It has taken a Federal Court to convict the leader of the so called “Tran Organization” of racketeering for defrauding 27 casinos in the USA and stealing a reported US$7 million in the process. In 2002, Phuong Quoc Truong recruited a few criminals and set out to look for casino personnel in three Indian casinos in the San Diego, California area to act as accomplices to rob Mini Baccarat and Blackjack tables.

With the help of crooked supervisors and dealers, who created “slugs” and manipulated "false shuffles" at the orders and signals of Quoc Truong or one of his associates, the gang took advantage of the set up games and systematically won large bets at the tables upon the dealing of the pre arranged cards. “Slugs” are a series of pre arranged hands which are inserted in the card deck at the moment of the shuffle. When the cards are shuffled the “slug” is kept unmixed with the set of pre arranged hands in the “false shuffle”. In this way, as soon as the pre arranged hands begin their sequence, the criminals bet large sums of money, as they know the winning hand in advance, whether it is Bank or Player.

At the Resorts East Chicago Casino, in Indiana in October 2005, the “Tran Organization” netted US$868,000 in less than one hour and a half. In May 2007 George Michael Lee, Duc Cong Nguyen, Hop Nguyen and Tien Duc Vu were sentenced in San Diego, after agreeing to have their court cases transferred, for cheating at Emerald Queen Casino and Nooksack River Casino, two Indian gaming properties in Washington state. Duc Cong Nguyen and Vu admitted that they and their co-conspirators unlawfully obtained up to US$2.5 million during card cheating sessions.

Twelve others, each with one count of conspiracy to participate in the affairs of a racketeering enterprise; one count of conspiracy to commit several offences against the United States, including conspiracy to steal money and other property from Indian tribal casinos; and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, were also indicted along with Lee.

In another indictment, 11 additional defendants conspired to commit offences on behalf of the Tran Organization, and a one-count indictment, unsealed in the Southern District of California on Sept. 11, 2008, charged Bryan Arce; Don Man Duong; Hogan Ho; Thang Viet Huynh; Outtama Keovongsa; Leap Kong, aka Lanida Kong; Qua Le; Khunsela Prom, aka Danny Prom; James Root; Darrell Saicocie; and Dan Thich each with one count of conspiracy to commit several offences against the United States, including conspiracy to steal money and other property from Indian tribal casinos, and conspiracy to travel in interstate and foreign commerce in aid of racketeering.

According to the two indictments, the defendants and others executed a "false shuffle" cheating scheme at casinos in the United States and Canada during blackjack and mini-baccarat games. The indictments also allege that the members of the organization used sophisticated mechanisms for tracking the order of cards during games, including hidden transmitter devices and specially created software that would predict the order in which cards would reappear during blackjack games.

Phuong Quoc Truong was sentenced Monday to nearly six years in federal prison, and was ordered to pay US$5.7 million in restitution and forfeit nearly US$2.8 million in fines plus two homes, property in Vietnam, a 2001 Porsche Carrera, a Rolex watch and jewellery. The Department of Justice said 37 defendants have pleaded guilty to charges relating to the ring's conspiracy.

Amongst the defendants who have pleaded guilty to charges relating to the casino-cheating conspiracy are: Phuong Quoc Truong; Tai Khiem Tran; Anh Phuong Tran; Phat Ngoc Tran; Martin Lee Aronson; Liem Thanh Lam; George Michael Lee; Tien Duc Vu; Son Hong Johnson; Barry Wellford; John Tran; Willy Tran; Tuan Mong Le; Duc Cong Nguyen; Han Truong Nguyen; Roderick Vang Thor; Sisouvanh Mounlasy; Navin Nith; Renee Cuc Quang; Ui Suk Weller; Phally Ly; Khunsela Prom; Hop Nguyen; Hogan Ho; Darrell Saicocie; Bryan Arce; Qua Le; Outtama Keovongsa; and Leap Kong. (E-03.17.10)

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