Seven clinics were raided and shut down and twelve of the ringleaders of the network were taken into custody---including the top man, Encino gangster 'Maserati Mike' Matosyan.
Matosyan was running a particularly brazen scam. He hired corrupt doctors to operate clinics he controlled and write fake Opioid prescriptions to drug dealers. Obamacare got billed and furnished the dope that Matosyan's henchmen turned and sold for a profit on the streets.
As a bonus to this good news, Matosyan's high-priced defense attorney, Fred Minassian of Glendale was also among those arrested. According to the indictment, "After a load of Vicodin was seized from one of the conspiracy's major customers, Matosyan allegedly oversaw the creation of fake paperwork in an effort to make it appear that the drugs were legitimately prescribed. Intercepted conversations between Matosyan and Minassian revealed that they strategized on how to deceive law enforcement, which included a plan to bribe a doctor to lie to investigators."
If there ever was a news story that illustrated the need for swamp-draining this is it. Frederick Manning---a Santa Ana drug-pusher caught in the dragnet---was buying a 1,000 pills a week at taxpayer expense. The gang seems to have operated mostly in the Los Angeles Metro Area. Los Angeles County Supervisors met last week to initiate a new program to deal with the Opioid Crisis. According to testimony given at the meeting, drug overdoses are the 4th leading cause of premature death in Los Angeles County.
Incidentally, public records show that Minassian was a donor to Democrat candidates in 2016. Surprise, surprise.
Amen! A bit of justice and swamp draining sure makes my heart sing. Hat tip to those men who make it so.
ReplyDeleteThanks---yes this was a really bad lot. I wonder how much the crime rate in LA County will drop just from this bunch being carted off to the pokey?
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