The Rudaj Organization is the name given the Albanian Mafia in the New York City metro area in a 44-page indictment unsealed last week in New York. Twenty-six people were indicted in connection with racketeering, attempted murder, robbery, extortion, gambling and loan-sharking. On October 26th, 2004, the FBI and Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley announced the arrest of the group's alleged boss, Alex Rudaj, and 21 other reputed gang members charged in the indictment. Kelley's office said it believes the indictment is the first federal racketeering case in the United States against an alleged organized crime enterprise run by Albanians. The Journal News reports: The indictment includes an alleged episode in which the Rudaj Organization, so named for the man accused of being its kingpin, Alex Rudaj of Yorktown, muscled in on two members of a "competing criminal organization" that "was also involved in controlling and protecting illegal gambling" in Queens. The Mafia members are identified only as "Victim 3" and "Victim 4." The indictment said the Albanian mob instilled a fear of physical violence in their mob victims. The Rudaj Organization, called "The Corporation" by its members, started in 1993 in Westchester and spread to the Bronx and Queens, law enforcement officials said. Fred Snelling, the agent in charge of the FBI's criminal division in New York, said the organization amounted to a "sixth family." [the five traditional NY Mafia families: Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese] "They are truly organized in their efforts to bring havoc to this community," Snelling said. During a bail hearing for one of the two dozen people arrested in the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Treanor said that the Albanian mob had taken over the operations of the Lucchese family in Astoria (Queens). The Westchester County men charged: • Alex Rudaj (Allie Boy, Uncle Radaj, Xhaxhai, Sandro Rudovic), age 37, 975 Sunset St., Yorktown. • Nikola Dedaj (Nicky Nails, Big Nick, Nikol), 41, 18 Danby Place, Yonkers.
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Scrawled in black marker high on a school wall, the letters "A.B.I." hang over an unsteady peace at Christopher Columbus High School as authorities struggle to contain antagonisms between Albanian students and the established black and Latino populations. The acronym stands for Albanian Boys Incorporated. Although only about 300 of the school's 3,400 students are of Albanian descent, their solidarity has created a presence beyond their numbers. After a spate of fistfights involving them and black and Latino students in the spring, increased police presence has reduced the number of confrontations. But the strains of integration have not yet disappeared. "We have had our share of incidents," said Gerald Garfin, the principal of Columbus for the past six years. "They are isolated problems. Things have gotten better. For the most part, people in this school get along. The Albanians are integrating and becoming part of the school like anyone else." Garfin's view was lost on some students. "The Albanians start fights and they think they are better than everyone else," said Jaydeen Garcia, a 16-year-old student at Columbus. "In the spring there were a lot of fights, but they brought in more police and things have calmed down a bit. The A.B.I. causes the trouble," she said. The group draws from the roughly 26,000 Albanians who live in the borough, 5,000 of whom came straight from the wartime horrors of Kosovo. The transition to urban American life has been difficult for many Albanian kids, especially in the public schools. "The language barrier hurts them," said Irena Rululash of the Albanian Assistance Center, an organization that helps to settle recent Albanian immigrants. "They are isolated from day one and a gang seems attractive." While most students acknowledged the existence of the Albanian Boys Incorporated, many characterized them as a fiercely loyal but reclusive group. "They have their little clique or whatever," said Michael Delgado, 16. "But they just stick to themselves and really don't start much. They are quiet." Several Albanians said they are traditionally tight-lipped about their internal affairs, and many insisted that they do not instigate conflict. "We stick together," said Sali Mehaj. "If one of us is bothered, we get together and fight. But we don't start trouble." The Albanians do not mask their allegiances, however. The Kosovo experience has forged nationalism among Albanians, and the wearing of the red-and-black eagle Kosovo flag is commonplace. The Bloods gang also claims the same colors as their own, sparking several confrontations in the past. Consequently, Garfin has banned the display of gang colors at Columbus. "The Albanians remind me of the tough Southern Italians of my youth," said Bob De Sena, executive director of the Council of Unity, a program that Garfin credited for easing tensions at Columbus by fostering dialogue between the feuding parties. "They both endured severe oppression. The Albanians have never been able to trust the outside world to help them. That is why they will fight as one if you mess with them," he said.
