LOS ANGELES — Nick Kharabadze's world was a blend of Russia and Hollywood. Fine Russian ceramics and film posters share space in the kitchen of his family's two-story home in the Hollywood Hills.
Kharabadze, 29, worked as a sound editor and co-owned a film production company. His mother is a well-known Russian actress, pictured in a book on Soviet film stars in the living room.
The family came here 12 years ago, seeking opportunity in Hollywood as the Soviet Union collapsed. But now Kharabadze is dead — killed, authorities believe, by members of a Russian organized crime network.
The slaying has left Kharabadze's mother to wonder why.
"Do these murderers have mothers?" Rusiko Kiknadze sobbed in Russian as family members tried to console her.
Kharabadze's body is one of five pulled from a reservoir near Sacramento. All Los Angeles residents, the five were abducted, blackmailed and killed by the Russian mobsters over the past six months, the U.S. attorney said Thursday.
Six men of Russian descent were in custody, all being held without bond. They are charged with hostage-taking or receiving ransom money.
More than $5.5 million in ransom was demanded of relatives, U.S. attorney spokesman Thom Mrozek said. Two of the suspects threatened to kill their victims if ransom demands were not met, while others "aided and abetted" the plot, the indictment charges.
The first body was found floating in New Melones Lake on Oct. 18, his hands bound and a plastic bag over his head. The last victim was recovered Tuesday.
The other four victims were identified as Meyer Muscatel, 58; Alexander Umansky, 35; Georgy Safiev, 37; and Rita Pekler, 39. Muscatel, a wealthy San Fernando Valley homebuilder, was suffocated. The FBI has not provided a cause of death for the other four.