Alex Rudaj and the albanians

[slimshady_007]

Why didnt the mob whack albanian mob boss alex rudaj? He took over Luchese territory in ‘01, took one of the gambino’s tables at Rao’s, amongst other disrespectful moves towards La Cosa Nostra. What was holdin back any of the families from killing alex? Did they feel intimidated by the albanians and feared possible consequences from killing rudaj? Did some mobsters back them? Its always baffled me that alex and his crew were on the street for so long doin the shit they did.

[SonnyBlackstein]

This was fresh after the Columbo war and the mob knew the last thing it needed was another full scale conflict on the streets. They had already imposed a moratorium on killing if I recall correctly due to Federal pressure. The families were doing everything to avoid LE attention, the last thing for them to do was engage in a war.

[slimshady_007]

This was fresh after the Columbo war and the mob knew the last thing it needed was another full scale conflict on the streets. They had already imposed a moratorium on killing if I recall correctly due to Federal pressure. The families were doing everything to avoid LE attention, the last thing for them to do was engage in a war.

Good take. If the whole rudaj-lcn conflict happened more recently, as we know the mob now has much less federal pressure, ya think rudaj would’ve been killed?

[Wiseguy]

The Rudaj organization is one of the dead horse topics on the forums. In the long run, Albanians were just the latest group the press latched onto and claimed would be the ones to push the mob aside. Never happened. The Rudaj organization, far from a "sixth family," was taken out in a single indictment. However, we have seen cases involving other Albanian groups since then, including some with them working with/for NY LCN families.


Nevertheless, here's a timeline of the Rudaj organization. May need some corrections, additions, etc.


1993 - Organization founded by Nardino Colotti and Alex Rudaj and included Albanians, Italians, and Greeks. Colotti owned Italian cafes in Bronx where he had gambling machines. Colotti was a Gambino associate beforehand under soldier Phil "Skinny Phil" Loscalzo. One of his cafes was in Bonanno territory. Basciano and someone from Genovese family met with Colotti and the three families agreed to split winnings. As an aside, Bronx gambling territory - Gambinos had Morris Park area, Genovese and Bonannos had South Bronx including Throgs Neck.

December 1993 - Attempted murder of Bonanno assiciate Gaetano Peduto (shot ar his car during car chase) over dispute about Peduto's stolen car operation in the Bronx that stole 2,100 high end cars worth over $20 million. The Rudaj organization wanted money from operation because it was stealing cars in Colotti's territory. Basciano sent two guys with machine guns to confront Colotti. Peduto later worked out a deal with Colotti and stole cars for him too.

1999 - Tried to take over a Mount Vernon bar, Puerto Roja, owned by Salvatore Misale in 1999. Misale went to FBI after he was assaulted.

June 2001 - Severely beat 5 members of Astoria gambling community when they stormed Stamatis club run by Fotios Dimopoulos and Antonios Balampanis (an Albanian from Greece), who had overseen gambling in Astoria for Luccheses. Balampanis beaten and pistol whipped. The organization originally agreed to pay Luccheses $1,500 a week for lost revenue but this stopped after several months.

August 2001 - Stormed another Astoria gambling club (Soccer Fever - Barbout game made $8,000 first night) opened by Gambinos (Tommy Napoli) and shut it down the second night by overturning tables and beating one of the Greek owners of the game, Mikhail Hirakis. The Rudaj organization opened or began collecting tribute payments from these Astoria gambling clubs: Athenia on Newtown Avenue, The Saloni Social Club on 30th Avenue, Sanidisi on 31st Street, Skutarija on 23rd Avenue, Unidentified club on 30th Avenue, Zeus on 23rd Avenue.

August/September 2001 - The time of the infamous gas station meeting between the Gambinos and the Rudaj organization. While the Rudaj guys were vastly outnumbered, some press reports claimed it was the Gambinos who backed down. However, FBI agent Jack Garcia (who was undercover with the Gambinos at the time) said the Rudaj guys realized they had pushed things as far as they could and it was they who backed down.

2002 - The organization ran a bookmaking operation in Port Chester that took in $250,000 in bets a week. Also ran card games that could take in as much as $15,000 a night.

2003 - Claimed a table at Rao’s that was used by John Gotti.

October 2004 - 22 Rudaj organization members indicted. Later said at trial to have collected at least $4 million a year from 50 gambling machines in Bronx, Westchester, and Queens. (Based on prosecutors estimate that 100 machines bringing in $750 a week could bring in $4 million a year). $9.2 million sought from the 22 defendants in case, as well as 4 properties.

March 2015 - fight at Danbury reported where Colombo soldier Vito Guzzo, Gambino soldiers Michael Yannotti and Michael Roccaforte, and Bonanno soldier Edward Lino beat up Prenka Ivazaj and Colotti after several Albanian inmates beat up older Italian inmate in his cell. Dispute originally over allegience of an inmate who had ties to both groups.


Note: I didn't forget the story about the Rudaj guys
stripping an old Gambino member (or two?) at meeting, stealing his wallet, and throwing him in the street. However, I haven't been able to determine where, when, or who exactly this supposedly happened to.

[slimshady_007]

The Rudaj organization is one of the dead horse topics on the forums. In the long run, Albanians were just the latest group the press latched onto and claimed would be the ones to push the mob aside. Never happened. The Rudaj organization, far from a "sixth family," was taken out in a single indictment. However, we have seen cases involving other Albanian groups since then, including some with them working with/for NY LCN families.


Nevertheless, here's a timeline of the Rudaj organization. May need some corrections, additions, etc.


1993 - Organization founded by Nardino Colotti and Alex Rudaj and included Albanians, Italians, and Greeks. Colotti owned Italian cafes in Bronx where he had gambling machines. Colotti was a Gambino associate beforehand under soldier Phil "Skinny Phil" Loscalzo. One of his cafes was in Bonanno territory. Basciano and someone from Genovese family met with Colotti and the three families agreed to split winnings. As an aside, Bronx gambling territory - Gambinos had Morris Park area, Genovese and Bonannos had South Bronx including Throgs Neck.

December 1993 - Attempted murder of Bonanno assiciate Gaetano Peduto (shot ar his car during car chase) over dispute about Peduto's stolen car operation in the Bronx that stole 2,100 high end cars worth over $20 million. The Rudaj organization wanted money from operation because it was stealing cars in Colotti's territory. Basciano sent two guys with machine guns to confront Colotti. Peduto later worked out a deal with Colotti and stole cars for him too.

1999 - Tried to take over a Mount Vernon bar, Puerto Roja, owned by Salvatore Misale in 1999. Misale went to FBI after he was assaulted.

June 2001 - Severely beat 5 members of Astoria gambling community when they stormed Stamatis club run by Fotios Dimopoulos and Antonios Balampanis (an Albanian from Greece), who had overseen gambling in Astoria for Luccheses. Balampanis beaten and pistol whipped. The organization originally agreed to pay Luccheses $1,500 a week for lost revenue but this stopped after several months.

August 2001 - Stormed another Astoria gambling club (Soccer Fever - Barbout game made $8,000 first night) opened by Gambinos (Tommy Napoli) and shut it down the second night by overturning tables and beating one of the Greek owners of the game, Mikhail Hirakis. The Rudaj organization opened or began collecting tribute payments from these Astoria gambling clubs: Athenia on Newtown Avenue, The Saloni Social Club on 30th Avenue, Sanidisi on 31st Street, Skutarija on 23rd Avenue, Unidentified club on 30th Avenue, Zeus on 23rd Avenue.

August/September 2001 - The time of the infamous gas station meeting between the Gambinos and the Rudaj organization. While the Rudaj guys were vastly outnumbered, some press reports claimed it was the Gambinos who backed down. However, FBI agent Jack Garcia (who was undercover with the Gambinos at the time) said the Rudaj guys realized they had pushed things as far as they could and it was they who backed down.

2002 - The organization ran a bookmaking operation in Port Chester that took in $250,000 in bets a week. Also ran card games that could take in as much as $15,000 a night.

2003 - Claimed a table at Rao’s that was used by John Gotti.

October 2004 - 22 Rudaj organization members indicted. Later said at trial to have collected at least $4 million a year from 50 gambling machines in Bronx, Westchester, and Queens. (Based on prosecutors estimate that 100 machines bringing in $750 a week could bring in $4 million a year). $9.2 million sought from the 22 defendants in case, as well as 4 properties.

March 2015 - fight at Danbury reported where Colombo soldier Vito Guzzo, Gambino soldiers Michael Yannotti and Michael Roccaforte, and Bonanno soldier Edward Lino beat up Prenka Ivazaj and Colotti after several Albanian inmates beat up older Italian inmate in his cell. Dispute originally over allegience of an inmate who had ties to both groups.


Note: I didn't forget the story about the Rudaj guys
stripping an old Gambino member (or two?) at meeting, stealing his wallet, and throwing him in the street. However, I haven't been able to determine where, when, or who exactly this supposedly happened to.

Rudaj got a rlly heavy sentence in that case. 27 years is a crazy sentence for gambling and loansharking offences. Unless he got additional violent charges.

[Wiseguy]

Rudaj got a rlly heavy sentence in that case. 27 years is a crazy sentence for gambling and loansharking offences. Unless he got additional violent charges.

Not when the gambling and loansharking are predicates in a RICO case. And, yes, there were violent acts in the charges.

[Wiseguy]

Parts/excerpts from the Jack Falcone book...


Pg 136 - Garcia talks about how the Gambinos got the Albanians to back off a strip club the feds were secretly running. He said it either showed the mob was strong enough to bully the Albanians or the two were working together.


Pg 245-249 - Garcia talked about how the Albanians had replaced the Westies as the mob's hired muscle. But the Albanians wanted to be a sixth crime family. They went into Astoria - Lucchese territory - and placed joker poker machines in Lucchese controlled establishments, beat people up, and shook down businesses. For a time, they also took over the extortion payments ($5,000 a month and free meals) the Gambinos were getting from Valbella's in Greenwhich, CT. DePalma took the place back when he got out of prison. DePalma told Garcia about a time two made guys went to a sitdown with the Albanians in the Bronx and were stripped naked and thrown into the street. DePalma sat down with the Albanians and straightened out most of the problems but not all. By late September 2005, things had deteriorated to the point that the two groups met at a gas station near the New Jersey Turnpike. The Gambinos, led by boss Arnold Squitieri, had 20 guys, all armed. The Albanians had half a dozen, but were also armed. Squitieri told them, "You took what you took and you ain't takin' no more or there's going to be a problem, you understand." The leader of the Albanains told one of his guys to shoot the gas tanks if the Gambinos started shooting and they would "all go."

Garcia wrote, "The confrontation could have gone either way, but the Gambinos had twenty guys there and the Albanians had only half a dozen. The Albanains had worked with the Gambinos long enough to have respect for La Cosa Nostra, and at the gas station, the Albanians blinked first. Somehow, Greg gold me, the Albanians listened to reason...or at least to Squitieri's threats. They were outnumbered at the gas station, and they must have finally realized the Gambino family was too powerful to be fucked with. Greg told me the Albanians were spanked, and they never evolved into that sixth organized crime family in New York."

[Nicholas]

Helluva write up Wiseguy. Good shit

[JeremyTheJew]

would the Rudaj "org" compare to purple gang?

[slimshady_007]

Parts/excerpts from the Jack Falcone book...


Pg 136 - Garcia talks about how the Gambinos got the Albanians to back off a strip club the feds were secretly running. He said it either showed the mob was strong enough to bully the Albanians or the two were working together.


Pg 245-249 - Garcia talked about how the Albanians had replaced the Westies as the mob's hired muscle. But the Albanians wanted to be a sixth crime family. They went into Astoria - Lucchese territory - and placed joker poker machines in Lucchese controlled establishments, beat people up, and shook down businesses. For a time, they also took over the extortion payments ($5,000 a month and free meals) the Gambinos were getting from Valbella's in Greenwhich, CT. DePalma took the place back when he got out of prison. DePalma told Garcia about a time two made guys went to a sitdown with the Albanians in the Bronx and were stripped naked and thrown into the street. DePalma sat down with the Albanians and straightened out most of the problems but not all. By late September 2005, things had deteriorated to the point that the two groups met at a gas station near the New Jersey Turnpike. The Gambinos, led by boss Arnold Squitieri, had 20 guys, all armed. The Albanians had half a dozen, but were also armed. Squitieri told them, "You took what you took and you ain't takin' no more or there's going to be a problem, you understand." The leader of the Albanains told one of his guys to shoot the gas tanks if the Gambinos started shooting and they would "all go."

Garcia wrote, "The confrontation could have gone either way, but the Gambinos had twenty guys there and the Albanians had only half a dozen. The Albanains had worked with the Gambinos long enough to have respect for La Cosa Nostra, and at the gas station, the Albanians blinked first. Somehow, Greg gold me, the Albanians listened to reason...or at least to Squitieri's threats. They were outnumbered at the gas station, and they must have finally realized the Gambino family was too powerful to be fucked with. Greg told me the Albanians were spanked, and they never evolved into that sixth organized crime family in New York."

I thought the gas station confrontation happened in august/September 2001.

[slimshady_007]

Has anyone watched the documentary on rudaj?

[TommyGambino]

The Rudaj organization is one of the dead horse topics on the forums. In the long run, Albanians were just the latest group the press latched onto and claimed would be the ones to push the mob aside. Never happened. The Rudaj organization, far from a "sixth family," was taken out in a single indictment. However, we have seen cases involving other Albanian groups since then, including some with them working with/for NY LCN families.


Nevertheless, here's a timeline of the Rudaj organization. May need some corrections, additions, etc.


1993 - Organization founded by Nardino Colotti and Alex Rudaj and included Albanians, Italians, and Greeks. Colotti owned Italian cafes in Bronx where he had gambling machines. Colotti was a Gambino associate beforehand under soldier Phil "Skinny Phil" Loscalzo. One of his cafes was in Bonanno territory. Basciano and someone from Genovese family met with Colotti and the three families agreed to split winnings. As an aside, Bronx gambling territory - Gambinos had Morris Park area, Genovese and Bonannos had South Bronx including Throgs Neck.

December 1993 - Attempted murder of Bonanno assiciate Gaetano Peduto (shot ar his car during car chase) over dispute about Peduto's stolen car operation in the Bronx that stole 2,100 high end cars worth over $20 million. The Rudaj organization wanted money from operation because it was stealing cars in Colotti's territory. Basciano sent two guys with machine guns to confront Colotti. Peduto later worked out a deal with Colotti and stole cars for him too.

1999 - Tried to take over a Mount Vernon bar, Puerto Roja, owned by Salvatore Misale in 1999. Misale went to FBI after he was assaulted.

June 2001 - Severely beat 5 members of Astoria gambling community when they stormed Stamatis club run by Fotios Dimopoulos and Antonios Balampanis (an Albanian from Greece), who had overseen gambling in Astoria for Luccheses. Balampanis beaten and pistol whipped. The organization originally agreed to pay Luccheses $1,500 a week for lost revenue but this stopped after several months.

August 2001 - Stormed another Astoria gambling club (Soccer Fever - Barbout game made $8,000 first night) opened by Gambinos (Tommy Napoli) and shut it down the second night by overturning tables and beating one of the Greek owners of the game, Mikhail Hirakis. The Rudaj organization opened or began collecting tribute payments from these Astoria gambling clubs: Athenia on Newtown Avenue, The Saloni Social Club on 30th Avenue, Sanidisi on 31st Street, Skutarija on 23rd Avenue, Unidentified club on 30th Avenue, Zeus on 23rd Avenue.

August/September 2001 - The time of the infamous gas station meeting between the Gambinos and the Rudaj organization. While the Rudaj guys were vastly outnumbered, some press reports claimed it was the Gambinos who backed down. However, FBI agent Jack Garcia (who was undercover with the Gambinos at the time) said the Rudaj guys realized they had pushed things as far as they could and it was they who backed down.

2002 - The organization ran a bookmaking operation in Port Chester that took in $250,000 in bets a week. Also ran card games that could take in as much as $15,000 a night.

2003 - Claimed a table at Rao’s that was used by John Gotti.

October 2004 - 22 Rudaj organization members indicted. Later said at trial to have collected at least $4 million a year from 50 gambling machines in Bronx, Westchester, and Queens. (Based on prosecutors estimate that 100 machines bringing in $750 a week could bring in $4 million a year). $9.2 million sought from the 22 defendants in case, as well as 4 properties.

March 2015 - fight at Danbury reported where Colombo soldier Vito Guzzo, Gambino soldiers Michael Yannotti and Michael Roccaforte, and Bonanno soldier Edward Lino beat up Prenka Ivazaj and Colotti after several Albanian inmates beat up older Italian inmate in his cell. Dispute originally over allegience of an inmate who had ties to both groups.


Note: I didn't forget the story about the Rudaj guys
stripping an old Gambino member (or two?) at meeting, stealing his wallet, and throwing him in the street. However, I haven't been able to determine where, when, or who exactly this supposedly happened to.

Just going off what I've read on the forums it was Loscalzo who was stripped in the bronx

[Wiseguy]

I thought the gas station confrontation happened in august/September 2001.

I'm not sure if Garcia got the timeline confused or what. The indictment of the Rudaj organization was in October 2004 and the December 2004 article below talks about the gas station meeting in the past tense.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.nydailyn ... e-1.655227

[slimshady_007]

I thought the gas station confrontation happened in august/September 2001.

I'm not sure if Garcia got the timeline confused or what. The indictment of the Rudaj organization was in October 2004 and the December 2004 article below talks about the gas station meeting in the past tense.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.nydailyn ... e-1.655227

Garcia prob got the timeline confused. Also the shooting that u said happened in December of 93, i read on wiki that it happened in 96. I could be wrong.

[ChicagoOutfit]

Has anyone watched the documentary on rudaj?

I’ve tried to find it but have never been able to. Does anyone have a link?