A co-leader of the Armenian Power gang was handed a 32-year federal prison term Monday for multiple racketeering crimes, including extortion, bank fraud and operating a debit card skimming operation that siphoned more than $1 million from thousands of customers at 99 Cents Only stores across the Southland.
Mher “Capone” Darbinyan, 39, of Valencia, showed no reaction as U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner pronounced sentence and set a restitution hearing for February.
Darbinyan was an Armenian Power leader who operated a sophisticated bank fraud scheme that used middlemen and runners to deposit and cash hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent checks drawn on the accounts of elderly customers and jewelry businesses.
He also orchestrated a scheme that involved the installation of skimmers in 99 Cents Only stores in Riverside, Whittier, Huntington Beach, San Diego and elsewhere that were used to steal customers’ debit card numbers and PIN codes.
Darbinyan was additionally found guilty of conspiring to extort funds from a member of the Armenian community using threats of violence.
He also possessed, on two occasions, firearms and ammunition after having previously been convicted of felony grand theft for his role in a 2004 debit card fraud scheme.
Klausner called the crimes in the case “heinous.”
Darbinyan declined to make a statement to the court.
Defense attorney Michael V. Severo, arguing for a 10-year sentence, told the judge that his client was “a family man, not a monster. He has never been shown to harm anyone physically.”
Two co-defendants who were convicted in April with Darbinyan were sentenced previously.
Armenian Power co-leader Arman “Horse” Sharopetrosian, 36, formerly of Burbank, was sentenced to 16 years in federal prison — to run consecutively to a 25-year sentence in a separate case.
Gang associate Rafael Parsadanyan, 30, of Glendale, was sentenced to six years in federal prison for participating in the card-skimming operation.
Federal prosecutors indicted 90 people three years ago for a range of criminal activities associated with the Armenian Power gang. All but five have been convicted.
According to court documents, the gang formed in East Hollywood in the 1980s.
— City News Service