Thread: Armenian Organized Crime Group Targeted

Operation Power Outage

Armenian Organized Crime Group Targeted

03/03/11

The Southern California crime ring called Armenian Power may look like a traditional street gang—members identify themselves with tattoos and gang clothing—but the group is really an international organized crime enterprise whose illegal activities allegedly range from bank fraud and identity theft to violent extortion and kidnapping.

Operation Power Outage—a nearly three-year investigation conducted by our Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force in Los Angeles—culminated last week with the arrests of 83 Armenian Power members on a variety of federal and state charges that include racketeering, drug trafficking, smuggling cell phones into prisons, and theft from the elderly. All told, the group allegedly bilked victims out of at least $10 million.

In one scheme, Armenian Power—known as AP—caused more than $2 million in losses when members secretly installed "skimming" devices in cash register credit card swipe machines at Southern California 99 Cents Only stores to steal customer account information. Then they used the skimmed information to create counterfeit debit and credit cards to empty accounts.

Eurasian Organized Crime
Task Force

The Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force was established in Los Angeles in 2000 to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle Eurasian organized crime groups operating in the Los Angeles area and elsewhere. In addition to the FBI and the Glendale California Police Department, who co-manage the task force, current core membership includes the following organizations:

- United States Secret Service;
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement;
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General;
- Internal Revenue Service;
- Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department;
- Los Angeles Police Department; and
- Burbank Police Department.


“There is no crime too big or too small for this group,â€

They caught some in Sunny Isles Beach commiting insurance fraud and other cirmes not that long ago.