According to recently released FBI files on the murder of Turkish Honorary Consul to Boston, Orhan Gunduz on 4 May 1982, an FBI source had identified his killer among the members of LA Five.
Documents obtained under FOIA by Mucrock staff and published by Tom Nash and Gabriella Gage, unveiled that "a highly sensitive, reliable and vulnerable source", had identified the killer of Gunduz as an Armenian Revolutionary Federation security member of the Hollywood, California chapter "who also doubled as a training instructor for JCAG."
The FBI memo dated 7 October 1983 states that the person identified by the source was awaiting trial in Los Angeles in connection with the attempted bombing of the Turkish Consulate in Philadelphia. Two more witnesses of the Gunduz killing out of nine, who were shown a photo spread also identified the same person as the assassin.
A VW Rabbit was purchased before the attack, used as a point vehicle. The seller of that car did also identify one of the defendants of the Philadelphia bombing plot as the buyer of her car.
FAUXBOM
On October 21, 1982 a “highly suspected member of JCAG” was “busily scurrying” around Los Angeles buying bomb components.
On October 22, the FBI agents arrested Karnig Sarkissian, 29, of Anaheim; Viken Yacoubian, 19, of Glendale; Viken Hovsepian, 22, of Santa Monica; and Dirkan Berberian, 29, of Glendale, when their suspect had boarded a plane.
A fifth suspect, Steven Dadaian, 20, of Canoga Park, California, was arrested at Boston’s Logan Airport. The bag he was supposed to pick up from Northwest Airlines Flight 208 held five sticks of dynamite, a detonator and a timer.
They were planning to bomb Turkish Consulate in Philadelphia. The FBI estimated that the bomb, if detonated would have killed between 2000 and 3000 people.
This case is known to FBI as "Fauxbom" and to the American-Turkish community as "LA Five".
YACOUBIAN?
Although the name of the person identified by FBI's "reliable and highly sensitive source" is redacted in the documents, the identified killer's birth day according to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization records, gives away a good lead to follow. The person identified was born on 5 September 1964 according to records received from storage at the Federal Court Centre, Laguna Nigel, California.
He is described as 5'5'' which is about 165 cm with black hair and brown eyes, and had been born in Lebanon.
Among the LA Five-Fauxbom suspects, Viken Yacoubian was 19 and Steven Dadaian was 20 at the time of their arrest in 1982. Steven Dadaian was however an American born Armenian.
According to an appeal by Yacoubian for his U.S. citizenship in 1998, his birthday was 6 November 1962.
Again, that court transcript states him being admitted for permanent residence on 26 August 1976.
The FBI memo on the other hand reads that the identified suspected killer had entered the U.S. on 22 May 1974 with his family.
His brother-in-law was running the Rose Jewellery Manufacturing Company on 610 S. Broadway, Suite 908 during 1983.
The person identified has two sisters and one brother, according to records.
On 18 January 1984, authorities in Boston displayed a photo spread to four eyewitness to the terror attack, two of whom positively identified one of the LA Five-Fauxbom defendants as the individual who shot Gunduz.
An intercept between Viken Hovsepian and Viken Yacoubian was the main evidence that helped prosecutors convict Yacoubian, and thwarted the deadly bomb terror attack.
According to May 1986, Readers Digest magazine Yacoubian rang Hovespian at 11:42 PM to tell him that they had "missed it." He continued: "The ticket agent said the luggage would not reach the flight and would have to be carried aboard."
A fuming Hovsepian told him to "put it on the next flight," and he added "Immediately!"
This phone intercept put FBI agents on alert. They realised that they had missed "a bomb."
It was "a gift" of "five or six rings." for the Turkish consulate in Philadelphia.
Two minutes passed midnight, Yacoubian rang Hovsepian back to tell him that he had booked passage for the courier on a flight.
Yacoubian was sentenced to two concurrent three-year terms of imprisonment and an
additional year of probation with a condition of 1000 hours of community service by a U.S. court.
U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer was "impressed with their good character" and rejected government request for a higher sentencing,
She said she believed that they were “basically of good character” and not likely to engage in future terrorist acts.
Yacoubian obtained a master's degree in psychology from Loyola Marymount University and enrolled in a doctoral program in counselling and psychology at the University of Southern California.
At the conclusion of the 32nd Armenian Revolutionary Federation World Congress in 2015, he was elected as a member of the party's highest governing body, the bureau.
In an interview, he said the following:
"Ultimately, one has to consciously engage in life, act, and take responsibility for those actions...Its [ARF] glorious history imparts the subjective element necessary to feel connected to the cause, while its activities on the ground, be it in Armenia or the Diaspora, offer all the objective and practical components necessary to become politically engaged."
ARF founded JCAG in Beirut in mid 70s, and directed its attacks on Turkish people around the world through its diaspora youth groups.
Yacoubian is an adjunct professor of psychology and according to our google search, owns winery in California.
NOTE: We are in no way accusing, claiming, or alleging that Dr. Yacoubian has any connection to the murder of Orhan Gunduz. He may however has some crucial information that may shed light to this case.
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