BUT THIS IS NOT A MOVIE

An Azerbaijani, a Georgian and an Armenian go on a recce mission.  As they cross the front line, one of them gets stuck on barbed wire hung with tin cans which begin to rattle in the silence of the night.  "Halt!" - shouts the German sentry.  "Meow!" - says the Armenian in reply and, deceiving the enemy in this manner, the recce men successfully cross the front line.  Returning from their emission, someone touches the barbed wire again.  "Halt!" -- the sentry shouts.  "It is us, the kittens, again," - says the confused Armenian and wrecks the operation.

The Armenian swindlers recently exposed in the USA were caught for the same type of folly demonstrated by the Armenian in the old Soviet joke.  For example, the pathologists invented by the Armenian swindlers turned in invoices for the reception of living patients, and ophthalmologists, strangely enough, demanded payment for examining a bladder.

History has many examples of Armenian tactical successes which ended up in strategic defeat.  But this sort of thing has not happened in the US for a very long time.

Early in the morning of 13 October, more than 40 members of a criminal syndicate were arrested in New York and Los Angeles; the syndicate was formed by immigrants from Armenia and citizens of that country.  They are charged with stealing the personal information of thousands of doctors and patients which the criminals then used to pump millions of dollars from the Medicare system, which provides medical aid to the elderly.  US Attorney Preet Bharara made a statement at a news conference in New York.  In addition, charges were brought against suspects in Ohio, New Mexico and Georgia, reports the Voice of America.

According to Attorney Bharara, it was the largest scam involving the federal programme of medical care for the elderly in history.  The accused used the information they had stolen to open 118 fictitious medical clinics in 25 states.  They sent invoices worth a total of about $100 million for medical services which in reality were not provided or received by anyone, for payment through the Medicare system.  The criminals had managed to fraudulently collect $35 million by the time of their arrest, Bharara said.

"From the criminals' point of view, the scheme for collecting funds from the Medicare system was 'wonderful' in that it was entirely virtual," said Janice K. Fedarcyk, assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York office.  There were no real doctors or real patients behind the claims sent by the criminals.  The entire doctor-patient relationship was a mirage based on stolen personal information."  The phony clinics existed only on paper, and post office boxes were often used for their addresses.

This is why the criminal scheme was so profitable:  it did not require any great expenditure.  Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that the gang was run from a small second-floor office above a car repair shop in Coney Island.

Federal Attorney Bharara described the criminal group as "international," stressing that its leaders had close ties with Armenia, regularly visited the country and purchased real estate there using the proceeds from the criminal activities in the USA.

Bharara compared the gang with the "classical Cosa Nostra," adding, however, that in terms of illegal profits, geographical scope and ambition, the group "puts the traditional Mafia to shame."

According to investigators, the Armenian mafia was headed by criminal kingpin Armen Kazaryan, nicknamed Pzo.  Internet portal "Kriminalnaya Rossiya" reports that Kazaryan, 44, was arrested in Yerevan on 7 April 2009 when he arrived from the USA.  The portal reports that "investigators had information that Pzo was the leader of an organized criminal group involved in the illegal trade of arms, gems and rare-earth metals, drug trafficking, abductions and extortion."

The indictment published in New York reads that Kazaryan emigrated to the USA in 1996 and his request for asylum was granted there.  Janice Fedarcyk said that Kazaryan was the "first Eurasian criminal boss to be arrested in the United States since the detention of Vyacheslav Ivankov (who was killed in 2010 in Moscow) in 1995, and the first criminal kingpin to be arrested on charges brought under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which lays down severe criminal and civil punishment for persons involved in 'systematic organized criminal activity.'"  Kazaryan lived, and was arrested, in LA.

According to investigators, Davit Mirzoyan of Los Angeles and Robert Terjanian of New York were directly in charge of operations for the Armenian criminal group.  The Mirzoyan-Terjanian group -- so designated in the indictment -- was involved in scams, racketeering, the theft of personal data, counterfeiting credit cards, money laundering, drug trafficking, extortion, the illegal distribution of cigarettes and even counterfeit Viagra.

The investigation continued for about a year and, according to the prosecution, the Armenian mafia established itself in the USA at least four years ago.  The investigation was launched when the personal data of about 2,900 Medicare users who received medical aid at the regional medical centre in Orange County, California, were stolen.

The facts discovered during the investigation could make a great movie, said Attorney Bharara.  But this is not a movie.  This is reality.  The charges brought must be a clear signal that anyone who attempts to defraud the US health care system or appropriate the money of US taxpayers intended for the elderly, will be punished, the attorney added.

No comment required, as the saying goes.  The only thing to be added to the tale is that this unprecedented crime by the Armenian mafia must be a clear signal to the US law enforcement system.  Perhaps they should take a closer look at the sources of income of Armenians residing in the USA, if only for the following reasons.

First, the Armenian diaspora in the USA has huge financial resources and, therefore, great influence on both the legislative and executive branches of power in that country.  And the latter, as is known, often veto decisions which are needed to promote the strategic and national interests of the US.  And to all appearances, this happens at the expense of US taxpayers themselves.

Second, it is known that Armenians who did not emigrate to the USA because their lives back home were so great, are mainly receiving benefits paid to them not only by the Armenian lobby and the Armenian Church, but also from other religious groups and charity funds.  This is why it cannot be ruled out that these organizations, too, might fall victim to Armenian "gratitude."

And finally, the indictment reads that the criminals misinformed the US immigration authorities and, "with help from representatives of a foreign government, arranged that government's refusal to accept persons deported from the USA, thereby depriving the US authorities of the possibility of extraditing them to their native country."  This makes it necessary to investigate more closely the links between the mafia and the Armenian government.