GANG involvement could be to blame for the grisly murder of an Olney man in his own home Tuesday. Court records show that the victim, Sophos Siv, was set for a court proceeding next month on charges that included attempted murder for a gang-related fight April 17, 2010, during which a man was stabbed. A witness who identified Siv as having participated in the fight told investigators in 2010 that Siv hadn't wielded the knife. But police said yesterday that in light of his history, they're looking into the possibility that his slaying was gang-related. Siv, 40, whose wife found him bound and gagged with duct tape, badly beaten and shot twice inside their home at 2nd and Ruscomb streets, was arrested in 2010 in the fight and stabbing in Southwest Philadelphia. The victim in that incident was stabbed several times in the chest and back and suffered a punctured lung, but survived, court records show. Siv was to appear in court March 26 along with two other men in the 2010 incident. He faced charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, criminal conspiracy and related offenses. Last night, dozens of friends and family members gathered around a candlelight memorial for Siv, whom they called "Sonny," stretching around the corner outside his rowhouse. Two police cruisers sat double-parked by the makeshift vigil about 8 p.m., "in case of retaliation," a police source said. Friends and relatives declined to discuss Siv, except for one man who wouldn't identify himself but who described Siv as "a great person." Some wore T-shirts bearing the words "RIP Sonny." Siv's charges in the 2010 incident stemmed from a fight at 58th Street and Eastwick Avenue in which cops found a man in the back seat of a car with several stab wounds. An argument between rival street gangs during a celebration of the Cambodian New Year had sparked the fight that led to the stabbing, court records say. Both the victim in that incident and another person obtained restraining orders against Siv in July 2010. A witness identified Siv as a participant in the fight and stabbing, and he was arrested May 7, 2010. He posted 10 percent of $150,000 bail 11 days later.
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