Phila. gang member makes U.S. Marshal's Top 15 most wanted

A Vietnamese gang member charged this summer with the double slaying and abduction of two men found stabbed, bound, and beaten in the Schuylkill was added Wednesday to the U.S. Marshals Service's Top 15 Most Wanted list.

Police obtained an arrest warrant in September for Tam Minh Le, 42, weeks after they fished the bodies of brothers Vu Huynh, 31, and Viet Huynh, 28, both of Paoli, from the river. The brothers had been bound with zip ties, stabbed, weighted down, and had their throats slashed and heads wrapped with duct tape.

A third man was similarly tortured but managed to escape by playing dead on the riverbank and later swimming to shore.

According to federal court filings, marshals tracked Le to a home in Southwest Philadelphia shortly after discovering the bodies and have since followed his trail to Rochester, N.Y., and Buffalo. But despite leads that he might be hiding in a homeless shelter there, his trail has gone cold.

Investigators believe that Le, an alleged member of the New York City-based "Born to Kill" gang, kidnapped, tortured, and killed the men over a drug debt. Le had given the Huynhs $100,000 to buy drugs but they gambled most of it away at Harrah's Philadelphia, the U.S. marshals said Wednesday.

There is a $25,000 reward for information leading to Le's arrest. Tipsters can contact the U.S. Marshals Service at 1-800-336-0102.