Pumpkin
Posted on 03/18/2008 8:29:03 PM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
Their weapons may not sound like much: two belts, a newspaper and a rose-pattern blanket.
But six Chinese immigrants from Chamblee all but gift-wrapped an international fugitive for authorities recently, ending a five-month manhunt for a self-described martial arts expert twice featured on "America's Most Wanted."
Nai Yin Xue had sought cover in Atlanta's Mandarin-speaking community. There, he encountered a scrappy band of cooks and deliverymen whose possessions, though few, include a good memory and a keen sense of justice.
Now the "Chamblee Six" await final details of a sizable reward from New Zealand police. Today, the five men and one woman will receive certificates of appreciation from Chamblee.
Gathered around a kitchen table in the Shallowford Arms apartment complex, five of them explained how they corralled a man who had eluded authorities in Australia, Los Angeles and across the American South. Chamblee's reluctant heroes, all in their 40s and 50s, sipped Jasmine tea from soup bowls and spoke through an interpreter.
The valiant vigilantes said a language barrier forced their hands. They had no choice but to organize a trap, one that caught Xue in this very kitchen.
'Mr. Tang,' the poser
He said his name was "Mr. Tang." And he struck a memorable kung fu pose inside the sparsely furnished apartment.
"He went like this," Ding Qing Chen says, cocking her right fist back and extending her left.
The plump man with a thin mustache was trying to impress his new acquaintances, hoping to interest them in a massage business. Martial arts and massage often go hand in hand in China. So Qing Chen, a 56-year-old sushi chef, assumed the newcomer was a master of both.
Qing Chen and a distant relative, Dong Shun Li, had met Mr. Tang through a friend. They let him crash for several nights on one of two beds in the living room of their Shallowford Arms apartment. It was late January.
Quiet but cocksure, Mr. Tang urged them to seek a massage license. He ate dumplings and drank red wine but appeared to do little else, Qing Chen recalls. "One time he sat here all day and watched TV."
Mr. Tang would come and go over the next few weeks, showing up once to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Each time, he'd bring up that massage permit.
Then, on Feb. 26, Li called Qing Chen with a startling discovery: The World Journal, a Chinese newspaper, featured the story of a man wanted in New Zealand but believed to be in the U.S. And the 53-year-old suspect looked really familiar.
The man had allegedly murdered his wife in New Zealand, then ditched their 3-year-old daughter in Australia.
Surveillance cameras had shown him abandoning the girl at a busy Melbourne train station and, hours later, passing through airport metal detectors with a gleeful thumbs-up. Unaware of the girl's identity at first, police dubbed her "Pumpkin," for the Pumpkin Patch brand sweater she wore.
The article said the suspect flew to Los Angeles and was believed to be traveling in a blue Thunderbird, the very model Mr. Tang drove.
Most telling, however, was the photo. In it, the fugitive struck that familiar kung fu pose.
Language barrier
Gui Sen Wu tucked the article into his pocket and, along with Qing Chen, Li and two others, headed for the Chamblee Police Station. Wu, a 46-year-old cook, had slept in the bed next to Mr. Tang. He, too, was certain the loud snorer was really the man wanted in New Zealand.
Inside the station, a woman at the front desk told the group to call 911. That way they could be connected to an interpreter.
Wu held up the newspaper article, explaining that he and the others would be meeting the accused killer the next morning. " 'We have a suspect here who is wanted by the world,' " Wu recalls saying. " 'Together we can catch him.' "
But the group was told to wait and call police once they knew Xue's exact whereabouts. "I said 'No, no, no, tomorrow, 10 o'clock' " Wu says. "Very unfortunately, she didn't understand what I was talking about."
Parents themselves, Wu and his friends couldn't shake the image of little orphan Pumpkin. So they returned home near midnight and orchestrated a plan.
Their friend, Jinbo Qi, was closest to Mr. Tang. He agreed to call him the next morning. Something that had seemed innocuous a few days ago — Mr. Tang shaved his head — now stoked their suspicions.
"You were interested in massage, right?" Qi recalls telling Mr. Tang on the phone. "We got the license and we're ready to discuss business.' "
The take-down
Wei Chen, who delivers Chinese food for a living, sat nervously at the kitchen table, knowing the man to his right had claimed to be a martial arts master. Standing a solid 6 feet, Wei Chen, 44, was the tallest man that Wu, Qi and the others knew. They'd asked him to be their take-down man.
Mr. Tang had just arrived, expecting to get a look at a massage license.
Now it was time.
When Wei Chen lunged, Mr. Tang threw an elbow, one that would leave Wei Chen with a bruised thigh. But Xin Bao Li, a wiry cook also brought in for muscle, put Mr. Tang in a headlock. Together they wrestled the 200-pound man to the floor.
Qi, meanwhile, stripped Mr. Tang of his belt and used it to bind his hands. He grabbed another belt and a pair of pants to tie up Mr. Tang's legs. The men threw a woolen blanket over his head and penned down Mr. Tang.
The only words he screamed were directed at Qi: "You are not a good friend to me."
The small but animated Wu had but one job: bring in police. He had already tried twice that morning — at a gas station and a bank — but failed to get across that an accused murderer would be in his apartment. This time a 911 call drew two officers. An excited Wu pointed to the newspaper photo, then to the out-of-breath man hog-tied on the kitchen floor.
Police fetched a Mandarin-speaking teller from a nearby bank and grilled Mr. Tang. He claimed this was a big mix-up and said his name was "Peter Tong."
But a routine search turned up a New Zealand driver's license. It carried the name of a man wanted in three countries: Nai Yin Xue.
Just rewards
Seated around the kitchen table, the five members of the "Chamblee Six" are still buzzing over news that New Zealand police plan to give them $10,000. The reward wasn't mentioned in the World Journal. "We never knew," Wu says.
Kiwis and Aussies are eating up the story of Xue's capture by fellow members of the Chinese diaspora. A TV station asked them to re-enact the hog-tying. One newspaper ran a headline: "Pumpkin's dad caught with pants down."
"What they've done is heroic," Detective Matthew Darby said after he and another Kiwi detective interviewed the six.
Xue's captors chafe at the hero label. "Anybody would have done the same," Wu says. "It's our obligation to help the United States police." Even so, the reward is quite a sum in this ramshackle row of brick buildings just off Buford Highway.
Wu puffs on a Marlboro Light in a crowded apartment, whose walls are bare but for a Chinese sign that translates as "No Smoking." He sleeps in one of two beds crammed into the living room. That way he can send more money back to China, to support his family.
Qing Chen says she's the financial lifeblood for her father. "He's 92 years old," she says, breaking into tears.
Hours after hearing of the reward, the group gathered here in the kitchen to discuss how to divvy up the $10,000. Split six ways, it's about $1,700 each.
But once again, these vigilantes have plotted their own, slightly different, path.
Wu pulls a sheet of paper from his pocket. It's a Chinese-language contract with six signatures. The hand-written note commits $2,000 to an elderly friend who can't care for himself.
The other $8,000 is headed back across the globe, to a little girl whose mother is gone.
Intersting story!
Thanx for posting.
“The other $8,000 is headed back across the globe, to a little girl whose mother is gone.”
WOW!
Folks like these are what makes America great.
Sweet story.
Pumpkin
An incredible, uplifting story. Thanks for posting.
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"I once beat a man to death with a newspaper - but that's another story altogether." |
My advice is to use the reward money to LEARN ENGLISH.
placemarker
Man, that’s great stuff!!
...with noting but one single finger...which pulled the 45’s trigger.
Hen Hao!
Ting Hao zhong guo ren!
:)
The Buford Highway area of Atlanta has great Chinese and Korean food.
Yes, the locals call it Chambodia.
“My advice is to use the reward money to LEARN ENGLISH.”
Nice people for sure, but if you are going to live in the US, you should at least learn some basic conversational english.
The hand-written note commits $2,000 to an elderly friend who can’t care for himself.
The other $8,000 is headed back across the globe, to a little girl whose mother is gone.
What good people these are! God bless them.
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