Following the shooting death of a Sydney underworld figure in Vietnam, authorities have released pictures of two Australian citizens they would like to talk with.
Lorenzo Lemalu, a 24-year-old senior commander of the infamous Coconut Cartel and a former member of the Alameddine criminal family, was shot and killed on Thursday night outside a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City.
Before Lemalu was shot at close range in front of stunned diners, CCTV showed him standing with a group on a sidewalk along a busy dining strip.
Sam Sauni, a 27-year-old southwest Sydney resident and fellow Coconut Cartel associate, was gravely hurt but made it out alive. According to Nine News, his condition remains unknown.
Vietnamese police have opened an investigation and made public images of two Australians they want to talk to.
According to the police warning, Lang Kenny Trong Minh Do, 36, and Justin John White, 39, got out of a taxi outside a supermarket in Tay Ninh, a town close to the Cambodian border, after leaving Ho Chi Minh City.
We don’t currently know where they are.
According to local news sources, police called the men “particularly dangerous” and advised the public not to approach them but to report any potential sightings.
A prominent member of the infamous Coconut Cartel and a former member of the Alameddine criminal family, Lorenzo Lemalu, 24, was shot and killed in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday night.
Australian nationals White Justin John, 39, and Lang Kenny Trong Minh Do, 36, are wanted by Vietnamese police.
The police want to talk to the men, but there is no indication that they have done anything criminal.
The moment Lemalu was shot dead by a hooded assailant in a crowded dining area was captured on camera and released online.
Lemalu, who was injured, rushed into a nearby eatery and passed out.
Another sufferer fell onto the road but was able to crawl onto the sidewalk as startled diners fled for safety.
After that, a spectator pulled him into a restaurant so he could obtain assistance.
Inside a restaurant, another man was observed crouching next to Lemalu’s injured body and attempting to administer first aid while conversing with employees.
Another picture depicts paramedics frantically trying to bring Lemalu back to life.
Lemalu had the name of Proper 60, a gang from western Sydney connected to the Alameddines under Ali Younes, also known as Ay Huncho, tattooed on his stomach.
Sam Sauni, a 27-year-old affiliate of the Coconut Cartel, was also shot but lived.
Lorenzo Lemalu was shot several times and was not able to come back to life.
Lemalu, who had a falling out with the Alameddines, was a prominent commander in the Coconut Cartel.
After leaving Australia four years ago, Lemalu reportedly had a falling out with the Alameddines and started leading the Coconut Cartel’s operations from South-East Asia.
The Alameddines and the Coconut Cartel, a splinter group, are at odds over control of Sydney’s narcotics trade.
Lemalu was seen enjoying a golden-leafed steak in Dubai in photos that surfaced online in November of last year. Just last month, Lemalu was seen in Albania.
Members of the Alameddine network are said to have taken credit for the execution in messages that SCN Worldstar was able to collect.
A message said, “That’s what happens when Coconuts try (and) fight the people that made them.”
In the wake of several firebombings and drive-by shootings throughout the city in recent months, not everyone thinks the execution is connected to the Sydney gangland wars. “The big rumour is they ripped off some Albanians and that’s why he was killed,” a gangster living abroad told the Daily Telegraph.
There are serious concerns that the murder could lead to retaliatory attacks and was just the most recent episode in Sydney’s continuing gang conflicts.
The most recent execution took place just two nights after Alai Ahio, 28, a former member of the infamous rap duo OneFour, was shot and killed in what police described as a deliberate attack in southwest Sydney.
In November of last year, Lemalu was seen in Dubai savoring a gold-leafed steak.
On Thursday night, Lorenzo Lemalu was shot and killed outside a restaurant in Vietnam.
On Tuesday night, he and four other men were visiting a house in Canley Heights when they were ambushed by at least two assailants brandishing knives and pistols.
After being transported to Liverpool Hospital, he passed away shortly after.
Despite their injuries, four more soldiers made it out alive.
The assailants are still at large after leaving the scene in a white SUV.
