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Đại Cathay

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Đại Cathay
Born
Lê Văn Đại

Saigon, Vietnam
DiedJanuary 7, 1967(1967-01-07) (aged 26–27)
Phú Quốc island
NationalityVietnamese
OccupationCrime boss
Known forOne of the “Four Great Kings” of Saigon

Đại Cathay, whose real name was Lê Văn Đại was a notorious 1960s Saigon mobster, and was considered as the top or “number one” of the “Four Great Kings” of Saigon’s criminal underworld before 1975. The Four Great Kings of the Saigon criminal underworld at the time referred to the four most powerful mobsters in the city: 1) Đại Cathay, 2) Huỳnh Tỳ, 3) Ngô Văn Cái, 4) Ba Thế.[1][2][3][4][5]

Early Life

Dai Cathay was born in 1940 as the son of Lê Văn Cự, who was a gangster in the market area of Cầu Muối. After 1945, Dai’s father became a revolutionary and joined the Bình Xuyên army to fight against the French, where his father served under his leader Ba Dương. In 1946, his father was captured and exiled to Côn Đảo prison, where he later died.[1][2][4][5]

After his father’s death, Đại’s mother eventually married a gambler who was also a drug addict. Đại was treated badly by his stepfather. Shortly thereafter, he dropped out of school and became a shoe shiner and sold newspapers at the Nguyễn Công Trứ and Công Lý crosswords (now Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa) in order to survive. In the area where Đại was selling newspapers, there was also a cinema named Cathay, with the streets around it being a common fighting grounds for the local street boys. Đại fought many times on this street, and was rumored to have never lost a fight, gaining him his namesake “Đại Cathay of Nguyen Cong Tru street”.[2][1][4][5]

By the early 1960s, at the age of 20, Đại Cathay was quickly becoming a notorious gangster in Saigon; Đại was in control of nearly all the illicit establishments, such as prostitution houses, drug dens and night clubs in the first and third districts of Saigon. He was also becoming a familiar face around these establishments and befriended engineers, doctors and artists such as Dzach Buu, Dzi Buu and Hoang Sayonara, who would later help craft Đại’s business strategy by advising him to open casinos. At around the same time, Đại began to exploit the often corrupt officials of the Saigon government by means of bribery; he was allowed to open many casinos in district 1 of Saigon, and in return, the city officials received monthly payments, which allowed Đại to ever increase his profits and control over the illegal activities in the city.[6][3][7]

Clash with Tín Mã Nàm

As Đại sought to increase and expand his criminal rackets, he eventually began to venture some of his activities into the seemingly impenetrable fifth district, Chợ Lớn, which was under the control of Tín Mã Nàm, an infamous mob leader at the time of ethnic Hoa descent who was the leader of the Chinese mafia in Chợ Lớn. Tín Mã Nàm had the physical appearance of a dharmapala, had years of training in Shaolin Kung Fu and Choy Li Fut, and his nickname “Thầu Dậu” literally meant the “Mad Horse”. He was known as Hồng Trượng within the Triad, second only to their leader, Hoàng Long (Yellow Dragon), who was the leader of all the Hoa gangs in Chợ Lớn. The clash between Đại Cathay’s gang and Tín Mã Nàm’s had been taking place over the course of many years. At the beginning of 1964, Đại, followed by Ba Thế and Lâm Đào Già brought two cars and a dozen motorbikes with the markings Goebel, Push, Brumi, Ishia carrying two people per motorbike. The gang then suddenly brought out knives, swords, sticks, bayonets and simultaneously attacked the roadside shops in the Great World district. After a moment of shock, Tín Mã Nàm’s gang calmed down, began shouting and ran into the bars to arm themselves with knives, swords, and nunchakus in which afterwards they then hid and counterattacked. Đại Cathay’s gang was severely beaten and bloodied, and thus was forced to flee from the scene. In addition, Lâm Đào Già, one of Đại’s followers during the battle was wounded and lost one of his fingers, which later earned him the nickname “Nine Fingers”.[8][9]

However, because of the gang battle, many people began to avoid Tín Mã Nàm’s establishments and casinos. With his business rapidly declining, Tín Mã Nàm was desperate and so he asked to meet Đại Cathay at Đồng Khánh restaurant in order to negotiate. As a result of the negotiation, Tín Mã Nàm and the Chinese gangs in Chợ Lớn ceded away the entire areas from between Nancy market and District 1, allowing Đại to open more casinos and run a monopoly on illicit activities within those regions.[3][6][8][9]

Becoming “Number One” of the Four Great Kings

At that time, besides Đại, in Saigon, there were also three major mobsters or “kings”; Huỳnh Tỳ, Ngô Văn Cái and Ba Thế. The three mobsters were not pleased with Đại Cathay’s rapid expansion in Saigon, so they decided to try to take down Đại in an ambush. Đại Cathay fell prey to their planned ambush where five swordsmen each pulled out their swords and rushed him. Đại miraculously managed to survive the attack. With his wounds still unhealed, and with a single knife in hand, Đại in turn sought after the five men that had attacked him in order to wash away his hatred. All five of the swordsmen were later hunted down and wounded by Đại. After these bloody payments, Đại became the number one of the “Four Great Kings” of the Saigon underworld, giving way to the famous saying: Đại - Tỳ - Cái - Thế, the names of the four mobsters or “kings” who ruled Saigon.[3][9]

Disappearance/Death

In November of 1966, Đại Cathay was arrested and placed in Phú Quốc prison after being accused of having masterminded Trần Kim Chi’s death when Trần Kim Chi, a subordinate general of Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, was killed when a truck that was loaded with wood drove straight into his car. As a result, Kim Chi’s general, Nguyễn Ngọc Loan had Đại Cathay arrested on “special treaty” charges.

On the 28th of that November, Đại was placed in a C47 aircraft for transportation to the prison in Phú Quốc island. In 1967, Đại hatched a plan where he had his wife bribe the guards so that he could escape from the prison. On January 7th, Đại and his men escaped from the camp, but when he passed through the front gate, the alarmed sound, alerting the guards surrounding the prison. Discovered, Đại was chased to the North part of the island, but the guards never found him and he was never heard from again. As a result of his mysterious death or disappearance, two main theories emerged to explain how Đại could have met his end:

  • Theory 1: Đại Cathay and his men were shot dead on the night of January 7th after they were discovered by a platoon.
  • Theory 2: Đại Cathay and his men were captured by the South Vietnamese Liberation Army, and when Đại and his men tried to escape, they were shot dead.

Lieutenant Trần Tử Thanh later boasted to several reporters in several newspapers before 1975 that he was the one who shot and killed Đại Cathay.[10][6]

Anecdotes and Legacy

  • When general Nguyễn Cao Kỳ asked for Đại to become his personal bodyguard, he responded that:

-“Wherever I go I have escorts, if I were to escort you, sir, my bodyguards would be unemployed.”[11]

  • With captain Trần Kim Chi, the chief of the Republic of Vietnam National Police, one evening, Đại Cathay had paid for the Paramouth restaurant’s services and specially invited Trần Kim Chi to the banquet. Đại Cathay then said:

-“If you, captain, pardon some of my brothers who were arrested, then we will be forever thankful to you.”

Trần Kim Chi responded, “Eating is eating, working is working. If you invited me to this banquet to do bargain, then I decline.”[10]

Author Duyên Anh, after hearing Đại Cathay speak about his life as a gangster, and about the bloody battles out on the streets, decided to write the novel titled “Điệu ru nước mắt”, translated to English as “Tale of One Teardrop” which became famous in Vietnam. The protagonist of the novel was Trần Đại, who is the character prototype of Đại Cathay. While reading the book, Đại Cathay pleasantly enjoyed the first part of the novel, with much of it being based off his own real life events. However, at the end of the novel, when the main character Trần Đại lies dying on the fence, Đại seethed with rage, shouting:

-“That Duyên Anh should be killed, how dare he play with me. I loved a woman so much that I got killed and had my body dried up on a fence? (To his men) Go find and cut off his tendon and give it to me!”[11]

Upon hearing the news, Duyên Anh fled to Đà Lạt to hide until the end of 1966, when Đại Cathay was arrested by police and sent to Phú Quốc island, in which only then did Anh dare to return to Saigon.

Cinematography

Duyên Anh’s novel “Tale of One Teardrop” was based off the life of Đại Cathay, and the novel was later adapted into a film by the same name directed by Lê Hoàng Hoa and was acted by two famous Vietnamese actors at the time Trần Quang and Thanh Nga.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c Vy Tường (2016-02-08). "Cuộc đời Đại Cathay - trùm giang hồ Sài Gòn xưa". VnExpress. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  2. ^ a b c Dang Bui (2014-05-13). "Gangsters of Saigon: Dai Cathay - Part 1". Saigoneer. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  3. ^ a b c d hongoccan2017 (2011-12-23). "CUỘC ĐỜI CỦA ĐẠI CATHAY". Retrieved 2017-03-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b c Lê Hoàng (2015-09-11). "Vì sao Đại Cathay được coi là Đại ca của các đại ca Sài Gòn?". doisongphapluat. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  5. ^ a b c THANH THỦY (2014-10-05). "Thế giới du đãng Sài Gòn trước 1975 (kỳ 1): Đại Cathay, "bố già" của Sài Gòn". Lao Dong. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  6. ^ a b c Dang Bui (2014-05-14). "Gangsters of Saigon Đại Cathay". Saigoneer. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  7. ^ Hoàng Dũng (2012-12-27). "Đại Cathay và hành trình thâu tóm các băng nhóm du đãng". Nguoi Dua Tin. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  8. ^ a b Trung Nghĩa (2012-12-27). "Giang hồ Sài Gòn trước 1975: Trùm du đãng Mã Thầu Dậu". Nguoi Dua Tin. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  9. ^ a b c Lăng Nhu (2011-11-11). "Đệ nhất giang hồ' Đại Cathay và cái chết đầy bí ẩn". Mega Fun. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  10. ^ a b Hoàng Dũng (2012-12-27). "Trùm giang hồ Đại Cathay chết vì... đùa với lửa". Nguoi Dua Tin. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  11. ^ a b c Duy Chiến (2012-12-27). "Giang hồ không vua" và cái chết của Đại Cathay". Vietnamnet. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  12. ^ Giao Hưởng (2012-07-28). "Điện ảnh Sài Gòn một thuở - Đàn em Đại Cathay bám trường quay". Thanh Nien. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
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