Khánh Trắng

Khánh Trắng was born as Dương Văn Khánh in 1956 to a large family of eleven siblings, where he was the youngest child of the family. His father had three different wives, while his mother also had three different husbands, so thus he and his siblings were a part of three separate families. His brother and father were considered to be educated and made an honest living in life. It is said that when his father was still alive, Khánh was never recognized as being part of the Dương family. From a young age, Khánh lived with his mother and his half-sister on Kim Mã street in the Ba Đình district of Hanoi. Dương's family was poor though, and they relied heavily on state subsidies to survive. Khánh had four brothers who shared the same mother as him, out of which three of them had been arrested several times for property theft and assault. Khánh studied through the fifth grade before he eventually dropped out of school and later worked at the Sao Vang Rubber Factory for 8 months, before he quit the job as well.

Between the time he quit his job to 1989, Khánh committed several offenses, and was released from prison after serving 5 previous convictions. In 1989, Khánh began purchasing many pedicabs or xích lô's which he used to carry cargo goods around the Long Biên bridge to pay daily rent. From there, Khánh began to assemble a gang of about three dozen juniors, all of whom were criminal offenders, to shuffle goods using pedicabs in order to make a living. At around the same time in the area of Đồng Xuân market and the surrounding areas, several other gangs began to drive xích lô's to load and unload goods as well. When Khánh's gang was at full force, Khánh quickly acted to seize the areas of Trần Nhật Duật and Hàng Chiếu in order to increase the scope of his gang. This was said not only to be a risky maneuver on his part, but also that Khánh was quite clever in doing this, showing signs of ambition and determination.

In early 1991, the People's Committee of Đồng Xuân created the policies or rules for the loading and unloading of goods in the Đồng Xuân market. Khánh thus went to the People's Committee and asked for permission to create a team of self-loading and unloading services in the area. The People's Committee agreed and decided to set up a team, appointing Khánh as their team captain, with deputies Nguyễn Văn Sơn and Nguyễn Văn Tuân becoming Khánh's right hand men.

Three months later, the People's Committee of Hoàn Kiếm District decided to give Khánh a permit for loading and unloading services in the market. He became in charge of a unit of collective economy, independent accounting and opened an account at a bank. By 1992, the Đồng Xuân union and the labor union were established, making it the first non-state trade organization in Hanoi. Khánh Trắng was then later elected as the chairman of the worker’s union or the UBND. When Khánh officially became the chairman or president of the Đồng Xuân worker’s union, about five hundred people, mostly consisting of small time traders within the Đồng Xuân market but also traders from other markets as well often saw Khánh riding a jeep with several bodyguards as the people gathered around the area to observe.

At first, the team's handling of loading and unloading services was quite nice, and they even received praise by government leaders who saw the organization as a model that should be replicated. However, Khánh thought that the Đồng Xuân market area did not have enough land to do business, so he sought to expand his influence to other areas. Using his position as the chairman of the UBND, Khánh abused his powers and acted as a dictator around the Đồng Xuân region, as he forced businesses around the area to pay taxes to him all the while punishing those that did not abide by his new policies. Khánh also prevented any other groups from loading and unloading their cargos of goods within the region, allowing only members of his union to do so, and even then the members were forced to give him the entire proceeds from the cargo load. Small businesses that refused to allow Khánh’s officers to load their goods were physically beaten by the gang, and on one occasion, the gang even robbed in front of a store owner without any interference from bystanders who feared retaliation if they spoke up.

In 1994, there was a great fire in the Đồng Xuân market which significantly reduced the activity of the businesses in the area. As a result, Khánh began to encroach to the areas around the bus station and the neighboring Long Biên market, which was under the control of Hùng Cuba. Khánh attempted to bargain or negotiate with Hùng Cuba for control over these areas but the two did not come to an agreement. In response, Khánh had his men block all of the routes to the bus station and the Long Biên market, causing Hùng Cuba to be unable to transport or receive any of his goods from shippers, forcing him to submit to Khánh’s will.

In order to legalize his operations, Khánh gave development of trade unions in the group of Hung Cuba, and then merged the two trading organizations together, allowing him to transport goods from the Đồng Xuân and Long Biên markets. With his cover in place, Khánh made many violations of the law, such as setting up a group of men whose duty was to inspect other nearby trading groups, punish small traders, and fine business owners alongside the Đồng Xuân - Long Biên markets. The group set the fines themselves, after which the proceeds were then delivered to Khánh.

Khánh Trắng’s reputation within the community however was quite prestigious, as members of the community saw him as a public helper and benefactor through his charitable acts, which he funded using the money earned from his laborers to conceal his illegal activities and earn himself prestige and respect in the community.

One of the most publicized cases of Khánh’s murders was the murder of Đạt at 44th street in Hàng Chiếu, Hanoi. At the time, Đạt was a trader within the Đồng Xuân market area who sold hats for a living, but he soon came into conflict with Trần Đại Dương, who was a member of the UBND order and was appointed as a captain of the organization by Khánh. On the afternoon of March 24, 1991, Đạt stabbed Dương with a knife which did not seriously wound him, after which Đạt then fled from the market. Dương chased after Đạt but was stopped by Đạt’s brother Nguyễn Văn Hưng and other traders within the area. Dương later stayed up until dark to inform Khánh about what had transpired.

With Đạt’s knife in hand, Khánh Trắng ordered his men to carry Đạt onto the xích lô to bring him to the police station in Đồng Xuân and also in order to bring Dương, who had been stabbed earlier by Đạt, to the hospital as well. When they arrived at the police station however, Đạt was dead. That night, Khánh summoned the young men who were involved in the fight to come to his mother’s home on Tôn Đức Thắng street where he then threatened them to pin the blame on Vũ Quốc Dũng as the one who robbed Đạt’s knife and killed him. Vũ Quốc Dũng confessed to the murder, and the police considered that the case had been solved and so thus closed the case for several years until Khánh’s arrest in 1996.

Though he had status and was particularly wealthy, Khánh did not pay any taxes or fees to the government. When the Tax Department of Hoàn Kiếm requested to declare the turnover and tax payment to the State, Khánh used one of his officers to do the procedures. At the Long Biên area, Khánh did not declare nor pay his taxes.

From 1994 to May 1996, Khánh reported to the tax officials that the revenue from his earnings was over 740 million VND, thus he ended up paying only the total turnover tax and income tax for three years of over 62 million VND. Meanwhile, during the search of Khánh’s house after his arrest, public security agencies obtained documents which proved that the revenue of Khánh in 8 days was nearly 110 million. On average, Khánh’s revenue was nearly 14 million VND a day.

Later, according to calculations of the Hanoi Tax Department, from 1992 to May 1996, the total revenue earned by Khánh was over 5.5 billion. Khánh had deceived the tax department by not reporting his turnovers by more than 4.8 billion VND, evading taxes of more than 350 million VND in total.

On May 24, 1996, Khánh Trắng and several members of his organization were arrested at Khánh’s house on Nguyễn Thiệp street in Hanoi. In trial, Khánh was charged with murder, robbery, tax evasion and concealment of crime. According to the law, Khánh had to be sentenced to death for the crimes and was ordered to pay the state nearly 3.9 billion VND, which included a 3.5 billion fine, 350 million of taxes, court fees and compensation for the victims. With the evidence against him presented, Khánh did not complain with the sentencing and accepted the death penalty. On October 13, 1998, Dương Văn Khánh was executed by firing squad at the Cầu Ngà shooting range in Hanoi, bringing an end to his reign.