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Westside Armenian Power


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“Based on our investigation, what we have learned is that it’s an enterprise. And an enterprise is a legal term that refers to a group that’s committing crimes of all sorts. The types of enterprises that the government investigates range from street gangs […]. Based on our investigation, we found Armenian Power to be a very sophisticated enterprise because it has both street gang aspects and higher organized crime aspects. So, it’s almost like a marriage of the old Italian Mafia and street gangs. They have power on the street based on young individuals, who pose as gangsters, and they are people who carry firearms and do sort of the violent dirty work. But then, they have other associates who don’t get involved in the street gang, but they have expertise in fraud, money laundering, and things of that sort. And then there is a small group of people who sort of vie for control of these different aspects.”

 

Martin Estrada, from the Criminal Division of the Office of the U.S. Attorney General, in “Armenian Power is Like a Marriage of the Old Italian Mafia and Street Gangs”

 

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Panorama of Little Armenia, Los Santos

 

Armenian Power is a criminal organization comprised of multiple layers ranging from a street gang identity to a more sophisticated, organized crime network with strong ties to major Armenian and Russian criminal figures, commonly referred to as “thief-in-laws”“vory v zakone” or simply “Vors”.

 

The fall of the Soviet Union enabled satellite countries to have a broader access to emigration, which caused a major wave of soviet-bloc citizens to relocate to the United States of America in search for a better life. Although Armenians were already spread throughout major cities in the United States prior to the dissolution, the West Coast had become the preferred location for Soviet-bloc immigrants, with small communities surfacing all over the Southern San Andreas area. One of the communities that was shown more interest than others was the Morningwood neighborhood of West Los Santos, which eventually became an enclave for Armenian immigrants as their population had grown significantly. With this, Armenian-owned businesses had started to appear throughout, and locals began leaving their cultural marks on the neighborhood which ultimately turned into Los Santos’ own Little Armenia.

 

Similar to the majority of other ethnic criminal organizations in Los Santos, Armenian Power was initially formed as a small clique of Armenian and Soviet-bloc immigrants from the small community of Morningwood as a way to protect themselves against the abundance of gangs that were fighting for territory in the larger Vinewood area.

 

With numerous Armenian Power figureheads vying for control, it was in the late 2000s when Rouben "Camel" Sevacherian and Davit "Caterpillar" Avetisyan, two notorious underworld figures renowned for their innovative and state-of-the-art schemes, rose to power.Their organization was set in stone by forging an alliance with an alleged “crowned” Armenian thief-in-law, Vrej "Benzin" Yuzbashyan, who collected a percentage of their earnings in exchange for granting them access to his overseas criminal network. This allowed the duo to become widely known and respected in a larger circle, with a reach well past the borders of Los Santos.

 

In 2010, Avetisyan and Sevacherian had learned the hard way that their actions can have hard repercussions when they were arrested and sentenced to serve time in the Twin Towers county jail after a failed attempt to steal a high-end vehicle. Much like the outside, the prison scene was divided into cliques, the most influential of all being the southerners, whom ran the yard under the reign of Mexican Mafia leader Rene “Bosko” Blajos. This caused somewhat of a dispute between Avetisyan and Sevacherian, the latter not willing to risk serving additional time for the likes of La eMe and chose to serve his time with his head down, whereas Caterpillar ultimately connected with Blajos and resonated with the promises of protection and access to various pipelines when released.

 

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Needless to say, upon being released, the duo had split into two separate cells of the Armenian Power organization, each followed by their respective peers based on where their loyalties laid, with Avetisyan bringing the presence of Armenian Power X3 (or AP-13) and embracing the sureño lifestyle while paying dues to the Mexican Mafia, and Sevacherian’s Westside Armenian Power clique which chose not to operate along with Blajos’ Street Crew and instead follow his previous co-conspirator Vrej “Benzin” Yusbashyan and maintain connections to the Russian mafia and Eurasian organized crime. Sevacherian's ideology about the Mexican Mafia was also shared by previously convicted Armenian Power affiliates Arman “Slick” VartanianArto “Kaz” Kazarian and Gevork “Sneaks” Karayan, who ultimately chose to stay close to their roots in Morningwood and operate alongside Rouben upon their release. Those, along with Arshen “Mad Dog Marko” Markosyan and brothers Vardan “Romeo” and Levon “Pitbull” Gasparyan were what became the "core" group within Morningwood's Westside Armenian Power gang, which engaged in activities ranging from extortion and credit card fraud, to prostitution and drugs and weapons trafficking.

 

What followed was a fruitful period for the Morningwood-based gang, having registered a significant increase in membership and with that, more profitable opportunities through schemes devised by the aforementioned “core” members and Sevacherian’s connection to higher underworld authorities from both the Los Santos and the international organized crime sphere. Eventually, after having gained a higher status within the underworld and seeing his protegees’ ability to keep the streets under control, the chieftain was prompted to take a step further and distance himself from the streets of Morningwood and thus ascend in a more organized, closed circle of figures alike. That soon came to an end, though, when Rouben abruptly went missing after what looked like an attempt on his life in Las Venturas, which caused a period of restlessness both within the ranks of the Armenian Power clique and his respective higher circles. Rouben’s disappearance prompted new figureheads to step up and take control of the organization, forced to operate under the assumption that the notorious AP leader had died.   

 

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                                                                               -Snippet of L.S. Times article following Rouben Sevacherian's disappearance

 

OOC

This faction aims to portray a modern-day Westside Armenian Power gang based in Los Santos. We expect only the highest standards of roleplay and portrayal from any member that wishes to join the faction. Upon joining this faction, you consent to a Character Kill (CK) at any given time for any reason that the leadership may deem fitting. 

 

Any questions can be directed to @dxrkside

 

Thread credits: @LikeMike@shiroq, with special thanks to @Chef

Edited by dxrkside
fixing formatting
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