Feds Bust Albabian Mafia
The DEA and NYPD made a major dent in the American Albanian Mafia with targeted raids throughout the big apple in which combined law enforcement agencies busted 37 members and associates of an Albanian mob drug trafficking ring
read the story by Mitchel Maddux , NY Post
The Drug Enforcement Administration and the NYPD swooped in this morning with simultaneous large-scale raids throughout the city — and reaching into the suburbs, upstate and overseas — smashing a drug trafficking ring run here by the Albanian mafia.
The massive fed-coordinated raid locally nabbed at least 27 of 37 alleged members and associates of an Albanian mob made up of several family clans and involving “hundreds of associates and customers spanning three continents,” officials said.
Among other illicit activities, Brooklyn federal prosecutors say the organization ran an international drug trafficking ring that smuggled large quantities of hydroponically-grown marijuana from Canada into the Big Apple
Ecstasy was brought in from the Netherlands and Canada, while cocaine was transported from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Peru, officials said. The organization also trafficked in substantial quantities of highly-addictive prescription pills, such as the pain killer Oxycontin, the feds say.
But the organization also specialized in sending drugs abroad, procuring large quantities of cocaine in the US and shipping it across the Atlantic and Mediterranean to Albania and elsewhere in Europe, officials said. The coke was secreted in hidden compartments inside luxury automobiles that were shipped from supposedly “legitimate” car dealerships that the feds say were run by the mobsters.
An earlier case linked to today’s action was the arrest last month of a reputed Albanian mobster who blew a planned hit on another mob associate because he let his temper get the best of him.
Bajram Lajqi — who also went by the street name “Van Damme” after the Brussels-born action movie star Jean-Claude Van Damme — and a henchman tracked down the man after a falling out over the drug-smuggling scheme from Canada, according to a report filed by Brooklyn federal prosecutor Steven Tiscione.
Shortly before midnight on June 3, Lajqi and his cohort, Carlos Alvarez, went to the Tosca Cafe on East Tremont Avenue in The Bronx, according to an official report.
Before entering the restaurant, investigators believe the pair first located their intended victim’s car, which was parked outside, and punctured all its tires.
NYPD detectives and DEA agents investigating the incident later came to believe this was a tactic aimed at making it hard for the victim to flee.
read the rest Click here: Feds, NYPD bust 37 in NY-based Albanian drug ring – NYPOST.com
Arrests were made in The Bronx, Brooklyn, MaRockland, Orange and Albany counties
Federal agents seized 18 firearms and ammunition during the early morning raids, officials said.
An earlier case linked to today’s action was the arrest last month of a reputed Albanian mobster who blew a planned hit on another mob associate because he let his temper get the best of him.
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