BOSTON (WHDH) - The FBI is offering a $30,000 reward for information on a man who is wanted for executing five men in Boston’s Chinatown section three decades ago, officials announced Tuesday.
Hung Tien Pham, a Vietnamese national of Chinese descent, entered a social club on Tyler Street with two accomplices on Jan. 12, 1991, and allegedly shot six men at close range as they played cards, according to federal investigators.
Five of the men died but one survived and identified Pham as one of the shooters.
Pham, who had ties to an Asian organized crime network in Boston and beyond, remains a fugitive. He was last seen in Thailand in the mid- to late-1990s.
“As alleged, this cold-blooded killer has been on the run for 30 years, and we’re hoping this reward will incentivize anyone with information on Pham’s whereabouts to come forward,” FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta said during a press conference on the 30th anniversary of what’s often called the Boston Chinatown Massacre. “We will not rest until Pham has been held accountable.”
At the time of the murders, Pham had black hair, brown eyes, and weighed about 115 to 135 pounds. He stood about 5 feet, 3 inches tall and was known to like flashy cars, spending money, and sipping cognac.
Pham, now 60, reportedly fled to Atlantic City to gamble after the murders and then traveled to New York City, where he boarded a flight to Hong Kong.
“By all accounts, he was the linchpin of the execution of the homicides,” FBI Special Agent Tom Zukauskas said.
Investigators have released crime scene images from the case file, published a new wanted poster, and an age-progressed image of Pham, along with the $30,000 reward. They are hoping to jog the memories of witnesses or anyone who might be able to fill in blanks in the case.
“We know this crime has haunted the Chinatown community for decades, and we hope this renewed effort will produce real results that might give the victims’ families—who have already endured so much heartache—some much-needed closure,” said Bonavolonta.
Investigators have not assigned a motive to the shootings.
“We’re not sure if it was a robbery or if it was just bad blood between rival groups, but they did go in there with a plan, and they did go in there shooting, and five of the six people that were there ended up dying,” said Daniel Duff, a lieutenant detective with the Boston Police Department who is investigating the case.
Duff had been on the police force for a year when the shootings occurred.
“I think it affected everyone, not only in the city but the surrounding areas too,” Duff said. “Chinatown is a big tourist area. When you hear there’s been people murdered in Chinatown, that can send the wrong signal to people that maybe this isn’t a safe area.”
Duff urged the public that no amount of information on the case it too small.
Pham’s accomplices were each sentenced to multiple life terms.
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