Two men who led a violent drug trafficking organization distributing meth, heroin and cocaine in Kent, Tukwila, Renton, Seattle and Shoreline, were sentenced on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to long prison terms.
The two Seattle men were sentenced for numerous counts of drug trafficking and one count of money laundering, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office media release.
Son V. Tran, 29, the leader of the drug trafficking group was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Tuan A. Vu, 50, was sentenced to just more than 13 years. Both men will serve five years of supervised release after prison.
At the sentencing hearing U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour noted that the men led an organization involved with both drugs and violence.
“These defendants and their organizations pumped large amounts of meth, heroin and cocaine into our communities, and they used violence to get their way,” said U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes. “We will continue to use all the law enforcement tools at our disposal to ensure drug organizations like this one – from their leaders on down – are removed from our cities and towns, and held to account.”
The two-year investigation lead by the FBI’s Seattle Safe Streets Task Force and Bellevue Police Department’s Eastside Narcotics Task Force, revealed that the organization distributed cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine across a wide swath of the greater Seattle metro area.
According to court records and testimony at trial, beginning in February 2013 law enforcement authorities used a variety of tools including telephone wire taps and confidential sources to infiltrate and interdict this drug organization. The investigation determined that the organization distributed approximately 15-20 kilos of cocaine, 10-15 kilos of heroin and 5 kilos of methamphetamine per month.
In addition, on multiple occasions members of the drug trafficking organization were arrested with firearms. During the investigation law enforcement seized drugs and cash including a September 2014 seizure of two kilos of cocaine, one pound of methamphetamine and $14,000 cash from a rental car. In March 2015, investigators seized more than $32,000 from a hidden compartment in another vehicle. At the end of the investigation, additional drugs and more than $100,000 in cash was seized from Tran’s and Vu’s residences.
Many drug sales occurred in the “Jungle” homeless encampment in Seattle, as well as at homes and near businesses in Renton, Shoreline, Tukwila and Kent. The drug transactions ranged from the parking lot of Viet Wah supermarket near South Jackson Street in Seattle, the parking lot of Dick’s Drive-In on Northeast 45th Street in Seattle, the parking lot of a gas station on Beacon Hill and at a Tukwila motel.
More than 20 other defendants have been sentenced in the case to prison terms ranging from two years to 12 years.
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