Post by Elle on Jan 5, 2006 18:32:46 GMT -5
There is a small cafe on Morris Park Avenue in the Bronx where Albanian soap operas play on a large-screen television set. It is the Cafe Roma, and an uneasy quiet hangs in the air.
The cigarette smoke is thick, and stacks of playing cards lie unused on the bar. The bartender, a sallow giant with a mustache, plays chess between serving espressos and sugar-sweetened snacks. The bartender will not talk about it, but the authorities say the Cafe Roma was the headquarters of the Corporation, a violent, up-and-coming gang that had a bold objective: to become New York's sixth crime family, one headed not by Italian-Americans but by Albanian immigrants.
Beginning in the 1990's, the Corporation, led by a man named Alex Rudaj, established ties with established organized crime figures including members of the Gambino crime family, the authorities say. Then, through negotiations or in armed showdowns, the Albanians struck out on their own, daring to battle the Luchese and Gambino families for territory in Queens, the Bronx and Westchester County, prosecutors say.
During one of these confrontations, in August 2001 at an Astoria gambling parlor called Soccer Fever, Mr. Rudaj and at least 14 of his men served notice of their intentions to an associate of the Gambino family who ran the club, prosecutors contend in court documents.
Brandishing guns, one of Mr. Rudaj's men overturned gambling tables, another grabbed money, and a third pistol-whipped a patron, the authorities said.
"Gentlemen, the game is over," one of Mr. Rudaj's men told patrons playing barbout, a dice game. These details and more have emerged during the trial of Mr. Rudaj and five other men in Federal District Court in Manhattan. A jury is now deliberating charges against them, including racketeering, attempted murder, extortion, loan-sharking and gambling.
The defense lawyers have called the government's claims exaggerated, and although they concede that the six men conducted gambling operations, the lawyers deny that their clients belonged to a criminal organization that used violence and extortion to maintain its network of profitable gambling interests, as prosecutors have said. A verdict is possible this week.
However the case turns out, federal investigators say that the accusations against the Rudaj organization provide further proof of a phenomenon they had expected since the breakup of Yugoslavia: the growing sophistication of Balkan gangs, including the Albanian crime groups.
The Albanian groups are long established in Europe's organized crime landscape, where they are known to traffic in humans and narcotics. In this country, investigators say, the numbers of such gangs are still unknown but are likely to be concentrated in several states where Albanians have settled in the past few decades, including New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Only a tiny fraction of Albanian immigrants actually belong to criminal gangs, investigators say, adding that they start by stealing from their own communities. The more sophisticated and daring of the groups go on to more profitable and violent work, often as low-level enforcers for established crime families.
"La Cosa Nostra has used these guys like they used the Westies in the past," said Matt Heron, the head of the F.B.I.'s organized crime unit in New York, referring to the Irish-American gang that worked with the Mafia in New York in the 70's and 80's. "If you're an up-and-coming criminal enterprise and the old hands are using you to facilitate their activities, you're going to learn from watching and adapt your style to what you see in those gangs," he said.
The Albanian groups have also taken advantage of changes in the organized crime world. "One thing the Albanians and the other so-called ethnic organized crime groups have in their favor is the Mafia's decision to shift away from murder and outright violence," said Jerry Capeci, a columnist who writes about organized crime on his Web site, ganglandnews.com.
The rougher stuff has fallen to the Albanian gangs, said Tom Metz, a senior investigator with the F.B.I. "They are more prone to violence and activities like bookmaking and murder," he said.
Ethnic bonds have traditionally been important to the gangs, and outsiders rarely play central roles, said Esther Bacon, an intelligence analyst with the F.B.I. who studies the Balkan groups. Because of this, the gangs have been hard to infiltrate, law enforcement officials said. "They're like the old Sicilians," said one investigator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak with reporters. "They don't roll, and they don't cooperate," he said.
The Corporation operated differently, and in the network of outsiders it did business with - including Italians and Greeks - investigators found informants who agreed to wear secret recording devices, law enforcement officials said.
On those tapes and in surveillance photos, there are glimpses of the bravado that prosecutors say typifies the Corporation. In some of the conversations, prosecutors say, Mr. Rudaj describes his plans to take over Astoria from the Luchese crime family. In others, Corporation members describe beatings they participated in. Surveillance photos show Mr. Rudaj and his associates at the wake of John Gotti.
In court, jurors heard evidence of another gangland showdown between Mr. Rudaj and a Gambino leader. It happened at a gas station in New Jersey, a few days before the fight at Soccer Fever. Arnold Squitieri, then the acting boss of the Gambino family, had sought a meeting with Mr. Rudaj, prosecutors said.
At Mr. Squitieri's signal, about 30 of his men appeared, carrying bats, guns and other weapons, but the Albanians were ready. One of Mr. Rudaj's men put a gun to Mr. Squitieri's head and another pointed a shotgun at a gas pump, threatening to blow everyone up unless Mr. Squitieri's men put down their guns, according to prosecutors.
Mr. Squitieri backed down.
Alan Feuer contributed reporting for this article.
~Bloody great read~
The cigarette smoke is thick, and stacks of playing cards lie unused on the bar. The bartender, a sallow giant with a mustache, plays chess between serving espressos and sugar-sweetened snacks. The bartender will not talk about it, but the authorities say the Cafe Roma was the headquarters of the Corporation, a violent, up-and-coming gang that had a bold objective: to become New York's sixth crime family, one headed not by Italian-Americans but by Albanian immigrants.
Beginning in the 1990's, the Corporation, led by a man named Alex Rudaj, established ties with established organized crime figures including members of the Gambino crime family, the authorities say. Then, through negotiations or in armed showdowns, the Albanians struck out on their own, daring to battle the Luchese and Gambino families for territory in Queens, the Bronx and Westchester County, prosecutors say.
During one of these confrontations, in August 2001 at an Astoria gambling parlor called Soccer Fever, Mr. Rudaj and at least 14 of his men served notice of their intentions to an associate of the Gambino family who ran the club, prosecutors contend in court documents.
Brandishing guns, one of Mr. Rudaj's men overturned gambling tables, another grabbed money, and a third pistol-whipped a patron, the authorities said.
"Gentlemen, the game is over," one of Mr. Rudaj's men told patrons playing barbout, a dice game. These details and more have emerged during the trial of Mr. Rudaj and five other men in Federal District Court in Manhattan. A jury is now deliberating charges against them, including racketeering, attempted murder, extortion, loan-sharking and gambling.
The defense lawyers have called the government's claims exaggerated, and although they concede that the six men conducted gambling operations, the lawyers deny that their clients belonged to a criminal organization that used violence and extortion to maintain its network of profitable gambling interests, as prosecutors have said. A verdict is possible this week.
However the case turns out, federal investigators say that the accusations against the Rudaj organization provide further proof of a phenomenon they had expected since the breakup of Yugoslavia: the growing sophistication of Balkan gangs, including the Albanian crime groups.
The Albanian groups are long established in Europe's organized crime landscape, where they are known to traffic in humans and narcotics. In this country, investigators say, the numbers of such gangs are still unknown but are likely to be concentrated in several states where Albanians have settled in the past few decades, including New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Only a tiny fraction of Albanian immigrants actually belong to criminal gangs, investigators say, adding that they start by stealing from their own communities. The more sophisticated and daring of the groups go on to more profitable and violent work, often as low-level enforcers for established crime families.
"La Cosa Nostra has used these guys like they used the Westies in the past," said Matt Heron, the head of the F.B.I.'s organized crime unit in New York, referring to the Irish-American gang that worked with the Mafia in New York in the 70's and 80's. "If you're an up-and-coming criminal enterprise and the old hands are using you to facilitate their activities, you're going to learn from watching and adapt your style to what you see in those gangs," he said.
The Albanian groups have also taken advantage of changes in the organized crime world. "One thing the Albanians and the other so-called ethnic organized crime groups have in their favor is the Mafia's decision to shift away from murder and outright violence," said Jerry Capeci, a columnist who writes about organized crime on his Web site, ganglandnews.com.
The rougher stuff has fallen to the Albanian gangs, said Tom Metz, a senior investigator with the F.B.I. "They are more prone to violence and activities like bookmaking and murder," he said.
Ethnic bonds have traditionally been important to the gangs, and outsiders rarely play central roles, said Esther Bacon, an intelligence analyst with the F.B.I. who studies the Balkan groups. Because of this, the gangs have been hard to infiltrate, law enforcement officials said. "They're like the old Sicilians," said one investigator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak with reporters. "They don't roll, and they don't cooperate," he said.
The Corporation operated differently, and in the network of outsiders it did business with - including Italians and Greeks - investigators found informants who agreed to wear secret recording devices, law enforcement officials said.
On those tapes and in surveillance photos, there are glimpses of the bravado that prosecutors say typifies the Corporation. In some of the conversations, prosecutors say, Mr. Rudaj describes his plans to take over Astoria from the Luchese crime family. In others, Corporation members describe beatings they participated in. Surveillance photos show Mr. Rudaj and his associates at the wake of John Gotti.
In court, jurors heard evidence of another gangland showdown between Mr. Rudaj and a Gambino leader. It happened at a gas station in New Jersey, a few days before the fight at Soccer Fever. Arnold Squitieri, then the acting boss of the Gambino family, had sought a meeting with Mr. Rudaj, prosecutors said.
At Mr. Squitieri's signal, about 30 of his men appeared, carrying bats, guns and other weapons, but the Albanians were ready. One of Mr. Rudaj's men put a gun to Mr. Squitieri's head and another pointed a shotgun at a gas pump, threatening to blow everyone up unless Mr. Squitieri's men put down their guns, according to prosecutors.
Mr. Squitieri backed down.
Alan Feuer contributed reporting for this article.
~Bloody great read~
but if you out smart me and do what i can not thank of doing then you will win