More Than 70 Reputed Armenian Gangsters Arrested
By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS ANGELES (Reuters)—More than 70 reputed members and associates of the Armenian Power syndicate were arrested on Wednesday in a state and federal crackdown targeting organized crime, authorities said.
The arrests stem from two federal indictments and state cases that charge a total of 113 defendants with crimes including kidnapping, extortion, bank fraud and narcotics trafficking.
Among the accusations are that Armenian Power members installed “skimming devices” at cash registers of 99 Cents Only stores and stole customers’ information to create counterfeit credit and debit card accounts, officials said.
“The indictments targeting Armenian Power provide a window into a group that appears willing to do everything and anything to generate a profit,” said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr.
Southern California, and particularly the Los Angeles bedroom community of Glendale, comprises the largest diaspora Armenian community in the United States and the second largest in the world, behind Moscow.
Most of the defendants are in California, but authorities also charged more than a dozen individuals from other states.
Birotte said Armenian Power is unlike other criminal organizations such as the Italian Mafia, in that there is no single leadership cadre.
‘Thieves in-Law’
The group has senior criminals nicknamed “thieves in-law” associated with the gang who help coordinate Armenian Power’s activities in the United States with actions by criminal groups in Russia, Georgia and Armenia, Birotte said.
“Their alleged ties transcend prison walls and international borders, reaching all the way back to the former Soviet bloc,” said Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general.
But Armenian Power is also broken down into cells with their own leaders, Birotte said. Members have colorful nicknames like “Capone,” “Thick Neck,” “Stomper” and “Casper,” according to the indictments.
A racketeering indictment returned three weeks ago by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles charges 70 individuals of conspiracy, kidnapping, extortion, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft, credit card fraud, marijuana distribution and conducting an illegal gambling operation.
A separate indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, charges 20 individuals in an intricate bank fraud.
Members of Armenian Power are accused of bribing bank employees in Orange County to gather information that allowed them to take over accounts and steal at least $10 million. The group’s criminal enterprises in Los Angeles County netted another $10 million, Birotte said.
Those involved in the scheme would have the bank send them victims’ checks, and use those to clean out their accounts, the indictment alleges. On some occasions, they would wait outside victims’ homes to pick up the checks when the mailman delivered them, law enforcement officials said.
Separate from the federal prosecution, the Los Angeles District Attorney charged 11 individuals tied to the group.
Authorities said they had not yet arrested all 113 individuals charged, because they were hunting some in hiding.
The probe began two years ago and relied on undercover agents, wiretaps and informants, said FBI assistant director in charge Steven Martinez.
Armenian Power started in the 1980s as a common street gang and it numbers about 200 members with ties to black gangs and the Mexican Mafia, officials said.
(Editing by Dan Whitcomb)
“Armenian Gangs”!!! All the major newspapers are reporting it!
The criminals that were caught in LA do not concern me. This matter actually goes way beyond the individuals that were caught.
Has anyone ever seen these “law-enforcers” busting “Jewish” gangs in Brooklyn, in LA, in Wall Street or in Washington? Fact is, all nations have gangs, criminals, mafias, oligarchs… Armenia is no different. Our mafia actually pales in comparison to other mafias in America. Our oligarchs actually pale in comparison to oligarchs in other nations, including western nations. And all the mafia/gangs/criminals in America combined pale in comparison to criminals in Washington and Wall Street.
This is the bottom line: as a result of last year’s institutionalization of Yerevan’s military alliance with Russia, the anti-Armenian campaign in the United States is continuing in full force. They want us to think that Armenia is run by criminals… Armenia will soon collapse… Armenian “mafia” in America is somehow more powerful or more dangerous than gangs of Mexicans, Blacks, Italians, White Nationalists, Chinese, Irish, Vietnamese, Jewish, Jamaicans, Albanians… They are turning the word “Armenian” into something negative.
It’s all political. Wake up Armenians! It’s all a part of their relentless PSYOP against us. The intent is to break our spirit and our will. And it’s working. Armenians have never been this demoralized this hopeless, this morbid this negative.
You people should look up “psyop” if you don’t know what it means…
Addressing fellow commentators and co-nationals as “you people” is derogatory and condescending, Avetis. Get a grip…
All gangs are doing illegal things! There are thousands of gangs out there among different ethnic group. Why AP, the only Armenian gang? Why not the Mexican Mafia which AP worked with?
Is it because the pro-Western countries around Armenia (Turkey and Azeribaijan) who have a blockade around Armenia causes Armenia to have a pro-Russia & Iran orienation–why, they are the only countries trading with it.
Was this done to discredit Armenians? Armenians have been giving the US government many problems with energy rich Azeribaijan, with Byzra.
Armen, you seem more concerned with me than about the topic of discussion. Putting my comments under a microscope? I’m flattered. Btw, don’t feel bad, you’re not the only one. So, I suggest you get a grip of yourself and don’t worry about me too much.
Hey Avetis,
“They want us to think that Armenia is run by criminals….”
It is…get a reality check my Russophile comrade
Bravo! to the police and other law enforcement officials for catching and exposing this filth. Bravo! to all the newspapers, including this one, who published accounts of their criminal, immoral acts. Their names should be blazoned in red on front pages so they can be shunned by decent people. Too bad they can’t be put on the Midnight Express, and instead, will go to liberal jails. My condolences to their traumatised, robbed victims, all of whom suffered from their criminal acts of fraud and theft.
Gary; you ask “Was this done to discredit Armenians?” Go and ask the criminals. They are the ones who have discredited us. If you think law enforcement officials are only pursuing criminals based on Armenian ethnicity, you need to start reading some newspapers. Mine are filled every day with the capture of criminals from every ethnic group, their names and photos included. Universities warn their students every day about on-line creeps. Police send out and publish, routinely, warnings to elderly people, about on-line jerks who weasel and slime their way into conning the trusting elderly to sign cheques. And get over the ridiculous notion that any group of Armenians should be able evade public exposure simply because someone else, or another ethnic group, is doing the same to what you perceive is a greater degree. The fact that A beat his wife to death, does not make it excusable for B to beat his wife to a still-living pulp. Both are scum who need to be exposed and held accountable .
Avetis; the notion that “Our mafia actually pales in comparison to other mafias in America,” justifies nothing. This is a fallacious argument. And just who do you think is, as you state, “turning the word “Armenian” into something negative,” if not the perpetrators of this filth?
Armenians tend to trust other Armenians. This is a wake-up call for all of us who do not want to be robbed or scammed – or worse. These people are experienced in smoothly conning others out of their money rather than working for it, like the rest of us. We need to remain on the alert. Mkrtich has acknowledged the unfortunate truth.
Avetis, I could care less about you as a person. I don’t know you. What I do care is standing for the norms of ethics in exchanging views with other posters. Addressing commentators as “you people” or “self-destructive peasantry” devaluates the author of such words, whoever he or she might be. It is about good manners and civility that all of us here need to have.
Every nation on earth has its share of criminals in society and government. Armenia is no different. As bad as they seem to our ignorant sheeple, our criminals actually pale in comparison. Besides which, our criminals are OUR problem and master criminals in Washington have no business in our internal matters. Our self-destructive peasantry today is being used by Washington. Washington’s goal is regime change in Armenia – replacing the current pro-Russian government with one that serves the Anglo-American-Zionist order and their Turkic allies in the region. If the current government collapses, those who will takeover are the 1990s era criminals and traitors. No, thanks! I’ll stick with Serj and his buddies in the Kremlin.If any of this is not clear to you, please go see a professional. Despite our peasantry, Armenia will gradually evolve out of the mess it’s in. All Armenia needs is regional peace, opening of borders and time. In the meanwhile, stop being like the other peasants here and don’t worry too much about me and what I think. In other words, grow up, mind your own business and get YOURSELF a reality check, my deeply troubled creature.
I never thought I’d see the day when I’d ever say I am ashamed to be Armenian. Now I utterly am. I won’t excuse these criminals as some aberration or an outcome of some defunct soviet system that ended decades ago (excuses ought to have an expiration date as well).
Just as we own our great artists and scientists and attribute their accomplishments to our own culture, we must have the moral courage to do the same with our criminals. Whether we like it or not, these thugs, criminals and sociopaths WILL impact the way outsiders regard us and we need to confront this head on internally; our community should have zero tolerance for this type of behavior. We’re not the only culture to have gone through hardship and using it as a pretext for moral depravity diminishes us all.
It may be not only Washington’s goal to change regime in Armenia. It is also the goal of Armenia’s suppressed, impoverished, and disenfranchised population… Had the regime been able to provide elementary consumer basket and basic civil rights to the population, noone, Washington or London or Tel Aviv or Johannesburg, could have dreamt of a regime change. As for “Anglo-American-Zionist order and their Turkic allies in the region,” not so long ago in history these Turkic allies were Russia’s when Moscow was signing treaties with the Turks giving away Armenian lands or ordering placement of Armenian territories of Nakhichevan and Nagorno-Karabakh under Azerbaijan jurisdiction or emptying Armenian villages around Karabakh and in Karabakh proper from Armenians or encouraging Armenian foreign minister to sign the defeatist protocols with the Turks. None of the outside powers should be trusted, NONE.
Agree with Perouz:
These people are beneath contempt: take a look at the ridiculous tattoos and gang gestures (pics in LA Times). It should be embarrassing for the progeny of a proud and civilized people to descend to that level. Like most ethnic criminals, these guys most certainly prey on victims in the Armenian community.
And I don’t know what makes one an ‘Armenian’, but I don’t think speaking Armenian and having a last name that ends with ‘ian’ or ‘yan’ unequivocally qualifies you as one. How can you scam a defenseless, trusting (Armenian) grandma or grandpa and call yourself ‘Armenian’ ?
These ‘tough’ guys should go to Artsakh and man the LOC: maybe they can do some good for their people, if they consider themselves Armenian, as AP presumably implies.
Hey Avetis,
What the f–k is you beef with the Armenian peasantry? Come down from your ivory tower for a while and take a stroll through the villages of Armenia and see how that same peasantry you are quick to condemn is surviving despite all efforts by the current Serzhik regime to suck every last kopek from them.
I would truly welcome the day when the frenzied peasant masses descend upon Yerevan and put the government’s feet to the fire…and I mean literally.
All it will take is a small team of interior ministry troops to put a very quick end to the destructive behavior of our peasantry. It happened before, when our peasantry tried to put back into power a Western/Turkish/Zionist agent like Levon Petrostein. If our peasants attempt the same carp, I expect harsher measures. So, be my guest and join them. The geopolitical climate of the region is very different from previous times. No more BS. This is serious.
Avetis – Could you define “peasantry” in general; “our peasants” in particular; and their “destructive behavior”, please? Also, to which social stratus do you think one belongs when he has insolence of branding other human beings as “peasants”?
I am with Armen on this Avetis. You crossed the line of condescension into non-productive dialogue, a quality you have abhorred and railed against elsewhere on this site. Think about it.
Self-destructive peasant is a metaphor that is applicable for anyone that ends up burning down (undermining/destroying) his or her village (homeland) while trying to save it from real or imaginary monsters (political issues). A metaphor for a politically ignorant person trying to be politically aggressive or proactive. Fact is, we politically ignorant Armenians have a lot of self-destructive peasants within our society both in and out of our homeland.
Hey comrade Avetis,
Some free advice…Never, never take a stroll down some dusty street in Armenia’s depopulating villages and mouth off about “destructive peasants”…
You just might not make it back to whatever cozy corner of the Kremlin you call home.
Mkrtich: some of those “cosy corner[s] of the Kremlin” are not so cozy. You might have to keep your GPS handy!
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Putin+spalace/4313951/story.html
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/02/16/photos-a-black-sea-palace-for-vladimir-putin/
I just read an article in which the purported Armenian “godfather” was referred to as Vor. Funny, I always that that vor meant backside or butt!!! how fitting.
Personally I’m completely disgusted with these lowlifes sullying our national identity
“Vor” is Russian for “Thief”
odar chem:
‘Vor’ is Russian, not Armenian.
“вор в законе, vor v zakone”: the loose translation is ‘Thief in Law’, but the real Russian meaning cannot be conveyed in English: some expressions, in any language, just cannot be translated. The equivalent would be something like a ‘Made Guy’ in the Italian Mafia.
And who are those “politically ignorant” Armenians who have a lot of “self-destructive peasants” within our society both in and out of our homeland? All those who may advocate for more balanced policies and healthier attitudes, for instance, to be less xenophilic and more armenocentric?
“vor” meaning “butt” might be a Western Armenian word.
Armen, until our citizens of Haiastan learn that honesty in voting will bring about the changes needed for ALL our citizenry… the truth is that in order for our homeland to progress and advance the ‘policy’ of ‘candidates’ paying the voters for their votes must be ended… Voting for ‘pay’ will only reinforce the current self-centered and, thus, and for sure no patriots shall be successfully elected to office. Haistan’s honest citizens are worthy and deserving of honest in government. And there are patriots waiting… Manooshag
Until our citizens of Haiastan learn not to ACCEPT MONEY FOR VOTING FOR THE LEADERSHIPS WE HAVE SEEN SINCE THE FIRST – DER BEDROSSIAN – AND ALL THE ILK THAT FOLLOWED – when our citizens of our homeland understyand that honesty is the way to gain TRUE patriots to lead and advance the fledgling nation of Armenia for ALL the citizens of Armenia. Manooshag
Manooshag,
I appreciate your comment, although I fail to see relevance. But I generally agree, free and transparent votes are a must. But please don’t blame ordinary people accepting bribes. The experience of rigged elections makes them believe that either way, whether they accept bribes or not, elections will be rigged and their ballots will go in favor of whoever is picked by the establishment to become the next president.
About “Armenian gangs”. Do you remember any article saying “Jews Madoff?” Yes, there is a well oiled propaganda machine working against Armenian cause.
About “peasant”.
“Geghtsi” can be even a highly educated person, born and living in apartments of most expensive city of the world.
“Gyughatsi” is a villager. Villager is an inhabitant of a village. A teacher and doctor can be villagers.
Lusik jan, I guess you are the only person in cyberia that understands me…
Lusik – Exactly. One can, indeed, be a highly educated person, born and living in an urban environment, but still be a “geghci,” that is one whose mentality is characterized by localism, illiberality, narrow-mindedness, and a lack of sophistication or perspective. Being a “geghci” is not about geographical location or origin of a person or his ancestors, but about specific attitudes and worldview. But to stigmatize all those who may have different political views or be more Armenocentric and less Russo- or xenophile as “peasants” is derogatory and condescending. In essence, such a slanderer exhibits some traits of a “geghci,” namely: localism and narrow-mindedness, because a truly cosmopolitan, open-minded, progressively-thinking individual would never descend so low as to insult others as “peasants” only because they may have less Russophile and more Armenocentric viewpoints than he.