Vietnamese mobster repents before death
Vietnam’s most notorious gangster expressed regret for his life of crime and urged his grandsons not to follow in his footsteps hours before being executed by a firing squad.
Truong Van Cam, known as Nam Cam, was gunned down with four of his gang members in front of 500 spectators.
The 57-year-old mobster was convicted last year on murder and bribery charges following a crackdown on his criminal empire, which had ties that reached into the ruling Communist Party.
A day after the public executions, newspapers ran lengthy front-page accounts of the gangsters’ final hours.
Pioneer newspaper reported they were taken from their prison in Tien Giang province to Ho Chi Minh City in a heavily-guarded convoy.
“They all thought that this was a normal transfer to another prison which they had experienced in the past, so they still talked and joked,” the newspaper said.
At 3.30 a.m., they were informed by an execution council that they would be allowed to write final letters to their families.
“In the letter Nam Cam wrote to his Buddhist nun daughter, he expressed his belated regret that he did not listen to her advice.
In the letters he wrote to his two grandsons, Nam Cam urged them not to repeat what he did,” the newspaper said.
After being given new clothes, the five were given their last meal.
By 5am, police cars brought the five mobsters to the firing range. Two of the men continued talking and laughing, but then fainted at the sight of the coffins and freshly dug graves.
As judge Nguyen Duc Sau read out President Tran Duc Luong’s rejection of their appeal for clemency, some weeping could be heard among the crowd of people gathered around the execution grounds, the paper said.
At 5.30am, multiple shots rang out.
