Ara Artuni: Amiryan Feud, May 2025 Arrests, and Charges

Ara Artuni is a 41-year-old Porter Ranch, California resident whom federal prosecutors identify as an avtoritet, or leader, within an Armenian organized crime network operating in the San Fernando Valley. He was arrested in May 2025 alongside 12 others and charged with attempted murder in aid of racketeering over an alleged plot to kill rival crime boss Robert “Fish” Amiryan. Prosecutors also tie his organization, the “Artuni Enterprise,” to an $83 million Amazon cargo theft scheme and to a series of fraud operations. If convicted on all counts, he faces up to life in federal prison.¹

The Feud With Robert Amiryan

The federal case centers on a turf war prosecutors say began in 2022 between Artuni and Amiryan, 46, of Hollywood. Both men are described as avtoritet figures running separate factions of an Armenian criminal organization affiliated with the Russian mafia. Prosecutors allege Artuni sought to displace Amiryan as the dominant organized crime figure in the Valley and leaned on the Mexican Mafia and affiliated street gangs to carry out attacks.²

On April 3, 2023, according to the criminal complaint, a masked gunman fired an AR-15 at Amiryan near his Burbank apartment. The following month, Amiryan was shot in the abdomen and arm while sitting on his balcony by a man in a red Ford F-150 that had been purchased six hours earlier using a fake passport for $500. In August 2023, two masked men opened fire on Vahan Harutyunyan, an Amiryan associate, at his North Hills home, hitting him six times in his backyard. Prosecutors say Artuni’s crew used drone footage to surveil the property beforehand. Harutyunyan survived.³

The attack that drives the murder-for-hire charges came on March 14, 2025. Prosecutors say two gunmen opened fire with rifles at Amiryan’s significant other as she pulled her Cadillac Escalade into a parking garage near Universal City. Amiryan was not in the vehicle. His partner was shot in the leg; their two young children were physically unharmed.³

The Artuni Enterprise’s Alleged Crimes

Federal prosecutors describe the Artuni Enterprise as a racketeering organization whose activities went well beyond violence. The largest allegation is an Amazon cargo theft scheme. According to a 2024 Amazon law enforcement referral report cited in the complaint, members of the organization enrolled as authorized carriers with the retailer through bogus trucking businesses, contracted for legitimate routes, and then diverted shipments to steal all or part of the cargo. Across 33 transport incidents, $83,579,010.99 in merchandise went missing.²

The enterprise also allegedly ran a “credit card bust-out” scheme, in which associates charged purchases to various cards through a sham business and drained the business account before card companies could recover the disputed funds.⁴ The criminal complaint identifies health care fraud, wire fraud, and bank fraud among the group’s other activities.⁵

Where Artuni Sits in the Hierarchy

Prosecutors describe the Armenian organized crime network in Los Angeles as an offshoot of the Russian mafia that originated in the former Soviet Union. Local factions are run by avtoritet figures, each commanding an independent criminal organization. Above them are the “thieves-in-law,” the most senior figures in the Armenian mafia, based primarily in the former Soviet republics. Artuni is not alleged to be part of the street gang known as Armenian Power. His organization is described as separate, relying on Black and Hispanic street gangs, including Mexican Mafia affiliates, to carry out violent acts on its behalf.² A Homeland Security Investigations official described the group as operating with “the structure and brutality of an international cartel.”⁶

In April 2024, according to the complaint, Artuni fled the United States and traveled to Yerevan, Armenia to meet with thieves-in-law. He later surfaced in Dubai with visible injuries and bruises. A Homeland Security Investigations agent stated in an affidavit that Artuni may have been “reprimanded” or “regulated,” meaning punished by a more senior member of the hierarchy.²

The May 2025 Arrests and Charges Against Artuni

On May 20, 2025, a multi-agency federal operation led by Homeland Security Investigations arrested 13 members and associates of the two rival syndicates across locations in Los Angeles and Florida. Agents seized roughly $100,000 in cash, three armored vehicles, and 14 firearms. The operation fell under the federal initiative “Operation Take Back America.”¹

In the complaint naming Artuni (Case No. 2:25-mj-02952), four defendants were charged with attempted murder in aid of racketeering under 18 U.S.C. § 1959(a)(5), specifically tied to the July 7, 2023 shooting of Amiryan. Artuni is accused of ordering the attempts on Amiryan’s life. Codefendants include Davit Hazryan, identified as a member of the enterprise; Vahagn Stepanyan, later charged with racketeering, fraud, and firearms offenses tied to financing the plot; and Christian Sedano, named as an associate.⁷ Law enforcement had previously seized firearms, ammunition, and body armor from the residences of Artuni and Hazryan on December 12, 2023.⁸

The warrant applications listed a wider range of subject offenses for Artuni and his associates, including RICO conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 1962), murder-for-hire (18 U.S.C. § 1958), possession of machine guns and unregistered firearms, passport forgery, and theft from interstate shipments.⁷

The Alleged Shooters

On September 30, 2025, federal prosecutors announced additional charges against the street-level enforcers allegedly hired to carry out violence on Artuni’s behalf. Four members of the Vanowen Street Locos, a North Hollywood gang, and associates of Elmwood Rifa 13 were charged with using interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire in connection with the March 2025 parking-garage attack: Carlos “Spanky” Armando Ochoa Grimaldi (47, Sylmar), identified as the alleged shooter; Christopher “Hits” Ayala (29, Sylmar); Edir “Temper” De La Cruz (34, Van Nuys), accused of managing aspects of the plot through jail phone calls; and Maria “Mary Oceans” de Jesus Mares (39, Van Nuys), accused of driving the getaway car.⁹

Stepanyan had allegedly offered Mares $50,000 to drive. After the shooting Mares reported to De La Cruz that the “job [was] done,” but received a reduced payment because Amiryan himself had not been killed.¹⁰ Grimaldi reportedly cashed an $8,560 check from a sham business linked to an Artuni underling as payment.³ A fifth defendant, Jose “Listo” de Jesus Gonzalez Jr., was arrested separately and charged with RICO conspiracy in connection with the August 2023 shooting of Harutyunyan; cell phone records placed him near the scene.¹¹ Each murder-for-hire charge carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in federal prison.

Detention, Trial Date, and Sentencing Exposure

On May 25, 2025, Artuni appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Donahue in downtown Los Angeles for a detention hearing. Judge Donahue ordered him held without bail, finding him a flight risk and citing “grounds of risk of life and dangerousness.”¹² The finding was reinforced by his April 2024 departure to Armenia and Dubai.⁷ The case was assigned criminal case number 2:25-cr-00434-JLS on June 3, 2025, when a formal indictment was filed.¹³

While in custody, Artuni and Amiryan were briefly held in the same jail unit. According to Los Angeles Times reporting, Amiryan charged at Artuni and threatened his wife in Armenian during the encounter.³ Artuni remains in federal custody and is scheduled to go to trial in August 2026. If convicted on all charges, he faces a statutory maximum sentence ranging from 10 years to life in federal prison.¹

1
U.S. Department of Justice. 13 Members and Associates of Rival Armenian Syndicates Arrested in Federal Complaints
2
Courthouse News Service. 13 Armenian Mafia Members Arrested in Connection to Murder, $83M Amazon Cargo Theft
3
Los Angeles Times. Federal Charges in San Fernando Valley Armenian Crime
4
ABC7. 13 Suspects in Armenian Organized Crime Ring Arrested
5
Beverly Press. U.S. Attorney Targets Organized Crime Leaders
6
NBC Los Angeles. 13 Alleged Armenian Crime Syndicate Members Arrested in Series of Raids
7
U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Criminal Complaint, Case No. 2:25-mj-02952
8
CourtListener. United States v. Artuni
9
U.S. Department of Justice. Five San Fernando Valley Street Gang Affiliates Arrested in Federal Complaint
10
Daily News. San Fernando Valley Gang Members Arrested in Alleged Murder-for-Hire Plot on Armenian Organized Crime Boss
11
KFI AM 640. Five Arrested in Alleged Plot to Kill Armenian Crime Boss in LA
12
Outlook Newspapers. Armenian Mafia Head Deemed Flight Risk in Initial Detention Hearing
13
PACER Monitor. USA v. Artuni, et al