Crown seeking 15-year term in gang-related murder plot

Plotting to murder a rival gangster he had tried to take out years earlier should land a Calgary man a 15-year prison term, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

But the lawyer for Trong Nguyen said his client has already done enough time behind bars and should be placed on probation.

Defence counsel Adriano Iovinelli said Nguyen has already done the equivalent of four years and five months in custody.

Iovinelli said combining that with the more than 2 ½ years Nguyen has spent on strict bail conditions, including house arrest, his client has served about a seven-year term.

Crown prosecutor Adam May agreed Nguyen should get credit for his time on remand, but nothing extra for while he was on bail.

May said a 15-year sentence would be justified considering the aggravating factors in the case.

The prosecutor noted Nguyen plotted the murder of rival gangster (Fat) Vinh Truong in September 2012. A police agent who was in on the plan tipped off investigators and they were able to thwart the killing, which was to take place at a cemetery east of the city, May said.

But he said neither that, nor the six-year sentence Nguyen received for shooting at Truong in 2006, deterred the offender from his murderous plot.

Nguyen was sentenced to six years on charges of discharging a firearm with intent to wound and possession of a restricted firearm for that attack on Truong, which occurred at a shopping mall.

Police were able to thwart the planned cemetery murder by making their presence known at a burial Truong was attending.

“The facts in this case are extremely aggravating,” May said.

Once the planned murder was called off, Nguyen suggested shooting Truong outside the Calgary Courts Centre after learning of a scheduled appearance for the intended victim.

“When that plan was thwarted … he was of the view they should try to kill Mr. Vinh on the steps of this courthouse,” May told Justice Beth Hughes.

He said Nguyen was associated with the FOB gang, which at the time was in a deadly street war with the rival FK, of which Truong was a member.

Iovinelli argued his client has shown he has rehabilitated himself and that sending him back to jail would just return him to the gang associates he no longer deals with.

Before Hughes adjourned sentencing to next month, Nguyen addressed the court.

He said at the time of the planned murder he was trying to excise him from the gang lifestyle, “but I had one foot in and one foot out.”

“Now I can say I am on the right path, I have both feet out and feel good about it. I am sorry for all the problems I have caused to society and stress I put my family through in the past.”