Peter Tan Hoang: Missing Mercedes-Benz holds the key to high roller’s slaying
A RARE Mercedes-Benz could hold the key to solving the mysterious murder of high-roller gambler and money launderer Peter Tan Hoang, who was shot at point blank range.
A RARE Mercedes-Benz sports car stolen from a Bronte house could hold the key to solving the mysterious murder of high-roller gambler and money launderer Peter Tan Hoang.
The Vietnamese orphan turned $90 million gambler was shot at point blank range in a quiet Sydney street one year ago today. His assassin then fled in the luxury car.
On the anniversary of the murder, detectives have released new images of the getaway car and CCTV footage showing Mr Hoang in his final moments, leaving his luxury apartment in Sydney’s World Square before he met his fate just after midnight on September 7, 2014.
Police believe Mr Hoang was in Dunmore St, Croydon Park, for an organised meeting when he was ambushed by a man lying in wait in the street, who then took off in the 2013 Mercedes AMG A45 — the only one in the country with that paint job and spoiler.
“It was obviously a planned event and the only reason that meeting took place was inevitably because of Hoang’s past and I believe that his past caught up with him,” Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Grant Taylor told The Daily Telegraph.
“We believe that he knew his killers and that he was there for a sinister purpose.
“ Irrespective of who he was, Hoang was a person gunned down in the streets of Sydney and anyone who’s capable of doing that is someone we don’t want on the streets.”
Mr Hoang’s secret life unravelled in October 2012 when he was arrested at a baccarat table at Melbourne’s Crown Casino carrying $1.5 million cash, which police alleged was the proceeds of crime.
As detectives continued to investigate the 36-year-old’s life, they uncovered his ties to organised crime and established he had gambled as much as $90 million at casinos in Melbourne, Queensland and Adelaide in five years before his death.
Mr Hoang’s work for organised crime syndicates bankrolled a luxurious lifestyle in Sydney, with the gambler frequently leasing Ferraris and Lamborghinis. At the time his death, he had been driving a black rented $1100-a-day Nissan GTR sports car, which was found at the scene of his murder.
His life was a far cry from the streets of Vietnam, where he was orphaned and suffered physical and sexual abuse. He came to Australia as a refugee in 1987 and was granted a protection visa.
On the night of his death, Mr Hoang was communicating on an encrypted BlackBerry before meeting the driver of the Mercedes-Benz at Croydon Park McDonald’s.
They met again in Dunmore St, where Mr Hoang was shot by a man hiding in bushes. The killer took off with the driver and Mr Hoang’s body was found about 1.30am.
The silver car with a whale tail spoiler and sports exhaust matched the description of the 2013 model Mercedes AMG A45 stolen from a house in Bronte five days earlier.
The car has never been recovered and police believe it may have been dumped in an underground carpark.
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