OAKLEY — Tanginoa Pahulu Tangi crouched in a bush a little after midnight, masked, armed, and ready for his victim, according to court records.
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He waited there in the dark for three hours before finally spotting the intended target, an Oakley resident in his 30s, pulling into a driveway. That’s when Tangi allegedly sprung into action, firing enough rounds that a neighbor described the gunfire as a “complete magazine dump.” Then Tangi ran to a getaway truck that had been stolen south of the U.S. border and equipped with stolen license plates, authorities allege.
His escape would be cut short by a chance encounter with a Contra Costa Sheriff’s deputy, and Tangi’s victim somehow survived the Aug. 27, 2025 shooting, despite suffering two gunshot wounds to the chest, according to court records. Since then, the mystery around this would-be assassination has only gotten deeper.
Since his arrest in Oakley that morning, Tangi has been linked to an eerily similar targeted killing halfway around the world, whose perpetrators are allegedly tied to a transnational criminal organization with links to international methamphetamine trafficking and a $6 million cryptocurrency account. The Oakley shooting itself is shrouded in unanswered questions, including whether it was related to an ongoing deadly gang feud that claimed the life of one of the victim’s close friends years earlier.
The man who survived the Oakley shooting is identified in court records as a music and business partner of the late rapper Ueta Muasika Jr., aka “Juice Boi,” who was gunned down in San Mateo in what prosecutors there described as a retaliatory gangland hit, amid a feud between the West Side Tonga gang and Eastside Shoreview Crips. Both suspects in Muasika’s murder were convicted earlier this year, with the alleged motive an equally heinous crime; it was believed to be a response to the 2019 arson attack that killed 85-year-old Fifita Tau, grandmother of one of Muasika’s convicted killers.
For all the questions surrounding Tangi, authorities have been extra tight-lipped. Much of the prosecution’s court filings in Contra Costa have been filed under seal, while New Zealand authorities are using a “suppression” law to keep details of the alleged murder a secret, including the names of both Tangi’s co-defendants.
But here’s what is known so far: At around 3:15 a.m. on Aug. 27, 2025, a 911 caller reported hearing 17 shots on the the 4800 block of Trenton Street. A masked gunman, was seen running to a truck and then speeding out of the area.
Details of the crime that have been made public suggest that Tangi may have been able to make a clean getaway, except that he fell victim to dumb luck.
As he zipped through Knightsen a few minutes later, Tangi happened to pass Contra Costa Sheriff’s Dep. Luis Montanez, who had just heard about the shooting on a dispatch line and quickly matched it to the Ford F-150 with Tangi behind the wheel. An 11-mile police chase ensued, ending only when police used a spike strip to disable the truck. Inside, police found a mask, gloves, a .40 caliber Glock pistol, $4,000 in cash, ammunition, and of course, Tangi himself.
Tangi, a 36-year-old Hayward resident, has remained in custody ever since. His trial, a weeklong affair in Pittsburg, ended Monday with a guilty verdict on all charges, including attempted murder, shooting into an occupied car, fleeing police, and possessing a gun as a felon, due to a prior robbery conviction.
He faces a potential life sentence in California. But New Zealand prosecutors still want to put him on trial for the alleged murder.
In New Zealand, Tangi is accused of murder in the shooting death of 59-year-old Tuipulotu Kokohu Vi, described by local media as a grandfather and “church going family man” who worked as a courier. He was shot and killed in Auckland in August 2024, almost exactly a year before the Oakley shooting, according to New Zealand authorities. The killing remained unsolved until after Tangi’s arrest in East Contra Costa.
Media reports note that while Vi didn’t have any alleged criminal ties, the same couldn’t be said about his son, who is currently listed as a fugitive on charges related to alleged money laundering and drug importing. While out on bail for those charges in July 2024, Vi’s son’s New Zealand home was sprayed with gunfire, media reports say.
Vi’s alleged killers all had links to a criminal organization with ties to both New Zealand and the United States, with one of Tangi’s co-defendants — a 35-year-old Auckland man — being identified as a “leader” of the group who coordinated with lieutenants and counterparts in the United States, and had access to a $6 million cryptocurrency fund, according to police in New Zealand. Joint operations there, dubbed Operation Block and Operation Mexted, resulted in nine arrest and the seizure of cash and weapons, authorities said.
In addition to drug trafficking and money laundering, this mysterious criminal group has been linked to incidents where police investigators or border patrol agents were bribed, authorities said. Thus far, prosecutors in New Zealand have kept more details under wraps, though they are expected to go public as the case progresses.
For now, Tangi remains in the Contra Costa jail system, pending sentencing for the Oakley shooting.
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