded it was a Beretta 1935 model 32 caliber pistol he also provided
00:48:34
the answer as to why the ballistics expert in the beginning wasn't able to identify the gun this gun had never been
00:48:40
marketed in Australia a second ballistics expert was shown the gun and after examining the cartridges found at
00:48:47
the scene he concluded they will most likely fired from a Beretta 1935 model 32 caliber pistol lastly a German
00:48:56
ballistics expert saw the original firing pin and he went one step further he actually linked the gun to the murder
00:49:03
he stated it was highly likely that the marks produced by the firing pin were the same as the ones found in the
00:49:09
cartridges at the scene the trials of full no Quang Dao and - and trend began in July 1999 this trial had to be
00:49:20
aborted after eight weeks due to a legal technicality the second trial was scheduled for six months later and it
00:49:27
was while waiting for that second trial but two key witnesses came forward and wanted to cooperate with police one of
00:49:34
them was one of the accused to entrain to entrain not only admitted his involvement in the murder but along with
00:49:42
the other witness known only as mr. n they gave the full story of what happened the following is the story
00:49:50
alleged by two and Tran and mr. n at the end of 1993 both two and Tran and mr. n
00:49:59
were asked to get weapons by full tranport a 22 caliber shortened rifle for $200 mr. n bought the Beretta 32
00:50:08
caliber pistol for $1,500 September 5th wasn't the only time they had tried to take John's life there were several
00:50:17
previous planned attacks the first was in April 94 John was dining at a restaurant in Cabramatta to entrain and
00:50:25
mr. n were waiting on the first floor of a nearby car park their plan was to rush
00:50:30
down the stairs when John left the restaurant and shoot him before he entered his car the problem was that
00:50:36
when John left the restaurant he didn't leave alone he'd been at a political function and left the place with five or
00:50:42
six other people one of them being Fairfield's Mir Nikolaevich trained and mr. Ren rushed down the stairs as they
00:50:49
had planned but upon seeing the others with John and especially Lai leach they backed off and aboard at the killing mr.
00:50:56
Ren in particular was worried that neatly leach would be able to identify him they went to the Mekong Club and
00:51:03
foamed demanded to know why they had failed one week later another plan was put into place
00:51:09
Wang Dale would drive mr. Ren and to entrain to John's house while clang Dale waited in the car mr. Annan Tran would
00:51:17
wait in John's front yard for John to come home then shoot him when they arrived at John's house train and mr.
00:51:24
Ren jumped the small brick fence that separated the house and hid under the electricity box they stayed there for 20
00:51:30
minutes before John got home the problem this time was that it was raining heavily and when John arrived he left
00:51:37
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
00:51:43
to shoot John they got cold feet and were unable to go through with again they returned to the mekong club
00:51:50
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
00:51:57
if he could help get rid of someone the head of security asked for a photograph and said such a job would cost between
00:52:04
ten to twenty thousand dollars this arrangement fell through as well film then conducted interviews to find a
00:52:11
new killer and it was at this point that the men who testified at the coronal inquest neuen and Chaya were contacted
00:52:18
once they saw John Neumann was their target nobody wanted the job so film advance with another attempt on John's
00:52:26
life he was at a large function in a club - and trend mr. n and Kwang doubt went to the function with the intention
00:52:34
of killing him but the place was so full of people they realized there was no way
00:52:38
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
00:52:46
September 1994 whom had a staff meeting at the Mekong Club after they were done talking fully invited his staff to dine
00:52:55
at the club and sometime around 8:00 p.m. formed asked to entrain to make sure that David din who was there
00:53:01
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
00:53:11
Queen Dao left the club together din was wearing a green style army jacket minutes later to entrain heard a mobile
00:53:19
phone ringing the manager's office and when he went to answer it he realized that wasn't the mekong club phone
00:53:24
it was forms fairfield council mobile phone trina answered it and it was formed forming toll train had switched
00:53:32
phones accidentally and asked if tran could bring him the council phone Tran obliged and walked downstairs outside
00:53:39
the club he was expecting to see from there waiting for him he wasn't trained called form to see where he was form
00:53:48
said he had already left and tall train to bring the council phone to his house so Tran drove to fungus house when he
00:53:55
arrived he saw funk standing by his white Camry and saw quaint girls green forward
00:54:01
there as well he handed the council phone to full and Foreman asked him if you'd like to play cards after he was
00:54:07
done with work to entrain agreed they arranged for Trent to drive his car back home and for cleaned out to picking him
00:54:15
up there and drop him back to the Mekong Club so tree and drove his car home and
00:54:19
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
00:54:27
Mekong Club though they drove to John's house they stopped down the road and dare turn the engine off to entraining
00:54:36
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
00:54:43
pulled out the Beretta 32 caliber pistol then they waited 10 minutes later a mobile phone rang and then answered it
00:54:51
after talking briefly he handed the phone to two and Trent it was formed who simply said don't fall
00:54:58
asleep at 9:29 p.m. John arrived home and parked his car in the driveway Dean exited the car they I started the
00:55:07
engine and drove closer to the house for a quick getaway after dinner on he ran back into the car and dare sped off
00:55:14
foom was there with them watching from his white Camry as they were leaving funk passed them David Dean made a call
00:55:22
with the club's mobile toufool and asked him where he was they stopped at a service station and didn't handed form
00:55:28
the bag that contained the gun gloves and army jacket quand elle then drove to entrain and david din back to the mekong
00:55:36
club where they continued working as if nothing happened foom drove to voyager point where he
00:55:42
tossed the beretta 32 caliber pistol into the Georges river he returned to the mekong club after that and stayed
00:55:48
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
00:56:00
was arrested and charged with murder both to entrain and mr. Wran were granted immunity from prosecution so it
00:56:07
was near Fung Kwang Dale and David Dean who were standing trial with mr. n & to entrain the star witnesses the second
00:56:16
trial started in February 2003 until May the jury was unable to reach a unanimous
00:56:22
verdict in this trial 11 jurors said guilty one said innocent this law has now been changed in New
00:56:30
South Wales so if that decision had been reached in a trial today they would have
00:56:34
been found guilty but at the time jury decisions had to be unanimous so a third trial started on the 7th of March 2001
00:56:42
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
00:56:51
reach their verdict claim down not guilty David Din not guilty for no guilty quayne Dale and David dim were
00:57:09
released from custody and were free men whom no was found guilty of cleaning and
00:57:14
organizing John's murder yet the decision to acquit Queen Dale and David in meant there was no shooter and no
00:57:20
getaway driver outside the courtroom John's mother said she was happy they caught the big fish and that now John
00:57:27
can rest in peace on the 14th of November 2001 film was brought back to the New South Wales Supreme Court for
00:57:34
sentencing the judge said quote consistent with his plea of not guilty there has been no expression of remorse
00:57:41
or regret for now for the murder of John Newman or sentence you to imprisonment for life for me and his supporters
00:57:50
immediately launched an appeal his appeal was dismissed on the 3rd of April 2003 so full made a second appeal to the
00:57:58
High Court of Australia this appeal was also dismissed in 2008 the ABCs four-corners program aired a new episode
00:58:07
on the John Newman case where they questioned forms guilt they made a big point of the reliability of the evidence
00:58:15
of to entrain and mr. M and suggests that they may have fabricated their stories for their own benefit
00:58:21
quaint Dell and David in actually appeared on camera and said the entire story was in fact fabricated cleaned out
00:58:28
cried and said quote I know absolutely for sure that fooling he's not involved in that murder he also alleged that to
00:58:36
entrain had sent him a letter after the confession saying he was terribly sorry for telling the story he did but he had
00:58:43
to do it because his mother had threatened to kill herself after seen human child David Dean said everything
00:58:49
had been taken on the word of mr. n Intuit renin and there was no actual evidence against him
00:58:55
both continue to strongly deny any involvement in the murder of John Newman also on that episode the corrosion
00:59:03
expert who testified at patrol questioned the amount of corrosion on the murder weapon and also said the fact
00:59:09
that the weapon was found in only 20 minutes seemed unbelievable on the 6th of June 2008 it was announced a special
00:59:17
inquiry would take place examining funks conviction it was called the patent inquiry the first thing they looked at
00:59:24
was the murder weapon they were data was actually the murder weapon and the fact that was found so
00:59:29
fast was a point often raised by people as being suspicious the truth was divers had actually
00:59:35
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
00:59:41
searching further ballistics tests also show that yes indeed was the murder weapon they also looked at the mobile
00:59:49
phone tower records the confessions of to entrain and mr. M and a number of other points including an alleged
00:59:55
confession made by somebody who disliked John this alleged confession was recorded in secret by marion leigh but
01:00:03
after looking at it it was found not to be confession at all the inquiry also looked at the fact from never gave
01:00:10
evidence in his third trial he also never gave an accurate account of his whereabouts on September 3rd 1994 the
01:00:17
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
01:00:24
records proved otherwise Fung had been caught out in more than one lie and it was considered to be
01:00:30
unreliable all up the patent inquiry cost seven hundred and seventy thousand dollars and
01:00:35
at the end of it they determined that the conviction of Foom was the correct decision film was first sent to Long Bay
01:00:43
Jail to serve his time however during the Chinese New Year he organized an exclusive restaurant to cater a party at
01:00:49
the prison where he invited Fairfield's counselors and other colleagues when the
01:00:54
media got hold of this story the public was outraged as a result Foom was transferred to lift Gaucho but in June
01:01:01
2003 correctional officers found evidence that film had been a mastermind of a prison gang called w2k which stood
01:01:09
for willing to kill I also received credible information the gang was planning an escape they nail marked Foom
01:01:16
as extremely dangerous and a third transfer was arranged this time to Goulburn maximum-security prison
01:01:23
Supermax where the worst of the worst are held the state's most notorious prisoners it is the most secure prison
01:01:31
in New South Wales in 2013 full moons another appeal against his conviction it didn't get very far since he had already
01:01:39
been given his last appeal ten years earlier today film remains in strict isolation at Goulburn Supermax and his
01:01:47
papers are still marked never to be released John Newman's biggest aspiration while
01:01:53
representing the state seat of Cabramatta was getting rid of the gangs that dominated the area a major police
01:01:59
operation was launched in the year 2000 targeting the gangs many members were put behind bars and gang activity was
01:02:06
heavily disrupted ever since then things have greatly improved Cabramatta today is the thriving multicultural hub John
01:02:15
expected and hoped for it to be [Music]