“Law enforcement officials in California and Florida today arrested 13 alleged members and associates of Armenian organized crime syndicates who are charged in five federal complaints with a series of crimes – including attempted murder, kidnapping, tens of millions of dollars’ worth of thefts of online retailer shipments, and illegal firearm possession – to expand and maintain their control in the San Fernando Valley. Among the defendants charged are Ara Artuni, 41, of Porter Ranch, who is charged with attempted murder in aid of racketeering, and a rival, Robert Amiryan, 46, of Hollywood, who is charged with kidnapping. The defendants arrested today in California are expected to make their initial appearances this afternoon and tomorrow afternoon in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Vahan Harutyunyan, 50, of Hollywood, Florida, made his initial appearance earlier today in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and was ordered detained.”
“Two of the remaining defendants, Levon Arakelyan, 45, of Las Vegas, and Ivan Bojorquez, 33, of Gardena, are presently detained in state custody on unrelated matters. Law enforcement is still seeking one defendant and seized approximately $100,000 in cash, three armored vehicles, and 14 firearms during today’s operation,” says a Central District of California USAO press release.
“According to affidavits filed with the criminal complaints, Armenian Organized Crime, a Russian mafia-affiliated transnational criminal organization, has made Los Angeles County a center of US operations. Since 2022, two local leaders within the organization, also known as avtoritet, which in Russian means ‘authority,’ allegedly have engaged in a power struggle for control in their territory, resulting in multiple murder attempts and a kidnapping. Artuni, an avtoritet, is charged with ordering the attempted murder of Amiryan during the summer of 2023. In retaliation, Amiryan, also an avtoritet, allegedly conspired with members of his own criminal organization to kidnap and torture one of Artuni’s associates in June 2023. In addition to attempted murder, Artuni and his criminal enterprise has, since at least 2021, allegedly committed additional crimes, including bank fraud, wire fraud, and ‘cargo theft’ targeting online retailers such as Amazon.com Inc. Artuni Enterprise members and associates enrolled with Amazon as carriers, contracted for trucking routes, and then, while transporting the goods, diverged from the route and stole all or part of the shipment. To date, the Artuni Enterprise has allegedly stolen goods from Amazon worth more than $83 million, according to estimates provided by Amazon,” the press release continued.
Too bad they didn’t buy at least a few million of $TRUMP shitcoin with all the proceeds. Could’ve made a difference. Maybe the Amazon shipments at least had some velour tracksuits or snakeskin-pattern loafers or kits to put neon orange underglow lights on an $110,000 Maserati in them.