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U.S. Cracks Down on Armenian Crime Syndicate

16 February 2011 22:06 (UTC +04:00)

The United States attorneyâ€™s office said that more than 100 people affiliated with the Armenian Power organization â€” some of them still at large â€” had been charged with narcotics trafficking and kidnapping as well as sophisticated white-collar crimes like a bank fraud scheme that cost victims at least $10 million. Nearly 100 of those charged were in Southern California, with the rest in Miami and Denver.
In a region that has been plagued by gang activity, the Armenian Power syndicate evolved over the last few decades from a traditional street gang, based around East Hollywood, into a crime organization with ties to local Mexican gangs as well as international organized crime groups in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Steven M. Martinez, assistant director in charge of the F.B.I.â€™s Los Angeles field office, said the technical sophistication of Armenian Powerâ€™s members set the organization apart from other gangs in the region, and helped it forge â€œthieves-in-lawâ€ relationships with other crime groups.
â€œArmenian Power members are considered to be exceedingly resourceful, and have seized opportunities to collaborate with other crime syndicates,â€ Mr. Martinez said. â€œSophisticated cybercrimes and identity theft are now as important a part of their criminal portfolio as traditional violence and fraud.â€
In one complex scheme, the organizationâ€™s members, according to federal indictments unsealed on Wednesday, installed credit card â€œskimmingâ€ devices at cash registers in 99 Cents Only stores across Southern California that they used to steal information from hundreds of customers and create counterfeit credit and debit cards.
In another scheme that went after elderly victims, Armenian Power members, in collaboration with a local African-American gang, bribed insiders at banks in Orange County to gather information that allowed them to take over bank accounts.
In all, United States attorneyâ€™s office officials estimated that the organizationâ€™s activities had cost victims at least $20 million.
Andre Birotte Jr., a United States attorney, acknowledged that members of the crime group had often been able to operate from inside prison. Still, he called Wednesdayâ€™s arrests a major step toward crippling the organization.
â€œI think we have made an important first step in disrupting and hopefully dismantling this gang,â€ Mr. Birotte said.