meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Strangeland

Ep 12 of 12: Heroes and Villains

Strangeland

Audiochuck | Western Sound

True Crime

4.22.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 September 2024

⏱️ 37 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The story told at trial and in the press is that a Cambodian national hero was senselessly gunned down by three gang members. Over time, the known facts of the Haing Ngor case have been altered – or discarded – to fit that hero-and-villains narrative. So we pick it apart and offer a full picture of the four lives who tragically intersected on a dark night in Los Angeles.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

It is my sweet, my normal, by sweet karma, my sweet karma.

0:09.8

This is a tape performance of a play called Sweet Karma by Henry Aong.

0:14.3

It ran for five years and was performed in New York, Los Angeles, and Long Beach.

0:18.5

Now, the American!

0:20.5

No more rich, no more poor, everyone is equal.

0:25.0

Join Amkara in building a new society.

0:29.0

Sweet karma tells a story of a fictional character named Dr. Vichia Lamb, who survives the

0:35.4

Khmer Rouge and wins an Oscar, only to be shot down in the streets of LA.

0:40.8

That obviously sounds familiar.

0:44.0

Henry Young wrote the play to be a dramatization of Hang's life,

0:47.5

but he wasn't interested in telling the sanitized version.

0:50.3

So he was forced to change the name of his main character.

0:54.3

So Fianor, Heng's niece, threatened to sue Aung if he didn't.

0:58.3

She objected to scenes that painted her uncle in the negative lights, like

1:01.9

scenes of Heng having sex with lots of women, including

1:05.2

those gynecology patients.

1:08.0

The source material Henry Ong used for his script was Hangnor's own autobiography, which detailed lots of other questionable behavior like manipulation, harassment, and emotional volatility.

1:19.0

But over time, Hang has become so revered, especially since his death. His negative personality traits have

1:26.5

been wallpapored over. Hang's sainthood is something zealously guarded by Sophia Noor, who served as the LAPD's key source of

1:36.4

information and the prosecutor's main character witness.

1:40.9

And we can't help but wonder if this whitewashed image of Hang Nor compromise the LAPDs

1:46.1

investigation from the beginning.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Audiochuck | Western Sound, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Audiochuck | Western Sound and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.