Ninety-nine people were arrested last week as part of an investigation into the Armenian Power organized crime ring, which investigators say scammed, stole and extorted more than $20 million from its victims.
Members of the group have committed literally hundreds of criminal acts, including extortion, kidnapping, bank fraud, health care fraud and drug trafficking. In one 134-count indictment, 29 people were accused of participating in a conspiracy that violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a charge with alleges a host of illegal activities, including identity theft, credit card skimming and manufacturing counterfeit checks.
According to the indictment, the gang skimmed hundreds of credit and debit card numbers after installing skimmers on cash registers in 99 Cents Only stores throughout southern California. They then used the information to create counterfeit cards, with which they stole $2 million.
The scheme was discovered when a 99 Cents Only store manager noticed that credit and debit card transactions were not clearing properly. He called the police, who later arrested two people when they attempted to remove card skimming devices from cash registers.
Twenty people from the gang were charged with targeting elderly people’s bank accounts. The group worked in conjunction with members of black street gangs and bribed bank insiders to gather information that allowed them to take over bank accounts and cause losses of more than $10 million.
The arrests are the culmination of a five-year investigation. The gang consists of about 200 people, most of whom are of Armenian descent. The gang got its start as a street gang in East Hollywood in the early 1980s.
Investigators in California have said they are seeing an increase in gangs embracing identity theft, especially to steal from Medicare and Medicaid programs.
