Armenian Power, also known as AP or the Armenian Mafia, is an Armenian-American gang located in Los Angeles.
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History
The collapse of the Soviet Union prompted a massive wave of Armenian immigration into Los Angeles County, California in the early 1990s, primarily in the communities of East Los Angeles, East Hollywood, North Hollywood, Pasadena, and Glendale. Faced with pressure from Hispanic gang members in the area, young Armenians in East Hollywood grouped together to form Armenian Power.[1] Armenian street gang members model themselves on Latino gang members. Armenian-American street gangs are not large in terms of numbers but are violent and influential enough to allegedly be involved in Mexican Mafia peace talks between Latino gangs.The gang holds no more than 200 members but has done over 100 shootings in the past three years and are LAPD's most wanted for being a dangerous gang. Armenian-American organized crime gangs have also appeared in Los Angeles County, and are involved in many white-collar frauds as well as drug trafficking. [2]
In popular culture
F/X's crime drama The Shield has featured several plots involving LA's Armenian gangsters. In the program's Second Season, the elite Strike Team led by Detective Vic Mackey commits the Money Train Heist, stealing millions of dollars from an Armenian money laundering ring. As a result, hitman Margos Dezerian is ordered to find and murder the culprits. After committing a string of grisly murders and severing his victims' feet to indulge a fetish, Margos is ambushed and murdered by Detective Mackey, who rigs the crime scene to look like self defense. In Season 6, disgraced Strike Team Detective Shane Vendrell begins moonlighting as an enforcer for Diro Kesakhian (Franka Potente), the young and ruthless Godmother of an Armenian Crime Family. After learning from Shane that a trio of Black gangsters has been robbing her stable of Russian hookers, Diro arranges for the three men to be castrated. However, when Diro learns of the Strike Team's involvement in the Money Train Heist, Shane is horrified when she puts out contracts on the surviving Team members and their families. Shane transfers loyalty to her rival and forces her to flee to Germany. Before catching her flight, she tells him, "Your sentiment will destroy you." On the show, "Armenian Power" is referred to as "Armenian Might". Also, James Ellroy's novel White Jazz revolves around the Kafesjian, an Armenian drug-dealing family. In the Showtime television drama, Weeds, An Armenian gang of marijuana growers exacts revenge by killing the DEA agent who busts their ringleader.
