Officer with HPD among 5 gambling arrests
A Houston police officer was among five people arrested during the latest bust in a twoyear investigation targeting gambling parlors in the Chinatown area, officials announced Friday.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Friday that officer Thomas Lam and others were detained the day before at a gambling parlor hidden inside Café Than Quynh, at 10804 Bellaire Boulevard.
Lam acted as bouncer at the parlor, granting access to players and himself playing at times, she said. “The evidence shows that he’s a prolific gambler, and he gambled his career away,” she said.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said the 42-year-old
officer had been on the force since late 2007. “He’s not going to be serving much longer,” the chief said. “He’s a disgrace to the badge.”
Union leaders said they do not plan to represent Lam since this was not within the scope of his duties. “If the charges are true, he’s going to have to answer for his actions,” said Joe Gamaldi, president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union.
The overall operation has netted 41 arrests, $2.4 million in seized cash and the arrests of three police officers — Lam, Larry Nguyen and Huy Ly.
Ogg has emphasized in the past that game rooms themselves aren’t illegal — they’re regulated by the city and county — but that much of the activity taking place in them can be. Certain gambling machines are prohibited, and operators can’t pay out winnings over a small legal limit.
The commonality between all of the busts in the operation is that none of the money flowing through the game rooms is taxed, Ogg said.
“Organized crime thrives on money, and we just took millions of dollars from them,” she said. “Those are dollars that have never been taxed. Those are dollars that literally attract cockroaches like cake to a location, and the cancer spreads internally and externally.”
And illegal game room activity is a huge driver of violent crime in the Chinatown area, causing many residents to feel on edge for the past several years, Acevedo said.
Lam faces two misdemeanor charges related to operating an illegal game room. Four others face felony charges of money laundering. Those include the owner of the facility, a manager and other game-room employees: Vu The Vo, James Wang, Thy Nguyen and Andy Vo.