Capital New York

No Seinfeldian glee at the temporary storm shelter at John Jay

Happily, some New Yorkers felt that Hurricane Irene, which turned out to be a tropical storm, was much ado about not much. They dismissed the whole thing, according to the New York Times, with “Seinfeldian glee.”

But the event was less easily dismissible for some of the New York’s sick, elderly, very poor, homeless and disabled residents, and for those who were involved, as I was, in the disaster-response effort. More

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By Kevin Heldman

on September 2nd, 2011 8:18am

Runaway sidekick: How little Tani Kocareli escaped from the New York-Albanian mob, then botched it

Neritan (Tani) Kocareli is 30 years old. He arrived in the United States from Albania when he was 17, after he, his brother and his parents won an immigration lottery. Later, he became a citizen.

Tani lived in Ridgewood, Queens and went to high school there, but he only lasted about two years before he started cutting classes and hanging out Albanian toughguys in the nearby La Roma Dei Café. He dropped out, and would eventually get a G.E.D..

That group Tani fell in with at La Roma Dei included the late, violent Genitan Kasa, who became a soldier in the employ of the notorious Krasniqi brothers, Bruno and Saimir. It also included Plaurent Dervishaj, another former associate of the Krasniqis, who is currently at large and on the most-wanted list of federal law enforcement agencies in America and Albania.

At another Albanian spot nearby, the Rogner Café, the customers were just as rough. It included the Albanian drug kingpin, Kujitim Konci (a.k.a. Kujitim Gonxhe, a.k.a. Shpetim Konci) and a major Albanian-American dealer named Parid Gjoka. More

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By Kevin Heldman

on July 29th, 2011 4:08pm

Anatomy of an Albanian-mob coup: The challenge, the balk, the murder

Following close on the heels of the U.S. attorney’s successful conviction of a handful of New York-based Albanian-American gangsters, the NYPD and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration coordinated a far-reaching new bust of the city’s Albanian mob, making arrests throughout the boroughs and beyond.

It’s too soon to tell whether this is the end of an era for the New York-Albanian mob and its role at the center of a global drug network, or if law enforcement as merely made room for new, up-and-coming criminals to take the places of the soldiers they’ve now taken out of commission. More

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By Kevin Heldman

on July 15th, 2011 8:28am

The verdict: Feds chip away at the New York-Albanian mob, with bigger battles to come

I spent about ten months reporting on Albanian organized crime, all leading up to three weeks in a New York federal court house for the first trial of a group Albanian-Americans with ties to the organized international drug trade.

The jury decided the case in one day. More

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By Kevin Heldman

on July 6th, 2011 4:00pm

The big trial: An Albanian-American crime story, from 15 Mile Road to Pearl Street

To understand the story of Albanian organized crime in New York City, where the murder and drug-trafficking trial of the notoriously violent Krasniqi brothers and their associates got underway this week, I had to go to Michigan.

For five hours in a prison on the Canadian border, I sat across a table from Ketjol Manoku. He’s in for murder—ten felony sentences. His latest motion had been denied the day before I arrived. More

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By Kevin Heldman

on June 9th, 2011 9:53pm

Kevin Heldman commented on An introduction to the New York-Albanian mob

Hey this is is Kevin Heldman -- I'm not junior G-man or mafia/crime expert but I went all out on part II of this story and got some good, deep, insightful, hopefully meaningul material -- I'm not looking to sensationalize but I can tell this story of this crew, these people with pretty... with real authenticity and honest emotion. It's not Sopranos and it's not blow by blow who's the biggest gang in the game. But give it a chance and check it out -- should be coming soon -- pass it on if you think it's worthy -- writer needs to be read otherwise I'm just feeding my ego or spinning my wheels. Kevin Heldman kevinjayheldman@yahoo.com p.s. -- this is a long shot but anyone know a contact for the Albanian rap group the Bloody Alboz (investigators out there who want to do a pro bono, fans, etc). Thanks for listening. Kevin

Posted on May 26th, 2011 2:31am

An introduction to the New York-Albanian mob

It's not every day that two weed dealers from New York City face the death penalty.

These two are a pair of Albanian-American brothers from Staten Island named Saimir and Bruno Krasniqi, ages 29 and 26. They, along with a 27-year-old partner named Almir Rrapo—who was a civil servant in Albania, working for a deputy prime minister at the time of his arrest—led a crew of 15 other men. The other members of their crew were Albanian, too. More

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By Kevin Heldman

on March 11th, 2011 5:00pm