Luchese Family Poised to Massacre Albanians in '04

Back in the 1990s, the Albanian Mafia in New York was named the Rudaj Organization, for Alex Rudaj, the boss of the group.

But the members gave their group a formal name: "The Corporation." They started operating in 1993 in Westchester, then spread into the Bronx and Queens, eventually running into mob-affiliated crews.

Alex Rudaj, former Albanian boss.


The Corporation's operations ceased in late October of 2004, when Alex Rudaj and 21 others were hurriedly arrested by the FBI and Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office.

The arrests of the Albanians occurred earlier than the Feds had planned because they had gathered some intel that Luchese family members were arming themselves to the teeth and were planning to shoot it out with the Albanians and kill as many of them as they could.



Cosa Nostra News recently learned this when we interviewed a former federal agent.

"The Luchese were getting ready to whack all of them," the agent said. "[The Lucheses] were just tired of them. They'd gotten too big for their britches." The Feds, literally, scooped up the Albanians right before the Lucheses could strike.

Vinny Gorgeous sent guys armed with a machine gun.


"We really came close that time," the agent noted.
In fact, during a bail hearing following the October arrest, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Treanor said that the Albanian mob had taken over the operations of the Luchese family in Astoria, Queens.

In addition, the AUA noted that Rudaj himself had lead an attack in August 2001 on two Greek associates of the Luchese crime family who ran a gambling racket inside a Greek social club called Soccer Fever at 26-80 30th St.in Queens. Rudaj and at least six other men entered the club with guns, beating one of the men in the head with a pistol and chasing others out of the neighborhood by threatening to destroy the building.
It is interesting that the AUA highlighted the Luchese family, because, based on previous information, the Gambinos and Bonannos seemed more likely to start a shooting war with the Albanians. The Albanians were making moves on several fronts when they expanded from Westchester into the New York burroughs. The Gambinos suffered perhaps the biggest indignity when an Albanian held a gun to the head of the boss of the family.
In those years (2003 to 2009), the Luchese family was run by a ruling panel consisting of Aniello Migliore, Joseph DiNapoli (DiNapoli was a capo in the Bronx; he likely was the Luchese most closely tied to the Albanian effort) and Matthew Madonna. Louis "Bagels" Daidone was acting boss from around 2000, but was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to life in 2004.

According to the agent, the Albanians had, in fact, been working with the Gambinos for a while. It was an Albanian-Gambino stripclub shakedown that put the Jack Falcone investigation into play.

Beginning in the 1990s, the Corporation had established ties with members of the Gambino 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.

The Albanian groups have for decades been established as a major segment of Europe's organized crime landscape. They are known to traffic in humans and narcotics.

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," Matt Heron, the head of the F.B.I.'s organized crime unit in New York, told the New York Times. "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," Jerry Capeci also told the Times.

The Times further noted that, the rougher stuff has fallen to the Albanian gangs, according to Tom Metz, a senior investigator with the F.B.I. "They are more prone to violence and activities like bookmaking and murder," he said.

Zeke, former Gambino boss 


When the Gambinos worked with Rudaj, he and his thugs did indeed carry out the rough stuff.
As per the scam, the Albanians would sally into a strip club and make their presence known, so that management and the clubs' bouncers would approach them. Wrong move.

"The Albanians beat the hell out of everyone," the agent told us. "Then, the next day, some Gambinos would show up, offering protection, for a fee, which they would split with the Albanians."

At some point, probably when the Albanians started making moves into Mafia territory, the relationship soured.
As we noted in a previous story, Gambino boss Arnold Squitieri sought a meeting to resolve some problems.

Twenty Gambinos, all armed with everything from guns to baseball bats, accompanied Squitieri. Rudaj brought six guys.

According to FBI agent Joaquin Garcia, who had infiltrated the Gambino crime family during this period, Squitieri told Rudaj that it was game over, but that the wily Albanian gangster could keep whatever he'd managed to take up until the sitdown. (They had once been partners; I always wondered about Zeke's "generosity.")

Then one thing leads to another, a gun is pressed against Zeke's head, and nearly 30 armed guys were ready to go at it. The Albanians threatened to blow up the gas station with all of them in it. This ended the sitdown.
The Albanians also had trouble with all the other families. When Rudaj butted heads with a crew of car thieves tied to Vinny Gorgeous Basciano, the gangster who would later serve as an acting boss of the family sent two of his men with machine guns to tell Rudaj that the crew was under the protection of the Bonanno flag.

But in the end, it was Luchese justice that sent Rudaj and his guys to prison.

In 2006 Rudaj was sentenced to 27 years in prison.


Comments

  1. Drita D'avanzo of Mob Wives is Albanian

    ReplyDelete
  2. What information does he have to offer the federal government? That is the ultimate question. Is he going to flip?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well with another Philly trial done and another in the wings the next trial can change the MOBSTERS OF BROTHERLY LOVE FOREVER except for the Angello Bruno hit and we all know how that ended up. With Joey in Fla UJ and his Family about to be picked up in the Galati ins scandal among.st other things the faces of the Philly mob can change forever.with Boy George Borgesi running things the shit gonna hit the fan soon. Most of UJ crew is in Jail him and his nephew hate each other Joeys guys lance' Johnny chang and Stevie mazzone arent the best fan s of Boy George Borgesi. Wirh that said these Four guys and UJ are the only ones who can hurt Joey i dont see UJ talking he is the ladt of the old School guys the other four are looking at a murder rap also forgot Marty the penguin Angelina could hurt Joey also.
    When uncle Joe ran things and u came up light in ur envelope u could make arrangements to straigten that out with Boy George running things that psycho fuck would rather set u on far or beat u to a slow death with a pipe so u see the problem also NICKY SCARFO SR boys are also back on the Street after doing 20 or more yrs and with the Ligambi Galati trial and nobodys sure what Nicodemo is gonna do alot of positions can become availble and philly isnt like NY the pie is not big enough to support everybody and if Nicky Sr boys get in the top spots there not very fond of Joey Merlino. Johnny chang on the othet hand probably can mend the fences with the Scarfo boys but if people start talking he.s probably going back too so it should be a interesting 2 yrs for the
    MOBSTERS OF BROTHERLY LOVE AND THE NEW BOSS OF THE BORGESI LIGAMBI CRIME FAMILY BOY GEORGE BORGESI STAY TUNED! !!

    ReplyDelete
  4. There's an interesting fact of mafia history thanks for sharing lefty. Smh...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well one door closes and another one opens the Galati and ligambi familys will be going to trial some time this year and with Nicodemo trial starting some time in 2015 its going to be a long 2 yrs for the MOBSTERS OF BROTHERLY LOVE and with
    NEW BOSS BOY GEORGE BORGESI RUNNING THE BORGESI LIGAMBI CRIME FAMILY the shit will hit the fan soon.
    With these trials coming up if people start talking it could change the faces of the Philly mob like never before except for when Angelo Bruno was killed and we all seen the results from that. With Boy George running things and UJ having family issues from the Galati scandal Joey merlino in fla and the scarfo crew back out afyer 25 yrs theres not enough pie to feed everybody its not like NY its a small pie and to many to feed but if some guys start talkingNicodemo being one of them and Joeys boys start talking then the faces will change UJ boys are gone Joeys not to well liked by the scarfo crew and lance Johnny chang Stevie Mazxone and marty the penguine Angeline and UJ are the only ones who could hurt Joey UJ not gonna talk he.s old school the other guys are gonna get 20 or more on any racket case so with that said should be a interesting 2yrs for the MOBSTERS OF BROTHERLY LOVE AND NEW BOSS BOY GEORGE BORGESI oh ya if u owe money to Boy Georgre Borgesi u better pay it that Psycho will set u on fire or beat u eith a pipe not like Uncle Joes crew if ur envelope was lite u could make arrangements not with this boss. The old saying be carefull what u wish for u might just get it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. When Rudaj and his people were arrested, there were remnants of the group that remained. A new Albanian group eventually built itself back up and were jailed this past January. See the story I link to. Who was the capo and when was he recorded? I'll have to look into that, interesting....

    ReplyDelete
  7. I don't know who the capo is but it was around the mid 2000's I think. Ahh I see that they rebuilt themselves. There might be another big confrontation in the future.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm wondering too. Also could that bust have happened "prematurely" as well!!!! Ronen, I like your comments, I gets lots of story ideas. Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. The media and feds like to hype up all these stories it's a tactic. Divide and conquer etc. Meanwhile they are probably out there listening to phone calls wiretaps waiting to build a case. It's prob more likely that criminal organizations work together then have beefs. In fact Rudaj organization had many break away Italian mobsters in it. Another reason for the 6th family reference. Now that's not to say that beefs don't happen but I'm sure all out war would never happen not a smart business move. Then again both the feds and the media would love that selling papers and making convictions possible from exposure.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What media? What papers?? This was never reported. I got it 10 years after the fact by a source I worked. It's called a scoop. You won't find this story anywhere in the media. If you do find a version somewhere, it will be based on my story, unattributed, just look my scoop on Punchy Illiano's death. This is a Fed doing this blog a favor, revealing never before released information. I'm a journalist and this is the kind of story I specifically focus on. I guess I need to start using the EXCLUSIVE label again, but I thought it was understood.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Rudaj was a dead man walking. Whatever good will he built was gone. And wiseguys with him after me moved into Astoria, especially, had nowhere else to go. He was a mad dog, put a gone to the head of the boss of the Gambino family. The Lucheses, just getting out of the Gaspipe/Amuso/D'Arco debacle were probably trying to save face. They were a day of way to a shootout in the streets, the feds are supposed to save all lives and had to intervened but wanted to keep the real reason a secret. They'd been investigating Daidone, Rudaj, the Falcone opt was underway. Lot going on at the time.

    ReplyDelete
  12. So why didn't the feds indict those luchese guys on conspiracy charges? It sure seems they have or had the evidence.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Albanians were indicted; they were the guys attacking other families, committing violence and robbery etc. How do you indict people before they comit a crime? The Feds had just smashed the Lucheses. They arrested Daidone, D'Arco helped the feds make mincemeat out of them prior to that. The Gambinos were the big fish at the time. Plus the Feds wanted to keep it quiet because Falcone was under way and they didn't want to warn the Gambinos.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I thought after Rudaj and the Albanians bit the dust that the Italians re-established Astoria with the Greeks or vice versa or cooperating Albanians. There are still joint ventures amongst the Albanians and Italians from what I understand. If that was the 1970's or early '80's, the Albanians would have been slaughtered.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The police and feds do this all the time with gangs. They either start busting people or saturating a certain area with officers in order to quell retaliation. I think that if a war did get under way he would have a good chance of surviving it. I mean if they fail in killing him straight away i don't think that these old timers who are leaders are gonna want a prolonged war with anyone where there having to look over their shoulders and hide their loved ones especially with an outside group as crazy as the albanians.

    ReplyDelete
  16. from the recent cases it seems that any major albanian group is into large scale drug trafficking. I know that they do engage in extortion within their community and also operate gambling ventures but i don't think the movers and shakers in that community are going out their way to take over gambling joints.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yeah the Albanians built back up....a key group were sentenced this past January. I covered it, I did a story in Jan. Ill look for link....

    ReplyDelete
  18. last I remember the sacki bros were running Astoria ( greeks)

    ReplyDelete
  19. still a lot of Albanians on Webster and around 206 st in the bronx

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment