I was unloading some boxes today and came across some old memorabilia. I found various letters from the early 90s when I left BC to move to the US to go to college. There were a lot of fun memories. One of my best friends was a kid by the name of Naname. The last I saw Nam was when he was the night before his sentencing for a kidnapping charge. It was an emotional night and I shed tears for the first time in my life (as I recall). Years later Nam was released and we met up on one of my visits to Vancouver. He took me out for the night to one of his nightclubs and we had a great time. I was always impressed with how much money he had on him and that when we were out together, he always insisted on paying for everything. I remember making a stop prior that evening as he apparently was dealing again. This surprised me because when he was incarcerated he had told me he was going to stop committing crimes to avoid being incarcerated again.
Nam was a good friend with, despite his flaws, a good heart. So it was hard to find out today that he was murdered a few years ago in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Apparently he was still involved in criminal activity and was labeled as a professional killer (the Argentinean articles label him an assassin) . The news article stated he was found face down in a parking lot wearing latex gloves, having been shot numerous times execution style. The articles detail the days that led up to the execution. Nam was paranoid and alone.
One of the reasons I left Vancouver twenty years ago was to deviate from that lifestyle. Once I had turned 18, my fear of the consequences of my illegal actions began to trouble me. I sought a solution in leaving the country. I am sad that Nam didn’t find something similar and I praise God for saving me from that as I could have easily seen myself with Nam in that life.