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  • Armenian Power Is "Like A Marriage Of The Old Italian Mafia And Stre

    ARMENIAN POWER IS "LIKE A MARRIAGE OF THE OLD ITALIAN MAFIA AND STREET GANGS"
    Edik Baghdasaryan

    hetq
    12:14, May 31, 2012

    Interview with Martin Estrada, from the Criminal Division of the
    Office of the U.S. Attorney General (U.S. Department of Justice)

    -In particular, what kind of offences are Armenians involved in?

    -Obviously I am not an expert in all things, crime involving people
    of Armenian descent. I can only talk about the experiences that
    I had with investigations involving people of Armenian descent. I
    can talk about the experiences that I had. I just want to be clear
    that we investigate people commit crimes of every ethnicity. I have
    Afro-American defendants, I have Hispanic defendants, Caucasian
    defendants, we have Armenian defendants. So I don't want it to appear
    that for some reason the Armenian community has more criminals than
    other communities. All I know is crimes and investigating criminals,
    that's what I see. So I don't want you to misunderstand my comments
    to mean that people of Armenian descent are more or less inclined
    to commit crimes. I don't know that. I just know the crimes that I
    am investigating.

    So in terms of what we have investigated, we basically investigated
    organized crime in the Los Angeles, Orange Country and the southern
    California area. And obviously as you are aware by now there is
    a large concentration of people of Armenian descent in Glendale,
    Burbank, North L.A. County.

    And terms of the sorts of crimes that we investigated it's been
    everything under the sun from murders to bank fraud, to kidnapping,
    to credit card fraud, to identity theft, to gambling - basically
    everything under the sun.

    And it seems from the investigations that we've done that people
    with links to Armenia or the former Soviet Union or even just Eastern
    Europe, they have special abilities to commit identity theft. That's
    because they have access to technology and they have access to tourists
    or others who come to the country. They can obtain their information,
    their names, social security number, and dates of birth, buy those
    from the tourists, or get involved criminally with them and then use
    that information to commit identity theft or fraud of some sort.

    -During the past year the Armenian Power group has been repeatedly
    covered and talked about in media. What is this organization? How
    would you describe or characterize this organization?

    -Based on our investigation, what we have learnt is that it's an
    enterprise. And an enterprise is a legal term that refers to a group
    that's committing crimes of all sorts. The types of enterprises that
    the government investigates range from street gangs. Los Angeles
    has many-many street gangs. Some are very large and they have been
    investigated like MS13 and they are enterprises. But also more
    sophisticated organized crime groups like Cosa Nostra, Asian groups
    like the Triads and those are also enterprises.

    Based on our investigation, we found Armenian Power to be a very
    sophisticated enterprise because it has both street gang aspects and
    higher organized crime aspects. So it's almost like a marriage of
    the old Italian Mafia and street gangs. They have power on the street
    based on young individuals, who pose as gangsters, and they are people
    who carry fire arms and do sort of the violent dirty work. But then,
    they have other associates who don't get involved in the street gang,
    but they have expertise in fraud, money laundering, and things of
    that sort. And then there is a small group of people who sort of vie
    for control of these different aspects.

    And the other interesting aspect (this is also discussed in the
    indictment) is that Armenian Power here has become more powerful than
    the traditional thieves-in-law. So the leadership of Armenian Power
    will deal directly on a level playing field with the thieves-in-law who
    come to Los Angeles. But they have a power (I mean leaders in Armenian
    Power) beyond the thieves-in-law because of their ties to the street,
    they have the soldiers and they have links to an incredibly powerful
    prison gang known as the Mexican Mafia. It is essentially a Hispanic
    street gang that controls the prisons both federal and state in
    California and throughout the country. So because the Armenian Power
    leadership has those connections, they have power on the street and
    they have protection in the jail.

    -As far as I understood, based on your description, they are the
    strongest collection of criminals.

    -And we consider them to be one of the biggest threats in Los Angeles.

    -When information came to light publicly, there were references or
    talk that these folks also have connections to Armenia. Was anything
    proven to show that these folks have ties or contacts to officials
    in Armenia or the criminal world in Armenia?

    -Yes, a large majority were born in the former Soviet Union and still
    have family or connections there. And the significance of that is that
    they have the connection to the tourists as we said from Russia and
    from Armenia. They also, on occasion, have fled America to go there to
    avoid prosecution. But probably more importantly is their connection
    with thieves-in-law. The leadership of Armenian Power is dealing
    directly with the Moscow and Armenian thieves in law, not just here.

    And the inference would be, although we haven't gotten into this,
    is that there's a reason they're doing this; there must be some
    reciprocation in Armenia and Moscow.

    -Does this mean you haven't definitely established any proof of a
    connection? Is it just an assumption that you have?

    -No, there is concrete proof of connection. What we don't know is what
    the thieves-in-law of Russia do for these guys in Russia and Armenia,
    if anything. Maybe it's just a respect thing.

    -Haven't law enforcement agencies of Armenia cooperated with you?

    -We haven't requested any sort of cooperation because it's
    not necessarily relevant to our investigations. In other related
    investigations we have requested assistance from the Russian government
    and we have been able to cooperate there.

    -Is it possible that the names of criminals, or say Russian or Armenian
    officials, are ever mentioned during court trials here?

    -It's always possible.

    -And they also were talking about amounts that were being transferred
    to Armenia or Russia. Have they been incidents where you have been able
    to ascertain that such transfers of financial assets have occurred?

    -That is probably an area I shouldn't talk about because it's not
    public.

    -Why is it possible that in Los Angeles these groups are able to
    mushroom and evolve? How is it that this Armenian group has grown
    and prospered so?

    -Los Angeles is one of the largest economies, there is a lot of
    commerce, there are ports, and there is proximity to Mexico which is
    the center of drug-trafficking. So there is a great deal of criminal
    activity in Los Angeles and these particular people we investigate have
    the ability to both deal with street elements like the Mexican mafia
    and also the more sophisticated elements like the thieves-in-law in
    Russia and Armenia. And they're able to understand technology to commit
    identity theft and bank fraud. Those are the sorts of sophisticated
    crimes that normally aren't committed by people involved in violent
    crime. But this group can do both.

    -Also very prominently covered was the involvement of Armenians
    in this Medicare fraud, the one involving Pzo and these people. To
    what extent is that connected in any way with Armenia, the country,
    but specifically people in government or public service, or in the
    criminal underworld of Armenia?

    -I don't know any connection. There may be but I am not aware of. The
    Medicare fraud that we come across is largely a fraud that can generate
    millions of dollars of criminal proceeds. That doesn't necessarily
    mean it goes anywhere else except in the pockets of the criminals. And
    it's a very unfortunately common crime because there is a lot of paper
    work and a sort of trust involved in a paper work. So it's not hard
    for someone who wants to commit a crime to commit Medicare fraud.

    -The connections between Armenian Power and the Russian mafia are
    constantly talked about. Are there any links that Armenian Power
    seems to have with Eastern European countries?

    -That information is not public.

    -In general, are there Armenians employed in public law enforcement,
    the police, etc., in this region?

    -There are many and I should stress that as I was saying we
    investigate people who commit crimes. And it just so happens that
    we're investigating people of Armenian descent. So I don't want there
    be a misunderstanding that we believe that people of Armenian descent
    are more likely to commit crime. And in fact, what I can say is that
    this group commits a great deal of crime, including violent crimes.

    And unfortunately the majority of their violent crimes and even a
    small percentage of their fraud crimes, target their own community,
    so they target other Armenians.

    -That's seems to be another unique trait of Armenian Power.

    -Yes, although in many mafias we see them often targeting people from
    their own countries or areas. And it appears it's one of the reasons
    because they feel like more easily intimidate them and put them in
    fear of going to the police.

    -Who, from Armenian Power, has received the longest court sentence? If
    it is public knowledge, can you give their name and the sentence
    they got?

    -No one has yet been sentenced to a high sentence. The most recent
    convictions were a trial in Santa Ana, where the lead defendant, whose
    name is Arman SharO...petrosian, and he was the leader and organizer
    of bank fraud conspiracy which he was committing from prison and he
    has a long history of violent crime and that individual is looking
    at a very lengthy sentence in the range of 20 to 30 years.




    From: A. Papazian
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