4 Charged in Plot to Kill Federal Agent

Four Los Angeles-area men were charged Wednesday with plotting to assassinate a U.S. Secret Service agent who was investigating a criminal fraud case against one of them, authorities said.

Officials alleged that the bold scheme was planned in a federal detention center and a Montebello doughnut and Chinese food shop, apparently as an act of retaliation against the federal agent to derail the pending fraud prosecution of Robert Kazarian, 33, of Glendale, officials alleged.

“Any defendant who thinks he can avoid criminal liability by eliminating the agent who investigated him is deluding himself,” U.S. Atty. Nora Manella said in a prepared statement. “And those providing assistance will find themselves joining their colleague in prison.”

The four suspects, three of whom were arrested Wednesday during early-morning searches of their homes and businesses, were being held without bail on charges of conspiracy to commit murder. Kazarian was already in federal custody. A fifth suspect, Kazarian’s brother, Arshak, remains at large.

Federal authorities said they are looking into the possibility that the suspects are members of an Armenian organized crime syndicate. The alleged conspiracy was investigated by the FBI’s organized crime team and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attys. Stephen G. Larson and Michael Zweiback who specialize in organized crime cases.

Several high-ranking federal law enforcement officials said they were stunned by the murder plot, which Kazarian allegedly helped plan while at the Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting trial in his fraud case. His associates, meanwhile, met at the Montebello eatery and frequently talked on the phone about their plans to kill the agent, according to a court affidavit filed by federal prosecutors.

“It is alarming that these defendants planned and plotted--with seeming impunity--to thwart law enforcement efforts through intimidation and violence,” Secret Service Special Agent in Charge James E. Bauer said Wednesday. “In each and every instance in which others contemplate similar actions, the full force of law enforcement’s combined resources will be brought to bear on them.”

Timothy McNally, assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles office of the FBI, said a threat against a law enforcement officer “is tantamount to an unlawful threat against an immediate family member.”

“We will act very vigorously and aggressively on any and all threats of that nature,” McNally said.

According to court documents, associates of Kazarian agreed earlier this month to pay $50,000 to a man they believed could arrange a contract killing. Instead, the man turned out to be a government informant. The informant was paid $15,000 upfront and was to be given the remainder of the cash after the Secret Service agent was murdered, authorities said.

Neither the informant nor the agent who was the target of the alleged hit were identified by federal officials.

The suspects were identified as Sahak Mazmanyan, also known as Steve Mazmanyan, 39, of Montebello; Rafael Kazaryants, also known as Raffi or Raffo Kazaryants, 43, of North Hollywood; and Panos Zhamkochyan, 29, of Los Angeles. The fifth suspect, Arshak Kazarian, 37, is from Tujunga.

Robert Kazarian has been incarcerated at the federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles since Aug. 25, when he was arrested on suspicion of wire fraud. In that case, Kazarian allegedly set up a series of retail shops designed to bilk as much as $1 million from banks and credit institutions with false sales, prosecutors said.

In the murder conspiracy case, much of the government’s evidence comes from conversations between the informant and the suspects that were taped by wiretaps and concealed body recorders.

Among other things, the suspects allegedly discussed what type of firearm would be used, whether the informant had “references” who could vouch for him, and when the killing would occur.

At one point, court documents state, Kazarian’s associates considered killing not only the agent but also a key witness and other co-defendants connected to Kazarian’s fraud case. They abandoned that plan, according to the affidavit, when the informant said he would charge $100,000 for the multiple slayings--a price they allegedly said was too high.

Arshak Kazarian allegedly told the informant that he might even have difficulty raising the remaining $35,000 of the $50,000 contract.

Attorney William L. O’Bryan, who represents Robert Kazarian, called the government complaint against his client “very thin.”

He said Kazarian is “flabbergasted” by the accusation.

Prosecutors, however, alleged that Robert Kazarian was the leader of the scheme.

“There is evidence to suggest that he controlled things from prison,” Larson said.

O’Bryan said the “credibility of the informant” will certainly be an issue at trial.

The government informant, who was described in court papers as “a cooperative witness,” is also described as a drug user and has been convicted of numerous felonies. But the informant’s information “has proven to be reliable” to other law enforcement agencies, the documents said.

The four suspects in custody appeared briefly in court Wednesday to have defense attorneys appointed to represent them and to schedule their Oct. 8 preliminary hearing.

“This is impossible. Just impossible. My husband would never do anything like this,” said Kazaryants’ wife, who declined to give her name. She said federal agents burst into their second-floor apartment about 6 a.m. to arrest Kazaryants.

“I was scared,” she said. “How can they say these things about [my husband]? He would never kill anybody.”

Their neighbors also expressed disbelief about Kazaryants’ arrest.

“He’s such a good man he can’t hurt anyone,” said one. “I’ve known Raffi for two years, he can’t do it.”

Meanwhile, federal agents continued to search for Arshak Kazarian. The fugitive’s next-door neighbor said she saw his wife Wednesday morning.

“She looked very sad,” the neighbor said.

Sources with close ties to the so-called Armenian Mafia said that Arshak “Tony” Kazarian may have left last weekend for Europe.

“Tony went on a quick vacation, and I don’t think he’ll be coming back any time soon,” a source said.

In Hollywood, at a home alarm company opened two weeks ago, a business partner of Arshak Kazarian said he was stunned to see FBI agents searching the sparse office when he arrived at work Wednesday morning.

“They had search warrants and had opened the lock and were asking all these questions,” said the man, who would identify himself only as Jack. He said he has known Kazarian for more than 20 years, having met him in Hollywood after the two arrived from Yerevan, Armenia, by way of Beirut, in 1976.

“I can’t believe any of this,” the man said, adding that he had not seen Kazarian since Saturday.

Times correspondents Michael Krikorian and Radha Krishnan Thampi contributed to this story.