Rudaj Organization

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The Rudaj Organization is the name given the Albanian mafia in the New York City metro area, so named for the man accused of being its kingpin, Alex Rudaj of Yorktown, New York. The Rudaj Organization, called "The Corporation" by its members, was 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."^[1] Prosecutors say the Albanian gang is headed by Alex Rudaj, Nikola Dedaj and an Italian named Nardino Colotti, who had ties to the late Gambino soldier Skinny Phil Loscalzo.^[2]

[edit] Organization

Alex Rudaj, outside Jimbo's Bar in Astoria, Queens (NYC) on April 15, 2003

Alex Rudaj (also known as Allie Boy, Uncle Radaj, Xhaxhai, Sandro Rudovic) of Yorktown, New York is the alleged boss of the Albanian mafia's Rudaj Organization, based in the New York City metro area. Rudaj is an ethnic Albanian from Montenegro who immigrated to the United States more than a decade ago. Federal prosecutors said Rudaj was the triggerman in a 1993 shooting of another organized crime figure after a high-speed chase in the Bronx. Rudaj hung out the sunroof of a car and fired at Guy Peduto as he fled in another car from Rudaj and three others. They also described an incident where Rudaj showed up with 20 thugs to get late mob boss John Gotti's table at Rao's, the legendary and exclusive East Harlem Italian restaurant. On Friday, June 16, 2006, Alex Rudaj, 38, was sentenced to 27 years in federal prison for racketeering, extortion and gambling offenses. ^[3]

Nikola Dedaj (Nicky Nails, Big Nick, Nikol) of Yonkers, New York, is the alleged co-leader of the Albanian mafia Rudaj Organization, based in the New York City metro area. According to evidence at trial, armed members of the Rudaj Organization met with members of the Gambino crime family, led by Arnold Squitieri, at a gas station in New Jersey for a standoff, and Dedaj pointed a gun at the gas pumps and threatened to blow everyone up.^[4]

Nardino Colotti (born 1963) of the Bronx, New York, is an Italian American protégé of the late Gambino soldier Phil (Skinny Phil) Loscalzo and co-leader of the Albanian mafia Rudaj Organization. In addition to gambling dends in Queens, New York, the Rudaj Organization (known as the "Corporation" to members) ran gambling operations in Mount Vernon and Port Chester. Nardino Colotti's group had a gambling joint on Adee Street in Port Chester and forced bar owners in Mount Vernon to install their illegal gambling machines. In one instance, Colotti's group tried to force Salvatore Misale, the owner of Puerto Roja in Mount Vernon, to hand over his bar to the Corporation. Misale went to law enforcement authorities in 1999 after he endured a beating at a Bronx cafe over his refusal to hand over the keys to the bar. Nardino Colotti bit Misale's ear as he beat and cursed at him, while Nikola Dedaj waved a gun in his face, threatening to shoot.^[5]

Ljusa "Louie" Nuculovic is an Albanian mobster, member of Rudaj Organization in New York. Nuculovic was a gun-runner for the Kosovo Liberation Army in the early 1990s.

[edit] Federal Prosecution

On October 26, 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. It should be noted that several of the defendants indicted in the case are not Albanian - the organization has soldiers that are Greek, Arab and Italian - but most of the defendants in the case were either native Albanians or first-generation Albanian-Americans.^[6]

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. Rudaj lead an attack in August 2001 on two members of the Lucchese crime family who ran a gambling racket inside a Greek social club called Soccer Fever at 26-80 30th St. in Queens. On August 3, 2001 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. The Rudaj Organization then opened or began collecting protection payments from at least six Astoria, Queens gambling clubs.^[7] A U.S. federal jury in New York convicted Alex Rudaj and five of his cohorts of a host of racketeering and extortion charges on January 4, 2006.^[8]

[edit] Notes

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