David Thai

David Thai
NYPD Mugshot of Thai at the time of his arrest
Born	Tho Hoang Thai (1956-01-30) January 30, 1956 (age 61) Saigon, South Vietnam (now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)
Other names	Anh hai
Occupation	Crime boss, gangster, Counterfeiter
Known for	Leader of Born to Kill
Criminal charge	Murder, Racketeering, Extortion
Criminal penalty	2 consecutive life sentences + 43 years
Criminal status	Incarcerated at USP Lewisburg
Conviction(s)	October 23, 1992

David Thai, born Tho Hoang Thai, was a Vietnamese born American gangster who was the founder and leader of the notorious Born to Kill gang during the late 80s and early 90s. He was also responsible for running a massive illegal counterfeit watch operation and at his peak controlled the market and distribution of counterfeit watches in New York by means of blackmail and extortion. He was the official leader of Born to Kill from 1988 until his arrest in 1991, which was the combination of months of investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in conjunction with the aid of a former gang member who defected from the gang and became an undercover informant, helping secure the convictions of David Thai and several of his high-ranking officers.

Described as a sly, shrewd and lethal gangster, David Thai fashioned himself as a big brother and the protector to the Vietnamese community in Chinatown. Thai was described by T.J English and many others as being well dressed, usually wearing "a tailored sports coat, silk shirt and loft leather loafers," alongside a pair of sunglasses, and was said to have resembled more like a businessman than a gangster. During his interview with Peg Tyre after his arrest on murder charges in 1991 and other interviews that went on in the course of his trial, David often stated that he was trying to protect and help the Vietnamese community in Chinatown, often by giving the newly arrived refugees money and a place to live. In his interview with Peg Tyre, Thai went on to describe that he sacrificed his first marriage due to his "love for his Vietnamese brothers".

On October 23, 1992, a United States federal judge in Brooklyn sentenced Thai to life in prison for murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, robbery, extortion, and related offenses. Federal prosecutors claimed that David Thai's life sentence significantly impaired Asian gang activity in New York.

Tho Hoang “David” Thai was born in Saigon, South Vietnam on January 30, 1956, where his family lived in a home on Ton Dan street. As a young teenager on the streets of Saigon, when he wasn’t in school, David often acted as a mediator between the American G.I.s stationed in Saigon who were in search of drugs, and the Bình Xuyên, an independent military group during the time of the Vietnam War that was also responsible for funding and orchestrating many illegal activities in Saigon during the war. When Saigon fell at the end of the Vietnam War, David’s father, Dieu Thai was jailed by the triumphant communists and sent into a reeducation camp, but Dieu Thai was still able to secure David’s passage out of Saigon, where David thereafter arrived in the U.S three months later. Initially living in a small house for boys owned by a local Lutheran church in Indiana, in May 1976, David fled from the church house with $150 in his pocket and hopped onto a greyhound bus destined for New York City.