LOS ANGELES
Federal authorities on Tuesday arrested five members and associates of the Vanowen Street Locos and Elmwood Rifa 13 gangs in connection with a murder-for-hire scheme targeting an Armenian Organized Crime boss, officials announced.
The intended target survived, but his partner was shot and wounded in front of their two children earlier this year.
The defendants are:
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Carlos Armando Ochoa Grimaldi (47), a.k.a. “Spanky,” of Sylmar
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Christopher Ayala (29), a.k.a. “Hits,” of Sylmar
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Edir De La Cruz (34), a.k.a. “Temper,” of Van Nuys
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Maria de Jesus Mares (39), a.k.a. “Mary Oceans,” of Van Nuys
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Jose de Jesus Gonzalez Jr. (49), a.k.a. “Listo,” of Llano
Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Grimaldi, Ayala, De La Cruz, and Mares are charged with using interstate commerce facilities in a murder-for-hire plot. Gonzalez faces separate RICO conspiracy charges tied to the 2023 shooting of Vahan Harutyunyan, now in federal custody on kidnapping charges, officials stated.
Agents seized firearms, a silencer, gun parts, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition during searches.
Court filings allege the Armenian Organized Crime network, with ties to the Russian and Mexican Mafia, has turned Los Angeles into a hub of operations.
Since 2022, rival leaders Robert Amiryan (47) and Ara Artuni (41) have fought for control, sparking assaults, shootings, and kidnappings. Both men are in custody awaiting trial.
Prosecutors say Artuni repeatedly ordered Amiryan’s murder in 2023, while Amiryan retaliated with his own kidnapping plot. By early 2025, the gang defendants began stalking Amiryan.
On March 14, Grimaldi and another man allegedly shot his partner instead, wounding her as she arrived home with the couple’s children. Mares, acting as the getaway driver, later complained she was underpaid because “it was the wife, not him.”
If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in federal prison.