Drug kingpin says he's sorry, but gets 13 years

[MrMiyagi]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/106841_ecstasy01.shtml

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Saturday, February 1, 2003

Drug kingpin says he's sorry, but gets 13 years

By PAUL SHUKOVSKY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The kingpin of a ring that distributed huge quantities of the club-drug ecstasy was sentenced yesterday to spend the next 13 years in a federal prison.

Nho Van Vo and his younger brother, Nhat Van Vo, were the last of 34 people to be sentenced in a ring that distributed hundreds of thousands of ecstasy pills to young people in Seattle "rave" clubs. The federal Drug Enforcement Administration smashed the ring a year ago after an intensive undercover investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Friedman said the inquiry was prompted by numerous reports from emergency rooms of overdoses from consuming "e."

Nho, the repentant purveyor of the drug that produces a sense of euphoric well-being along with possible brain damage, cardiac arrhythmia and death, kept glancing toward his tearful family sitting in the courtroom gallery yesterday.

His voice cracked as he apologized first to his brother who became embroiled in the illicit venture. "As an older brother, I should have set the right example for him. Instead, I let you down." And his face contorted with sadness as he turned toward his sobbing, elderly parents and young fiancée to beg their forgiveness.

Nho told U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein that he stood in front of her not as a drug lord, but as a human being. "I chose the wrong way."

Friedman noted that Nho has accepted responsibility for his crime and for his leadership in the distribution network. He also cooperated with the government after his arrest.

Still, Friedman said, Nho also enjoyed the fruits of life as a drug trafficker: owning a Lexus, a nightclub and an automotive business.

So Nho should spend twice as much time behind bars as the next highest sentence levied against a member of the drug distribution conspiracy, the prosecutor said.

Nevertheless, the government showed mercy to Nho, accepting a plea bargain that departed from a potential sentence of 20 to 25 years.

"Vo has been extremely contrite and self-effacing about the role he played in this drug distribution network," Friedman wrote in a sentencing memorandum. He "never minimized or sought to distort the criminal activity which occurred in this case and his role in it."

The 27-year-old Nho's fiancée told the court that Nho will not see his 8-year-old son grow up, nor will they get to experience married life together.

Nho's younger brother was sentenced to 37 months in prison.

P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky can be reached at 206-448-8072 or paulshukovsky@seattlepi.com

[Friskee1]

which club did he own?

[tekkno30]

sucks for him though.! betcha though hell run him empire from the inside

[JORDAN]

beleive it was club nv

[Cedwyn]

should i or shouldn't i (letter to the editor):


Greetings,

I read the "drug kingpin" article by Paul Shukovsky and must say I found one passage to be little more than reckless scaremongering. His explanation of ecstasy as "the drug that produces a sense of euphoric well-being along with possible brain damage, cardiac arrhythmia and death" is biased misinformation and not at all up to standards of journalistic integrity.

The purview of the article was that a drug kingpin had been sentenced, not the effects of ecstasy. If Shukovsky wasn't willing to present unbiased information about ecstasy, then he had no business including sensationalist descriptors of the drug, whose only relevance to this story is the fact that it was the focus of the drug ring.

Beyond that lapse, none of his claims regarding the drug have been substantiated by scientific studies, nor are those risks exclusive to ecstasy. To date, the only deaths in which the drug has been implicated were cases of dehydration or drug cocktailing; caffeine also causes arrhythmia and studies regarding brain damage afford conflicting results.

While I realize he said "possible," I would expect a journalist to have enough training in communication to understand that such subtleties are easily overlooked and that most people will walk away from this recalling only that ecstasy is linked to brain damage, heart problems and death. Thanks also to his mention of it being sold at "rave" clubs (as if drug use doesn't extend across all social strata), people will continue to wrongly associate raves with reckless drug use, defaming an entire musical genre and culture.

Information is power; sadly, misinformation often has equal, if not greater, sway. News reporters must be mindful to wield their pens (keyboards?) wisely, not to propogate urban myth and scarelore.

[Mike S]

Originally posted by Cedwyn
should i or shouldn't i (letter to the editor):


Greetings,

I read the "drug kingpin" article by Paul Shukovsky and must say I found one passage to be little more than reckless scaremongering. His explanation of ecstasy as "the drug that produces a sense of euphoric well-being along with possible brain damage, cardiac arrhythmia and death" is biased misinformation and not at all up to standards of journalistic integrity.

The purview of the article was that a drug kingpin had been sentenced, not the effects of ecstasy. If Shukovsky wasn't willing to present unbiased information about ecstasy, then he had no business including sensationalist descriptors of the drug, whose only relevance to this story is the fact that it was the focus of the drug ring.

Beyond that lapse, none of his claims regarding the drug have been substantiated by scientific studies, nor are those risks exclusive to ecstasy. To date, the only deaths in which the drug has been implicated were cases of dehydration or drug cocktailing; caffeine also causes arrhythmia and studies regarding brain damage afford conflicting results.

While I realize he said "possible," I would expect a journalist to have enough training in communication to understand that such subtleties are easily overlooked and that most people will walk away from this recalling only that ecstasy is linked to brain damage, heart problems and death. Thanks also to his mention of it being sold at "rave" clubs (as if drug use doesn't extend across all social strata), people will continue to wrongly associate raves with reckless drug use, defaming an entire musical genre and culture.

Information is power; sadly, misinformation often has equal, if not greater, sway. News reporters must be mindful to wield their pens (keyboards?) wisely, not to propogate urban myth and scarelore.

Well written.. all the editor has to ask you though is - "what about the guy selling illegal drugs dont you understand?"

Dont bother.

MS

[Justin]

I say do it. If an article gets a lot of critisism, the editors will feel responsible to print dissenting opinions. This will probably generate a lot of critisism, and much will be from clueless hippies. So in presenting a well-written letter, you might prevent a poorly written letter from taking its place.

Of course, your letter might generate a bunch of responses, and you might get locked into a print version of a flame war, which are always embarrasing to witness. It's not a clear choice.

[Cedwyn]

but that's just it, mike. he sold illegal drugs and is going to jail. fine. *that* was the focus of the article. by introducing the propaganda about e and relating it specifically to raves, he crossed a boundary of objective reporting.

questions of the drug war's legitimacy notwithstanding, this is a nasty bit of cultural defamation.

*edits the letter a wee bit*

[diotch]

whoever said journalism was objective??? journalists have been spouting biased info from the start

[HexRei]

Originally posted by diotch
whoever said journalism was objective??? journalists have been spouting biased info from the start

that doesn't mean that journalistic ethics don't exist, and that we shouldn't complain when a journalist violates them. a journalist should try his best to be objective, and absolutely needs to be open to other points of view, since "being objective" is in itself a somewhat subjective thing :D

[HexRei]

Originally posted by Cedwyn
should i or shouldn't i (letter to the editor):


Greetings,

I read the "drug kingpin" article by Paul Shukovsky and must say I found one passage to be little more than reckless scaremongering. His explanation of ecstasy as "the drug that produces a sense of euphoric well-being along with possible brain damage, cardiac arrhythmia and death" is biased misinformation and not at all up to standards of journalistic integrity.

The purview of the article was that a drug kingpin had been sentenced, not the effects of ecstasy. If Shukovsky wasn't willing to present unbiased information about ecstasy, then he had no business including sensationalist descriptors of the drug, whose only relevance to this story is the fact that it was the focus of the drug ring.

Beyond that lapse, none of his claims regarding the drug have been substantiated by scientific studies, nor are those risks exclusive to ecstasy. To date, the only deaths in which the drug has been implicated were cases of dehydration or drug cocktailing; caffeine also causes arrhythmia and studies regarding brain damage afford conflicting results.

While I realize he said "possible," I would expect a journalist to have enough training in communication to understand that such subtleties are easily overlooked and that most people will walk away from this recalling only that ecstasy is linked to brain damage, heart problems and death. Thanks also to his mention of it being sold at "rave" clubs (as if drug use doesn't extend across all social strata), people will continue to wrongly associate raves with reckless drug use, defaming an entire musical genre and culture.

Information is power; sadly, misinformation often has equal, if not greater, sway. News reporters must be mindful to wield their pens (keyboards?) wisely, not to propogate urban myth and scarelore.

werd. rad letter, i totally agree.

[WaveRunner]

I may get slammed for this but I do not care. Nho Vo was a good man. I used to work the man a few years ago, even though I was involved in the Seattle scene at the time and had not a clue what was going on. As a sales rep for American Racing Custom Wheels, I opened an acount with Ultraspeed Motorsports off of Jackson in downtown Seattle. I supplied him with some of his accessories and quite a few sets of wheels for his customers before this all went down. He did choose the wrong path. An euntropenour and a great business man, it is sad to see someone with a family in the gates ready to begin, to go down like this. He was a classy guy and that is why he accepted responsibility for his actions. I am not condoning his choices, just him as a human being. We all make mistakes.

[ElbowMacoroni]

You should send inthe letter and give him a piece of your mind, hey freedom of the press and free speech, you're point is right and he did cross a line he shouldn't have. (Reguradless of selling illeagal drugs) Your letter is about the point of his biast opinion not about the "act of selling"

So, i say send it in!

[DJ Riddim]

Friedman noted that Nho has accepted responsibility for his crime and for his leadership in the distribution network. He also cooperated with the government after his arrest.

in another words he snitched on his friends/partners in order to get his ass out of serving a 25 year sentence!

great way to take responsibility!

[Cedwyn]

i sent it... :eek:

[StarPhox]

Who the hell drives a Lexus these days anyway? That's so passe.

[invis]

Nice Cedwyn.