4 SFV Gang Affiliates Arrested In Botched Murder Plot Targeting Armenian Mob Boss: DOJ

LOS ANGELES, CA — Four affiliates of a San Fernando Valley street gang were arrested Tuesday on federal charges alleging they took part in a botched murder-for-hire plot targeting an Armenian organized crime boss.

According to court papers, alleged gang affiliates Carlos Armando Ochoa Grimaldi, Christopher Ayala, Edir De La Cruz and others began stalking alleged crime boss Robert Amiryan earlier this year in efforts to kill him.

On March 14, prosecutors allege, Grimaldi and Vahagn Stepanyan shot and wounded Amiryan's domestic partner as she arrived home in her car with their two children. Stepanyan is currently in federal custody and is charged with racketeering, fraud, and firearms offenses, according to federal prosecutors.

After the shooting, alleged gang accomplice Maria de Jesus Mares called De La Cruz and reported that the "job" was done and Stepanyan would pay her $50,000 for her role as the getaway driver, according to documents filed in Los Angeles federal court.

In the days afterward, however, Mares told De La Cruz that she believed she would not be getting paid because "it was the wife not him" that was hit, prosecutors contend.

Stepanyan ultimately paid Mares a reduced rate because Amiryan was not killed, court papers show.

Grimaldi, Ayala, De La Cruz and Mares are charged with use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

City News Service