Feds Target Alleged Hired Guns in L.A. Armenian Mob Rivalry

Gang Members Charged in Deadly Crime Rivalry

Federal prosecutors have charged four members of a Latino street gang with acting as hired guns in a violent dispute between two rival Armenian organized crime figures. The conflict, which has turned parts of the San Fernando Valley into battlegrounds, has involved shootings from pickup truck beds, drone surveillance, and caches of automatic weapons stored in storage units.

The feud between Robert "Fish" Amiryan and Ara Artuni escalated over two years, leading to multiple incidents that left victims injured and neighborhoods on edge. In May, federal agents and local police arrested Amiryan, 47, and Artuni, 41, on charges including kidnapping, fraud, and attempted murder. Both were held in the same unit, where Amiryan reportedly lunged at Artuni and declared in Armenian that he would “have” Artuni’s wife.

The initial takedown in May targeted the higher-ups who allegedly orchestrated the attacks and provided shooters with weapons and vehicles. However, the suspects arrested Tuesday were the ones who actually carried out the hits on Artuni’s behalf. Four members of the Vanowen Street Locos, a small North Hollywood gang, were charged with murder for hire and racketeering.

Evidence from Suspects' Own Words

A Los Angeles Police Department detective's affidavit revealed that much of the evidence came from the suspects’ own statements during recorded jail calls. They complained about not being paid for failed attempts to kill Amiryan and his associates.

Maria "Mary Oceans" Mares was also taken into custody Tuesday. She is accused of driving the getaway car in a botched attempt to kill Amiryan. According to detectives, Mares expressed frustration that she wouldn’t receive her promised $50,000 fee because “it was the wife, not him.”

On March 14, 2025, a shooting occurred near Universal City when two men in black opened fire on Amiryan’s family. A detective wrote that Amiryan’s spouse was shot in the leg, but her two children in the backseat were unharmed. This attack marked a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict.

Escalation of Violence

The conflict began two years earlier when Amiryan returned to his apartment building in Burbank on April 3, 2023, and was shot by a man wearing a ski mask with an AR-15. Prosecutors allege that Amiryan and his crew kidnapped a man they believed was behind the assassination attempt, torturing and interrogating him inside a Sun Valley home. When police arrived, Amiryan and two others exited the house, claiming the victim had denied being kidnapped and stated that Amiryan was “not guilty.”

A month later, Amiryan and his spouse were sitting on a balcony when a red Ford F-150 pulled up outside their building. A man in dark clothes opened fire, wounding Amiryan in the abdomen and arm. Detectives found that an associate of Artuni had used a fake passport to buy the truck just hours before the attack.

Surveillance and Further Attacks

In the following month, a gray pickup pulled into an alley behind Harutyunyan’s house in North Hills. Police later discovered drone footage of the house on Artuni’s phone, showing it surrounded by a large metal fence. Harutyunyan, a convicted money launderer, was shot six times by masked men in the truck bed. The shooters fled as the vehicle sped off.

Cellphone records showed that members of Artuni’s crew, including Vahagn Stepanyan and Jose "Listo" Gonzalez Jr., were near Harutyunyan’s home around the time of the shooting. Detectives obtained this information through search warrants.

Artuni traveled to Armenia in April 2024, where federal agents suspected he was reprimanded by senior crime figures for the escalating violence. He spent several months in Dubai before returning to Los Angeles in November 2024.

Hired Gun Activities

In February 2025, Edir De La Cruz, a reputed member of the Vanowen Street Locos, called his girlfriend Mares from jail. Mares handed the phone to Christopher "Hits" Ayala, who confirmed they were still working on “that job.” Ayala told De La Cruz that the attack was “about to happen,” but “his wife and his kids jumped out the car with him.”

Mares later told De La Cruz that she had driven the car because she needed the money. She also mentioned that she had read in the Los Angeles Times that a woman had been hit, not a man. No one died, and she questioned whether she would be paid.

De La Cruz urged Mares to demand payment, emphasizing that previous jobs had been paid on the spot. Meanwhile, police found the getaway car abandoned in Studio City. Detectives determined that Mares had purchased the silver Audi on Facebook Marketplace.

Legal Consequences

According to Kaminski, Mares, De La Cruz, Ayala, and Grimaldi are now charged in federal court with murder for hire. Gonzalez faces charges of racketeering. It remains unclear if the men have lawyers who can speak on their behalf.