INVESTIGATION OF TEMPLE MURDERS NOTE BOTCHED

INVESTIGATION OF TEMPLE MURDERS NOTE BOTCHED

by Brian Downing Quig

Let us examine the note written in Thai that was left on the table in the room where the bodies of the 9 Buddhists lay slain. We believe it reveals unmistakable instructions for a drug deal. Directions are clearly given to exit Interstate 10, proceed to a specified location, stop the car and go to a specific public pay phone at a high school in Placentia, California. Then a call is to be made to a private residence not far away. We believe the private residence had "caller ID" on this phone so that when this specific pay phone call came in the caller would be immediately identified. This seems beyond belief that such clandestine instructions would be given for the delivery of aluminum cans, the explanation put forward by Maracopa County Sheriff's Deputy Russ Kimball.

At the bottom of this note written in Thai were the words "the weight is now up to 1,083 pounds." Task Force investigators believed at the time these words alluded to the largest seizure of China white heroin in United States history. Agents in California June 20, 1991 arrested five persons at the Join Sun Corporation warehouse in Hayward and netted 1,080 pounds of 100% pure heroin with an estimated street value of over 2.5 billion dollars. Several investigators were utterly convinced the murder of the monks less than 2 months later was somehow a retribution for what must have been a painful sting for a major heroin trafficking operation running out of Bangkok, Thailand.

Pictured above is the 1,80 pounds of heroin found in the hayward warehouse. This remains the largest heroin bust in world history!!

Philip Martin in a NEW TIMES feature article January 13-19, 1993 brings illumination to the manner in which this note was originally investigated.

"And what of the mysterious "Phet" note and the Placentia telephone booth? John Albano, of the Phoenix office of the Drug Enforcement Administration, says those avenues were not pursued."

According to Albano, "When this whole thing started, because of the sensitivity of it, we just left that completely up to the County Attorney's Office," Albano says. "As far as I know, we never initiated any investigation on our own; it was housed out of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. I don't think we have anything at all to add to it." Rus Kimball's account is given in the October 1993 issue of PHOENIX MAGAZINE. "The Telephone number in the note is in Placentia, California, listed to a man named Phet. The note becomes known as the "Phet note." Phet's house is watched, his phone line is traced. (note: traced not tapped.) But nothing links to the heroin shipment or the temple. Finally, investigators contact Phet---and M. Morn, who lives with him."

"Turns out the note refers to tin cans."

"Scratching for extra money, the monks collected them and shipped them to California where higher prices were paid for recyclable aluminum. A local "can man" confirms he periodically collected cans from the temple and drove them to Placentia." (Only Kimball seems to know of this "can man".)

This "aluminum can" explanation is patently absurd. One thousand pounds of crushed aluminum cans would require a trailer 12 feet by 17 feet piled 12 feet high. The difference in price offered in California is just pennies per pound---not enough to pay for the gas and truck. One can not rent a U-Haul truck big enough for this mission. The GRAPEVINE traced this cover story toa call to the temple the week after the murders asking "where to send the money for the cans." Payment for crushed cans is typically made when they are turned in. Something is wrong here. Martins supplies additional evidence supporting a narcotics trafficking scenario at the temple in the same article.

"Temple telephone records obtained by the task force revealed that at least five calls had been placed from the temple to this private residence in Placentia in the six months prior to the murders. Two calls had been placed the week before the murders. Included were calls from the temple to South America, Florida, Las Vegas and Southeast Asia.

"Nine days before the temple murders, someone at Wat Promkunaram called the Thai Tepparod restaurant in Hollywood. The restaurant, which closed recently, was owned by two Thai citizens, one of whom -- Bruranasombat Chow -- is now a fugitive wanted by the FBI for questioning in connection with the contract murder of a police informant. An FBI spokesman says that though there are no outstanding warrants for Chow's arrest, he is believed to be involved with the heroin trade in Florida, Las Vegas, and New York".

The GRAPEVINE finds most disturbing the fact that the expertise and resources of the California DEA and FBI were not used to stake out the Phet house. If Task Force Deputies were used for this operation it is time for big explanations.

Clearly there are not many items in the Sherriff's scetch of the crime scene. Very notable is the note on the table above the dead monks. It seemed to us like a calling card left by the assassins.

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