Execution scheduled for man behind kidnapping, torture of brothers dumped in the Schuylkill

Pennsylvania corrections officials signed a notice of execution Tuesday for a man sentenced to die for the killings of two Vietnamese brothers whose bodies were found bound, tortured, and tossed in the Schuylkill in 2014.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean Tam Minh Le, 49, will be put to death any time soon.

Gov. Tom Wolf, who has the authority to block executions, declared a moratorium on capital punishment shortly after taking office in 2015 and has vowed to block all executions pending legislative action to address shortcomings of the state’s death-penalty law.

» READ MORE: Six charged in 2014 kidnap, torture of Vietnamese brothers dumped in Schuylkill

The last person executed in Pennsylvania was Gary Heidnik, who was put to death in 1999 for torturing and murdering two women in his Philadelphia basement.

The execution notice for Le, signed Tuesday by Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel, was issued under a provision of the law that requires him to issue such orders when the governor fails to sign a warrant of execution during a given time period.

Wetzel’s notice scheduled Le’s execution for June 2.

A jury sentenced Le, a reputed Vietnamese gang member, to death after a trial in Philadelphia in which prosecutors alleged he and others had killed brothers Vu “Kevin” Huynh, 31, and Viet Huynh, 28, over a $300,000 drug debt they owed their marijuana supplier in California.

Since then, federal authorities have alleged that Le lured the brothers to his home under orders from a onetime ranking member of the New York City-based Vietnamese gang known as “Born to Kill,” after a slogan painted on helmets of some U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War.

According to a third man who survived the attack, the Huynhs were stripped to their underwear and tortured for hours before being stabbed multiple times and dumped in the river.

Federal prosecutors have charged six other suspects who they say either enlisted Le or assisted him in carrying out the slayings and eluding capture.

Le is being held at a state prison in Greene County near the state’s border with West Virginia.