Cops: Rival Gangs Terrorize Calgary

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2006 photo of triple-murder suspect Nicholas Hovanesian, with shaved head.

Rival gangs, known as the “Fresh Off the Boat” (FOB) gang and the “Fresh Off the Boat Killers” (FK), have been participating in retaliatory violent acts against one another in Canada since the late 1990s.

Cops say the two groups have been engaged in a bloody conflict which has little prospect of abating until one side or the other is wiped out.

Originally, a predominantly Asian gang, FOB, operated as one gang unit. Around 2002, rifts between members created a split inside FOB.

Shortly thereafter, FK was formed and became FOB’s biggest rival. Since that time, both groups began recruiting multi-cultural members to do battle against one another.

Cops say their disputes have escalated from fistfights, threats and intimidation to stabbings, machete attacks, drive-by shootings and murder.

The violence is not the result of, nor has it turned into, a turf war over drug territory. It has grown to an extreme hatred for one another, and murdering rival members has become a way of life, cops have said.

Ambush Attempt Leads To Casualty

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Nicholas Hovanesian allegedly took part in a shooting which was meant to kill rival gang members.

Aaron Bendle was supposed to spend New Year's Eve celebrating with friends, but according to police, the 22-year-old Calgary man never made it to the night's planned festivities. Cops say Bendle was abducted and held at gunpoint by FOB members plotting the death of FK gang member, Sanjeev Mann.

Bendle wasn't a known gang member, but cops say he bought small amounts of cocaine from Mann and sold the drug in and around the community of Sundance, where he lived with his parents.

Sources told police that because Bendle wasn't a hardened criminal, rival gang members elected to abduct and threaten him as a way of getting close to Mann -- who often wore a bulletproof vest in public -- while in a vulnerable situation.

The FK members forced Bendle to set up a dinner with Mann where they planned to ambush him, telling him if he didn’t comply they would harm his family.

According to witnesses, Sanjeev Mann entered Bolsa Restaurant in Calgary on Jan. 1, 2009.

Moments later, they say Aaron Bendle joined Mann for dinner and was followed into the restaurant by masked men who immediately began shooting at Mann and Bendle’s table.

Cops learned that Mann was in fact wearing a bullet-proof vest during the ordeal, but it wasn’t enough to save him. Both Mann and Bendle died at the scene.

Keni Su’A, a Samoan National, was a customer in the restaurant at the time of the shooting.  Witnesses say he ran out of the restaurant as the shots began, but was followed by the shooters.

Cops claim Keni was shot several times by the gunmen while trying to escape, and also died at the scene.
 

Fourth Suspect Eludes Authorities

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Cops say Hovanesian has family ties to South America.

Cops say three men -- two of them reputed gang members -- are already in custody and charged with first-degree murder for the slayings of Keni Su’A, Bendle and Mann.

Real Christian Honorio, 25, was arrested on June 8, 2009, and Michael Joseph Roberto, 25, was arrested four days later. Nathan Zuccherato, 23 -- who was living outside Calgary at the time -- turned himself after he was named as a suspect.

Honorio and Roberto were both out on bail and under restrictions not to possess weapons at the time of the Bolsa murders.

Police are now looking for a fourth suspect -- 24-year-old Nicholas Rodrigo Hovanesian -- for allegedly participating in the crime in other ways.

Hovanesian is described as a Hispanic male, approximately 5’11” tall, weighing approximately 150 lbs.

He has black hair and brown eyes. Cops say he has connections in Calgary, Lethbridge and the South American country Uruguay.

“We don’t know his whereabouts, that’s why we’re releasing the information in hopes that people with information will come forward,” said Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus.

Sgt. Andrus said he fears another innocent person will wind up caught in the crossfire. "I would absolutely expect more shootings."

Alleged Gangbanger Back In The Big House

Fugitive Nicholas Hovanesian on the day he was captured.
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»More capture photos

Nicholas Hovanesian, wanted in Calgary, Alberta for taking part in a gang-related killing that left three dead, was captured in the province of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada.

An officer arrested Hovanesian on unrelated charges, and the alleged gang member gave police a false name.

Fortunately, the arresting officer recognized Hovanesian from a his picture on a bulletin in the police station and turned him over to Calgary police.