Murder-for-Hire Bid Took Unlikely Turn

Idaho resident Armen Gyurdzhiyants flew to Los Angeles in November 2001, hoping to hire someone to kill an undercover policeman in his home state.

But the small-time businessman waded into a situation that was way over his head.

The men he approached -- Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas -- have since been charged with operating a Russian abduction ring responsible for killing five Los Angeles-area residents and dumping their bodies in a Northern California reservoir, according to federal officials.

Instead of taking Gyurdzhiyants up on his offer, the pair allegedly kidnapped their prospective client until Gyurdzhiyants’ parents came up with $50,000 in ransom, according to court documents and federal authorities in Idaho.

Last month, Gyurdzhiyants pleaded guilty to the charge of murder-for-hire in an Idaho federal courtroom, wrapping up a bizarre episode that has raised new questions about the scope of the San Fernando Valley-based kidnapping operation, which mainly targeted businesspeople with roots in the former Soviet Union.

Federal investigators believe the operation may have links to Russian organized crime, with tentacles extending to Latvia, Dubai and Siberia.

But apparently, knowledge of the crime ring’s services also extended to Gyurdzhiyants’ hometown of Twin Falls, a low-key agricultural center of about 36,000 people located midway between Boise and Pocatello.

Federal prosecutors would not comment on the significance of the fact that Gyurdzhiyants, a Russian national who operated a video duplication company, knew he could contact Mikhel and Kadamovas in Los Angeles for a hired killing.

However, as part of his Aug. 1 plea agreement, Gyurdzhiyants pledged to cooperate with federal officials.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, said Gyurdzhiyants’ cooperation “may have some bearing” on the kidnapping case against Mikhel and Kadamovas, which is scheduled for trial in Los Angeles in August 2004.

Mikhel, Kadamovas and three other alleged co-conspirators have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and kidnapping resulting in death.

Three defendants -- Mikhel, 38; Kadamovas, 36; and Petro Krylov, 31 -- could face the death penalty for alleged abductions in 2001 and 2002, but federal prosecutors have not decided whether to seek it.

Earlier this summer, they decided not to seek the death penalty for defendants Natalya Solovyeva, 27, and Aleksejus Markovskis, 32.

Court documents obtained last week by The Times show that Mikhel began planning an audacious jailbreak from the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles in February.

The scheme was uncovered when jail officials found hacking tools and mobile phones in his cell, as well as a large, unfinished hole leading toward an off-limits stairwell.

Mikhel told federal investigators that after he escaped, he planned to take care of “unfinished business,” court records show. He has since been placed in solitary confinement at another jail in San Bernardino County.

Gyurdzhiyants’ first-known involvement with the suspects came when he allegedly sought Mikhel’s help for his brother, Robert Gyurdzhiyants. In September and October of 2001, an Idaho state police undercover agent bought methamphetamine from Robert as part of a sting operation, and Robert was facing multiple charges of drug distribution and firearms possession.

In his plea agreement, Armen Gyurdzhiyants disclosed that he flew to Los Angeles looking to pay hit men $15,000 to kill the state officer, Jose Banda, who prosecutors say was expected to be a key witness in the drug trial.

But the “hit men” ended up holding Armen, in part because he had an Idaho state police officer’s business card in his pocket and the men thought he was an informant, records show.

Gyurdzhiyants was arrested in Idaho in July 2002.

In February, authorities found a videotape Gyurdzhiyants had made calling for the killing of the police officer, as well as other evidence, in the residence of either Mikhel or Kadamovas.

Armen Gyurdzhiyants faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines on the murder-for-hire charge.

Robert Gyurdzhiyants pleaded guilty last month to murder-for-hire. Because he also pleaded guilty to the drug charges, he could face up to life in prison, according to his attorney, Thomas J. McCabe.

Sentencing for both men is scheduled for Nov. 7 in Boise.

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles would not say if Mikhel and Kadamovas would face additional kidnapping charges for allegedly abducting Gyurdzhiyants.