The brutal turf wars that have terrorised Sydney’s south-west have spilled onto the streets of Southeast Asia. Lorenzo Lemalu, the 24-year-old reputed boss of the notorious ‘Coconut Cartel’ street gang, was assassinated in a brazen drive-by shooting outside a seafood restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City last Thursday.
Now, Vietnamese authorities have arrested two men on the run in a remote border region adjacent to Cambodia, less than 72 hours after the triggers were pulled.
The suspects, identified by Vietnamese state media as Vaa Vaa, 27, and Tafia Steve, 23, allegedly crossed into Vietnam through Tan Son Nhat International Airport on May 14. For a week, they lurked in the shadows of the bustling Vietnamese metropolis, studying the daily movements and routines of their targets.
The planning was meticulous; the execution, swift and ruthless.
Last Thursday night, following a gathering with friends at a local seafood eatery, Lemalu and his 27-year-old associate, Sauni Sam, stepped out onto the busy street. That’s when the ambush was sprung. Security footage captured the terrifying moment two men clad in black unleashed a hail of gunfire, sending nearby diners and pedestrians scrambling for their lives.
Lemalu, a former associate of the powerful Alameddine crime family, was struck multiple times and died at the scene. Sam survived the hit but remains in a serious condition in a Vietnamese hospital after sustaining a single gunshot wound.
In the immediate aftermath, the shooters fled the scene in a taxi, sparking an intense manhunt across southern Vietnam. They were eventually cornered by border guards and local police as they attempted to slip across the border into Cambodia. Vietnamese police allege that Vaa Vaa was the primary gunman, while Steve acted as the key accomplice.
The investigation has since expanded far beyond the two shooters. Vietnamese authorities have also detained a 24-year-old local train driver, Nguyen Trong Nghia, for his suspected role in assisting the fugitives’ escape. Seven other Vietnamese nationals are facing charges for failing to report the crime and helping the alleged killers evade police.
Lemalu’s death marks a dramatic and dangerous international escalation in the ongoing feud between Sydney’s rival crime networks. The ‘Coconut Cartel’—a South-Western Sydney-based street gang that claimed the name as a middle finger to a historic slur—has been heavily active in the city’s drug trade and has locked horns with rival syndicates in a series of violent clashes over the last several months.
Back in Sydney, NSW Police are bracing for the inevitable fallout. Underworld figures have warned of potential retaliatory attacks on home soil, as the power vacuum left by Lemalu’s death threatens to ignite a fresh wave of violence across the metropolitan area.
For now, the two alleged hitmen remain in Vietnamese custody. Vietnam enforces some of the world’s strictest laws regarding violent crime and firearm offenses, meaning the accused face the very real prospect of the death penalty if convicted.
Law enforcement agencies from both nations are now working together to piece together the full network behind the hit, as police try to determine who financed the contract on Lemalu’s life from thousands of kilometers away.