Barney Bellomo

[Nick Prango]

Didn’t the Albanians try to muscle in on some Bronx Gambino Crews craps games and were dealt with?

They muscled in on Greek gambling clubs in Queens under the protection of the the Luccheses as well as another club there the Gambinos had recently opened. That's what led to the gas station confrontation in New Jersey where the Albanians ultimately backed down. Joaquin Garcia said the Albanians realized they had pushed things as far as they could go. A retired FBI agent said the Luccheses were planning on killing Rudaj and Colotti when the Albanians were taken down in the 2004 indictment. Of course, that group was an outlier, going on 20 years ago now, and was really hyped by the press (like it does with whoever the latest OC group is). Since then, it's been Albanians simply doing their own thing or working with or for the Mafia.

You are right. I am a Macedonian from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Macedonia. Here in my country 24% of population are Albanians. I am Macedonian, but some of my livelong friends are Albanians and Turks. Albanians who have family members living in New York and New Jersey told me that Albanian crews mostly work for the Italian crime families in Northeastern United states. Some of them are even bragging that their relatives are with the Gambinos or Genoveses. They told me that Albanians don't really have any big syndicates in the US, just some small crews. From what Albanians told me Albanian crews in USA are not involved in traditional organized crime rackets. They are heavily involved in drugs and mostly work for the Italian crime families in Northeastern United states.

[Nick Prango]

Didn’t the Albanians try to muscle in on some Bronx Gambino Crews craps games and were dealt with?

They muscled in on Greek gambling clubs in Queens under the protection of the the Luccheses as well as another club there the Gambinos had recently opened. That's what led to the gas station confrontation in New Jersey where the Albanians ultimately backed down. Joaquin Garcia said the Albanians realized they had pushed things as far as they could go. A retired FBI agent said the Luccheses were planning on killing Rudaj and Colotti when the Albanians were taken down in the 2004 indictment. Of course, that group was an outlier, going on 20 years ago now, and was really hyped by the press (like it does with whoever the latest OC group is). Since then, it's been Albanians simply doing their own thing or working with or for the Mafia.

In this video retired FBI agent Joaquín "Jack" García explains how Gambino crime family used Albanians to extort strip clubs in early 2000s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbTekirToO0

[Wiseguy]

They told me that Albanians don't really have any big syndicates in the US, just some small crews. From what Albanians told me Albanian crews in USA are not involved in traditional organized crime rackets. They are heavily involved in drugs and mostly work for the Italian crime families in Northeastern United states.

The Albanians operate much like the Russian and Asian groups do - small, more horizontal, fluid, loosely organized. One FBI agent said these groups are more about particular scams than taking over territory, industries, etc. More criminal enterprises than organized crime another said. On one hand, it makes them more difficult to detect and prosecute but it also keeps them from developing the size and organization needed to ever be a real threat to the Mafia. It's why the big predictions in the 1990s about the Russians being such a threat never materialized.