Is Albanian organized crime muscling in on the Italians turf are the Albanians taking over cause these guys don't seem to be scared of the Italian mob

This is a very good subject I must say, kudos botz for the topic. The Albanians with no dispute started on both sides of the Atlantic, Albania and the United States, because of the Italian Cosa Nostra. FBI dossiers revealed that Cosa Nostra members, and Sacra Crona Unita members as well, who fled Italy in the late 1970's began starting rackets and a partnership if you will with Albanians in Albania, and from this tutelage evolved a new and aggressive Mafia in the Albanians. The partnership still runs today in both Italy and Albania, the groups work hand in hand. Interpol released a statment that Albanians help the N'Drangheta and Cosa Nostra receive Heroin to be traded to Mexicans for Cocain. The Albaninas are very big on Heroin, and also arms trafficking. But in Europe the groups are very peaceful, one incident took place I believe in Lombardy, Italy where Albanians operate, and a riff broke out between Mafia members and Albanians. A few Albanians threw some Italians a beating, but then the Albanians were killed, and some beaten nearly half to death. Both the outcome was the Albanians operating in Italy have to pay a tax or else. The same for Italians in Albania, and on the bigger stuff they work together. In the U.S Albaninas started out as muscle, with the Russians, for the Italians, and as some muscle and big names went to jail for the 5 families, both groups branched out. The Russians stayed peacful with the Italians paying taxes still today on some of their rackets outside of Brighton Beach. The Albanians transition wasnt pretty, a guy named Alex Rudaj started a crew of what the FBI called "The Corporation," the group was primarily Albanian, but had Italians, and Italian leaders under Rudaj. They muscled in on Lucchese and Gambino operartions in the Bronx and Westchester County's, the group even knifed and beat up some made guys. But a truce was called in a meeting between Rudaj and Gambino Boss Arnold "Zeke" Squitieri, both sides almost fought and killed one another at the meeting, but a truce was made. "The Corporation" would share some of it's profits with the Gambinos and be recognized as somewhat of a 6th Family. But the Feds rolled in and took down Rudaj and the whole crew, even the Italian members. The Albanians today in New York are not organized together, but operate as different crews, and for the most part get fairly along with the 5 Families, better than Rudaj and his crew.

i remember when sonny was recently indicted one of the guys that he use to shake down the strip club was a young albanian who sonny referred to as the "albanian baby" or soemthing like that anyways this guy was ruthless he stabbed the club owner through his hand with a screwdriver!

what guy was ruthless Sonny Franzese or the Albanian?

the albanian in this case

sonny was ruthless obcourse in his heyday, hes the living legend of lcn

so the future for the italian-american mafia is the albanians, one day.

Well I think you are always going to have an Italian Mafia. The future for the Italians is the N'Drangheta, I think the ways and traditions of Cosa Nostra will steep backwards to Sicily and only operate there. N'Drangheta Crime Families are in Canada, Australia, Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Unites States, and throughout Europe. It's undisputed that they are the most powerful criminal organization in the world. I mean the Russians want no part of these guys whatsoever, and the ruskies are banannas. I think in the U.S we will see N'Drangheta Families settle in all major cities on a higher level within the next 20 years, if they havent already and we just dont know it. I think we will see this with the Camorra as well.

albanians? really? theyr a bunch of cowboy junkie gangbangers i thought this post was about lcn ? u guys need to step up ur game when it comes to posting cos this shit getting boring

The definitive dead horse. The whole Rudaj story in a nutshell....


Nardino “Lenny” Colotti had been a Gambino associate for years, working under soldier Phil “Skinny Phil” Loscalzo in the Morris Park area of the Bronx. When Skinny Phil died, Lenny was put under Joseph Gambino, who was active on Arthur Avenue. Lenny was unhappy because he was never made. Lenny was close with a number of Albanians, including Alex Rudaj, Nikola Dedaj, and others. He and the Albanians got into a confrontation where he “raised hands” to some made Gambino guys. Anyone who knows mob protocol knows this is a big no no. Lenny was called on the carpet by Joe Gambino and basically told that he was cut off and on his own. This is where they decided they were going to try and take things over for themselves. Some gambling spots and outlets for video poker machines in the Bronx, Westchester, and Queens. Some of these places were connected to Joe and Sal Gambino, the Mascias, and others who were all relatives of Carlo Gambino and Paul Castellano. These guys were old time “zips” and multi-millionaires. They also weren’t very well liked by the Gotti faction of the family, who was currently in power. Lenny and Rudaj knew this, as well as the fact that old Gambino guys who were multi-millionaires with legit property would not think it was worth it to go to war with a bunch of crazy Albanians who had nothing to lose over some coffee shops and a few joker poker machines. This emboldened them to start making moves.

When the Rudaj guys pistol-whipped some Greek guys that ran the gambling club in Astoria, Queens for the Lucchese family, the Luccheses didn’t react because the whole scene was already too hot. The FBI had already begun investigating the Rudaj gang. Even though it is one of the smaller families, the Luccheses have a lot of “shooters,” i.e. members capable of murder. In fact, the Luccheses have more killers than the entire Rudaj gang had members. But because of the law enforcement heat, the Luccheses decided to just wait it out. Not too long afterwards, the Rudaj gang assaulted a guy who was running another gambling club in Queens that had been recently opened by the Gambinos. This is what led to the meeting at the gas station in New Jersey. Led by Gambino member Arnold “Zeke” Squitieri, the Gambinos had about 30 guys there, all armed to the teeth with guns, bats, and other weapons. The Rudaj guys were greatly outnumbered but stood their ground. When the two groups couldn’t come to an agreement, things got heated, and Squitieri pointed a gun at Rudaj. In response, one of Rudaj’s men pointed his shotgun at a gas pump and threatened to blow everyone up. Squitieri thought the Rudaj guys just might be crazy enough to do it and told his guys to back off, ending the meeting.

Even though the Rudaj guys were acting like cowboys, they knew their limits. As said, they went after places belonging to some old Gambino zips that weren’t very well liked in the family and were basically near retirement. The guys they went after in Queens were Greeks, not Italians. This was during the time when the Gambino family was fractured and not operating as a single unit, but more as a group of scattered crews. However, there were clubs in the Bronx run by other Gambino captains, like Vinny Artuso and Sal Locascio, that the Rudaj gang didn’t touch. And they didn’t dare go near the Genovese and Bonanno clubs in the area. The whole incident at Rao’s was seen as a total joke. Nobody took it seriously. In any event, it wasn’t long before the Rudaj crew got indicted. Lenny, Rudaj, and the other top leaders of the gang got prison sentences ranging from 22 to 27 years each. As usually happens, all the property the Rudaj guys had amassed on Arthur Avenue, Crescent Avenue, Morris Park, and City Island got taken by the government and sold at auction. Their families weren’t left with anything. There are still Albanians around but they are a lot more low key and in the shadows than when the Rudaj guys were running wild. They’re into things like burglaries, video poker machines, narcotics, etc. A lot of them still work for the Italian crime families. Many Albanians spend a few years in Italy before immigrating to the United States. That’s where they have developed connections with the Italians.

Great post Ivy. Real interesting stuff.

Ivy you said it was during the time "the family (Gambino) was fractured and not operating as a single unit" Does that mean that now the family is? I guess the family had been fractured since Castellano took over?

I think it was after Gotti got down, nowadays they seem to be "one family".

Yeah, the family seems to be operating more cohesively now. But as late as 2004, law enforcement was saying the Gambinos were "Balkanized." I guess you could say the rift started way back when Paul took over and continued, to a degree, up to the time Rudaj and his guys started making their moves. Which is one of the reasons the Gotti faction, who was in power at the time, didn't do much to deal with the Albanian problem. At least not until the problem became theirs too once the Albanians shut down a Greek gambling club in Queens that was affiliated with them - which resulted in the meeting between Squitieri and Rudaj at the gas station.

Good point, Ivy. The Albanians knew their limits.

It's worth mentioning that there wasn't a single Albanian in the Bronx who wasn't deathly afraid of Zef Mustafa. Mustafa, who was Frankie Loc's bodyguard for years, is an Albanian himself. But his loyalty was always with the Italians. I'm sure that he was instrumental in keeping them out of Tore's clubs and Vinny's restaurants.

Zef was at the bar at Amici's just about every day. Amici's was Vinny Artuso's restaurant on the corner of 187th Street and Hoffman Street. There was no way any of the Albanians would have dared to disrespect that place. Zef would have handled them personally. Amici's is long gone now. Just like Vinny .

The Albanians don't have near the population to ever be a big threat like the Italians or Russians. The population of Albania is just over 3 million. Italy has 60 million and Russia has about 300 million. As Ivy said all it took was one indictment to wipe out the most powerful Albanian crew ever in the USA. What does that say about Albanian OC if all it takes is 1 indictment to decimate their strongest crew?

I believe Ivy was meaning the albanian crew associated with the Gambino family the Rudaj gang that colided with gambino and Lucchese crime families, Other albanian criminal groups in America just pay a tax to the mob maybe, but in Detroit they seem to be big its kind of hard for F.B.I to keep up with them cause of their language and not many rats.

Zef Mustafa is an interesting figure. Quite a rep the guy has. This in an older article (2005) but still a pretty good one about him;
http://www.villagevoice.com/2005-02-15/news/the-mob-s-multimillion-dollar-batter/

Yeah,there was no way the Rudaj crew could seriously fuck around with any of the Five Families.That's just wishful thinking.Even when they were at their weakest the Luccheses or the Gambinos still had alot of muscle.

I've never read of any independent Albanian groups paying a street tax to the LCN. Simply that some work for the Italian crime families as enforcers, burglars, etc. My main point was that the media, as it often does, over-hyped the impact and scope of the Rudaj organization. It's a cyclical thing they often engage in since the "new overthrowing the old" makes for good press.

Kinda like how the Russians were touted in the nineties as the sexy new threat that was moving in on LCN and the American underworld, cuz they were so violent and ruthless that local OC didn't stand a chance.

In reality; sure they operated in the States, but it was mostly finacial scams and drug op's. And there are relatively few actual cases of LCN and Russian OC groups conflicting.

Albanian, particularly in the Bronx, were a know factor in OC activity. They initially made their mark in heroin dealing and were rash enough to threaten prosecutors, even Giuliani, with death although nothing came of it.
In the new book Mob Killer about Charlie Carneglia there is a section in there about an Albanian from the Bronx who didn't care who the Gambino family was. He wanted to get his money back and is said to have threatened even some members of John Gotti' crew. The Albanians have a tough reputation in New York, even squeezing the Lucchese family out of gambling areas, but the community isn't large enough for them to rival the Five Families.

Do tell.What money?And what became of him?

Yes and then he turned rat. John ALite cared who the Gambiono's were when he went to them for help after being threatened by a store merchant. Alite was a small time hood who made threats and was then put in his place. He then decided to rat on his former associates when it became clear his future was bleak.

The same John Alite who was best friends with John jr who then turned rat and was obviously fixing his testimony to try to sink Jr and in the end Jr got off.

Yep, that's the guy in question.

"I hate these fuckin' Albanians, I hate them. If you have a beef with them, you have to kill them right away. There's no talking to them." - Genovese soldier Pasquale "Patty" Falcetti

LOL, what book is that quote from Ivy? Thanks for sharing.

It's been in few articles.

On page 118 of "Mob Killer" there is a passage about "George The Albanian" who was owed $60,000 by a friend of Jolhn "Junior" Gotti. The book states that George wasn't impressed with the clout of the Gambino family an threatened all sorts of mayhew if the money wasn't repaid. Eventually the money was repaid when it was passed through Charles Carneglia to George, according to John Alite, the book says.