The FBI Philadelphia Field Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced the addition of Trung Duc Lu to the Bureau’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List.
Lu is wanted in connection with the August 2014 torture, kidnapping, and murder of two Vietnamese brothers who’d engaged in drug dealing in Philadelphia. Lu also allegedly took part in the torture and attempted murder of a third victim—the brothers’ friend and fellow dealer who the case team calls Sonny—who worked with the authorities after surviving the incident.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $1 million for tips that lead directly to Lu’s arrest. Lu, a U.S. permanent resident who never pursued U.S. citizenship, is believed to have fled the United States for his home country of Vietnam.
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“Adding Trung Lu to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list reflects the seriousness of his alleged crimes and our unwavering commitment to bringing him to justice,” said FBI Philadelphia Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs. “The FBI and our partners will continue to leverage every available resource—both here at home and abroad—to locate and apprehend him. No matter how much time passes or where he attempts to hide, the FBI will continue pursuing him until he is found and taken into custody.”
Lu’s apprehension would end a 12-year quest for justice for his alleged victims—who, FBI Philadelphia Special Agent Scott Baber notes, had wives, friends, and jobs beyond their criminal activity. “They were people who, in many ways, were trying to live the American dream,” said Baber, the lead investigator on Lu’s case. “They were certainly flawed characters and broke the law, but their transgressions should not have resulted in them meeting the kind of end that they did.”
The case at the heart of the announcement is rooted in large-scale marijuana distribution between New York City and Philadelphia.
Three Philadelphia drug dealers—two brothers and their friend—would get large amounts of the drug from a large, New York-based distributor on consignment. The idea was that they could resell the marijuana at a higher price than what they owed the distributor and still turn a profit once they paid them back.
The trio soon started gambling the money they owed their source up north. This led their suppliers to deploy individuals to recoup the stolen funds.
In August 2014, Trung Duc Lu and others were allegedly sent from New York City to Philadelphia to find the dealers and recoup the debt, which Baber said exceeded $100,000. When the men reached Philadelphia, they reportedly met up with Tam Le, a local point of contact who knew the victims from the drug business.
Tam Le then reportedly lured each of the men to a house in Southwest Philadelphia, one by one.
“When they arrived at his residence in Southwest Philadelphia, each one was attacked, tied up, and savagely beaten in an attempt to extract the money,” Baber said. “And each person was forced to call the next person. Ultimately, all three victims were tied up inside this family’s garage in Southwest Philadelphia.”
“No matter how much time passes or where he attempts to hide, the FBI will continue pursuing him until he is found and taken into custody.”
Wayne Jacobs, special agent in charge, FBI Philadelphia
Lu and his co-conspirators collected some of the missing money but ultimately decided to kill the three men. The men allegedly left the house and transported the three victims in a van.
“They then arrived at a parking lot on the Schuylkill River, pulled each victim out of the van, stabbed each one viciously, tied them down with weighted buckets, and threw them into the river,” Baber recalled.
Miraculously, after being mistaken for dead, Sonny escaped the river and flagged down a motorist who dialed 9-1-1 and triggered a police response.
The statement Sonny provided to the Philadelphia Police Department enabled the authorities to obtain a search warrant for Tam Le’s residence. The ensuing search turned up evidence of torture, and a later search of the river led to the recovery of the other victims’ bodies.
Le was eventually indicted in Philadelphia, captured by the U.S. Marshals Service in 2015, convicted in 2016, and sentenced to death.
The FBI opened an investigation into the incident around 2018, since the Bureau believed the circumstances of the alleged crime and evidence recovered suggested a nexus with organized crime, Baber said.
But Sonny hadn’t been able to identify any of his other attackers, since they’d been hidden behind masks, and “there was also no forensic evidence left behind that could be attributed to the subjects,” Baber said. And Le refused to cooperate with the U.S. government’s investigation until his death behind bars in February 2025.
The case team analyzed phone and toll records, using Le’s phone number as a starting point. They discovered that the subjects bought burner phones from a store owned by a relative of Le’s explicitly for use as part of their efforts to recover the stolen drug money. Investigators traced one number to Trung Duc Lu.
In May 2017, Baber and his co-case agent traveled to New York City and interviewed someone who confirmed that Lu owned that phone number. Records indicated that Lu fled the country soon after on a flight to Vietnam. “We believe that he’s there today,” Baber said.
The agents didn’t give up, though. They pursued additional phone-record analysis, conducted interviews, and chased what Baber referred to as “a lot of dead ends” before convincing a co-conspirator to flip and work with the FBI out of concern for his personal safety.
“He was on the run from a drug cartel and had been involved in massive drug trafficking,” Baber explained, so he hoped to trade assistance for protection. The co-conspirator signed a plea agreement with the FBI, and his cooperation resulted in the federal indictment of the remaining subjects, including Lu.
“Lu is the only person who’s not been held accountable for his involvement in the crime, and that’s where we are today,” Baber said.
“I would encourage any family member or friend—or anyone who has any information at all—to reach out to us so that we can try to work with that person to encourage Trung Lu to self-surrender so that his rights are fully met.”
Scott Baber, special agent, FBI Philadelphia
About the fugitive
Trung Duc Lu was born in Vietnam. He and his mother came to the U.S. as refugees when he was a teen, settling in New York City’s Queens borough. However, his criminal record began soon after.
He is also a suspected member of the Born to Kill (BTK) Street Gang. “BTK had its origins in New York City, in the Chinatown area, going all the way back to the 1980s and ’90s,” Baber said. “A series of large federal indictments really crippled the organization.” However, one of Lu’s BTK associates is believed to have dispatched him to Philadelphia to commit his alleged crimes.
Lu is 5’7” tall, with black hair and brown eyes. He’s also extensively tattooed on his back, both of his arms, and the left side of his chest.
He’s a nail technician, by profession, and speaks English and Vietnamese.
Although he’s believed to be in Vietnam, Baber explained, Lu still has ties to the U.S.—including children he had with a woman here.
And as a Vietnamese national, his status as a U.S. permanent resident still entitles him to due process rights under American law.
How you can submit tips
Anyone with information about Lu and/or his whereabouts should contact their nearest FBI field office. If you’re located out of the United States, you can also contact your nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. You can also submit tips by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) or online at tips.fbi.gov.
If you see Lu, contact the authorities immediately and do not attempt to approach him, since he should be considered armed and dangerous. Lu is also considered an international flight risk.
“I would encourage any family member or friend—or anyone who has any information at all—to reach out to us so that we can try to work with that person to encourage Trung Lu to self-surrender so that his rights are fully met,” Baber said. “He would then have access to a lawyer and discovery and have the opportunity to contest these charges, if he so chooses, in a court of law.”
But since the U.S. can’t provide physical or legal protections for U.S. persons on foreign soil, Baber said, anyone with a vested interest in Lu’s welfare should want to come forward.
“Once it is known that he is a fugitive and listed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List, we have no control over what another country would choose to do if they located him,” he said.
