U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and law enforcement partners in California and Florida on May 20 arrested 13 alleged members and associates of Armenian organized crime syndicates. Those arrested are charged with a series of crimes in five federal complaints including attempted murder, kidnapping, illegal firearm possession and thefts estimated to be in millions of dollars related to online retailer shipments. 

“This transnational criminal organization operated with the structure and brutality of an international cartel, inflicting significant harm on public safety and causing substantial damage to legitimate commerce and supply chains,” said Dwayne Angebrandt, ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) – Los Angeles, acting deputy special agent in charge.

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 in California are expected to make their initial appearances Wednesday and Thursday in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.

Vahan Harutyunyan, 50, of Hollywood, Florida made his initial appearance early Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and was ordered detained. Two of the remaining defendants, Levon Arakelyan, 45, of Las Vegas, Nevada and Ivan Bojorquez, 33, of Gardena, California are presently detained in state custody on unrelated matters.

During the operation law enforcement seized approximately $100,000 in cash, three armored vehicles and 14 firearms.

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 U.S. 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 have, 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 Artuni Enterprise also ran a “credit card bust-out” scheme in which they charged to a sham business various credit cards then drained the business account before the credit card companies could collect the to-be disputed funds.

“Today’s arrests reflect that my office and our law enforcement partners are committed to keeping America safe by dismantling transnational criminal organizations,” said United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “Let today’s enforcement action be a warning to criminals: Our communities are not your playground to engage in violence and thuggery.”

“Investigators from the Burbank Police Dept. spent hundreds of hours investigating these heinous violent crimes,” said Burbank Police Chief Rafael Quintero. “The Burbank Police Dept. is grateful for the assistance from its law enforcement partners and the United States Attorney’s Office for their work in holding these individuals accountable for their actions.”

“Dismantling transnational criminal organizations is at the core of HSI’s mission,” continued Angebrandt. “Through close collaboration with our law enforcement partners, HSI is holding these perpetrators accountable and disrupting their criminal enterprise at every level.”

If convicted of all charges, the defendants will face statutory maximum sentences ranging from 10 years in federal prison to life imprisonment.

Assistant United States attorneys Lyndsi Allsop and Kenneth R. Carbajal of the Violent and Organized Crime Section and Tara B. Vavere of the Asset Forfeiture and Recovery Section are prosecuting this case. The Dept. of Justice Criminal Division’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section provided substantial assistance.

Individuals across the world can report suspicious criminal activity to the ICE tip line 24 hours a day, seven days a week at (866) DHS-2-ICE. Highly trained specialists take reports from both the public and law enforcement agencies on more than 400 laws enforced by ICE. 

A complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.