WASHINGTON (CNN) --

Thousands of Albanians and others who fled the Balkans for the United States in recent years have emerged as a serious organized crime problem, threatening to displace La Cosa Nostra (LCN) families as kingpins of U.S. crime, top FBI officials said Wednesday.

The Albanian criminal enterprises, operating largely in New York and other Eastern seaboard cities, represent a major challenge to federal agents because of their propensity for violence and brutality, the officials said.

"They are a hardened group, operating with reckless abandon," said Chris Swecker, the newly named FBI assistant director for the Criminal Investigative Division.

Swecker and other officials said some of the Albanians served as enforcers in the established Mafia families for several years.

When the FBI dealt a major blow to the LCN families in recent years, the Albanians began to emerge, and now are taking over turf once controlled by the traditional mob bosses.

Officials said ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro are included in the clans and crews that emerged in the organized crime world.

FBI officials said Russian and many other organized crime groups operating in the United States are much more sophisticated and less violent than the Albanians.

Part of the Albanian emergence stems from the FBI's success in busting the LCN.

Operation Buttondown, the code name for the FBI's campaign to crush the Mafia, reduced the number of families operating in the United States from 24 to only nine, the FBI officials said.

More than 100 leading members of LCN and more than 600 associates were arrested in the crackdown on organized crime.

Although no terrorism connection has been discovered, the FBI says it is closely watching to see whether the militant Muslims in the emerging organized crime world demonstrate ties to organizations suspected of involvement in terrorist financing."

__________________
Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air, you'll never find me
I will turn your face to alabaster
Then you will find your servant is your master

Wrapped around your finger - The Police

See, even the Russian mafia seem to be a piece of cake for the Albanians.

Once you Americans feel on your own skin the problem Serbia has had for decades, you will happen to notice "what's wrong with Albanians" and their "human rights".

But I hope US officials will have better methods than Milosevic.

__________________
Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air, you'll never find me
I will turn your face to alabaster
Then you will find your servant is your master

Wrapped around your finger - The Police

Source: FBI http://www.fbi.gov/page2/march06/albanian032906.htm

Source: FBI http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/orgcrime/balkan.htm

__________________
Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air, you'll never find me
I will turn your face to alabaster
Then you will find your servant is your master

Wrapped around your finger - The Police

...it is too early to destroy a positive image of Albanians in eyes of an average American....

__________________
EU : Portable Stereo AM/FM Radio Cassette Recorder
CIS (Russia) : АМ/ЧМ Stereo Magnitola
US : Boombox (Ghettoblaster)

Man I remember when I was living in Chicago and they busted Joey the clown Lombardo, after that the whole LCN family began to disapear and fall apart. We still got a lot of guineas out here in Brooklyn though, I haven't really noticed many Albanians around here, I'll be on the look out just for you guys though .

Well---they were involved in terrorism before, namely the KLA. So it stands to reason they STILL are. See below articles of proof from 1999:

"U.S. intelligence sources have confirmed to INSIGHT that dozens of KLA fighters trained in bin Laden camps in Afghanistan and that some of them returned to fight with al-Qaeda and the Taliban after the Sept. 11 terror attacks against New York City and Washington.:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m..._90041160/pg_2

At the same time the Clinton Administration and its supporters are making full use of accusations of misdeeds by Serb forces to further its pro-intervention policy, they will continue to turn a blind eye to some unsavory evidence about the most likely beneficiaries of intervention: the Kosovo Liberation Army. This evidence includes:

the KLA's ties to Islamic radical organizations, such as that of terrorist kingpin Osama bin-Ladin, who is known to have assets in the KLA's staging area in northern Albania (see "U.S. Alarmed as Mujahidin Join Kosovo Rebels," The Times (London), 11/26/99);

the support the KLA derives from drug and organized crime elements in the Albanian diaspora in Western Europe (see Jane's Intelligence Review, "Another Balkan Bloodbath," 2/1/9;

the KLA's victimization of civilians, both Serbian and Albanian; and

the displacement of Serbian civilians from areas controlled by the KLA (see "In Kosovo's Furtive War, a Serb Just Disappears," New York Times, 3/4/99).

There's NO DOUBT in my opinion that we were on the wrong side of that historical event.

http://www.senate.gov/~rpc/releases/1999/fr032399.htm

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

They will call you a lier now, trust me

Milosevic's propaganda? Or is it not? Your call, boys.

Yep, and the money comes from narcotics, weapons and people trafficking... But perhaps Serbian police lie.

JP5, are you a victim of Milosevic's propaganda, or what?

__________________
Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air, you'll never find me
I will turn your face to alabaster
Then you will find your servant is your master

Wrapped around your finger - The Police

Everything passes via the Albanians. The road for drugs and arms and people...is in Albanian hands! - Cataldo Motta, Italian anti-mafia prosecutor

n his second special report from the southern Adriatic, the BBC's Brian Barron investigates how Albanian gangsters are profiting from human trafficking

One of Italy's top anti-Mafia magistrates says Albanian gangsters are taking control of organised crime on both sides of the Adriatic.

The most lucrative commodities are illegal immigrants.

In fact, trafficking in people is the world's fastest growing criminal business. In the past year, nearly 200 died trying to reach Italy.

Last week, two Italian policemen were killed as well as two Albanian smugglers, in a chase and collision in the Adriatic.

It is in this region - amid reports of more clandestine landings - that the police scour the beaches.

Thursday, 3 August, 2000, 12:06 GMT 13:06 UK
Albanian mafia steps up people smuggling
Children are pawns in Albanian mafia smuggling operations
Children are pawns in Albanian mafia smuggling operations
In his second special report from the southern Adriatic, the BBC's Brian Barron investigates how Albanian gangsters are profiting from human trafficking

One of Italy's top anti-Mafia magistrates says Albanian gangsters are taking control of organised crime on both sides of the Adriatic.

The most lucrative commodities are illegal immigrants.


Everything passes via the Albanians. The road for drugs and arms and people...is in Albanian hands

Cataldo Motta, Italian anti-mafia prosecutor
In fact, trafficking in people is the world's fastest growing criminal business. In the past year, nearly 200 died trying to reach Italy.

Last week, two Italian policemen were killed as well as two Albanian smugglers, in a chase and collision in the Adriatic.

It is in this region - amid reports of more clandestine landings - that the police scour the beaches.

Large scale trafficking

However, the coast is so vast that only a small percentage of illegal immigrants are caught.

Reliable figures on the scale of people smuggling are hard to come by.

Italian warships aren't able to stop people smuggling from Albania
Italian warships aren't able to stop people being smuggled from Albania
There are believed to be between 20 and 40 million illegal immigrants in the world.

Several million are believed to be in Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Germany.

Italian warships are highly visible in Albanian ports in a vain attempt to deter clandestine operations.

However, Italian commanders told me they have no powers to intervene, let alone use force.

One of Italy's top prosecutors, Cataldo Motta, who has identified Albania's most dangerous mobsters, says they are a threat to Western society.

Cataldo Motta (centre) is always accompanied by armed guards
Cataldo Motta (centre) is always accompanied by armed guards
"Albanian organised crime has become a point of reference for all criminal activity today," he says.

"Everything passes via the Albanians. The road for drugs and arms and people, meaning illegal immigrants destined for Europe, is in Albanian hands."

When the prosecutor leaves his office, three police bodyguards are at his side because of the risk of assassination by Albanian gangsters.

Child labour

The latest pawns of the people smugglers are children.

Smuggled children
Smuggled children, once in Italy, aren't usually returned to Albania
The Italian authorities will not order the enforced repatriation of anyone under 18 and the gangsters are aware of this.

At a transit camp for illegals from all over the world, 35 young Albanian teenagers are being prepared for life in Italy.

They were consigned to smugglers' boats by their families.

Roberto Matrandold, a psychiatrist, says that the children suffer from stress.

"The stress comes from the voyage itself which is more and more dangerous," he says.


I think it is the biggest problem we face in Italy and in Europe because there's so much money being made which was not the case before

Laura Balbo, adviser to the Italian prime minister
"And the kids are also under pressure from their parents, back in Albania, who've sent them over to Italy with orders to somehow find work or make money to send home."

In Rome, at a Vatican-sponsored convention, delegates heard warnings about far greater numbers of illegal immigrants in the years ahead.

Laura Balbo, an adviser to the prime minister, says that Italy wants co-ordinated European action.

"I think it is the biggest problem we face in Italy and in Europe because there's so much money being made which was not the case before," she says.

"It has become the main source of money for organised crime."

Italy's attitude towards illegal immigrants is hardening
Italy's attitude towards illegal immigrants is hardening
"So it is hard to imagine how we can fight this kind of international organisation."

Public attitudes towards illegal immigrants are hardening.

They are blamed for rising crime. In fact, Italy is chronically short of workers because of its falling birth-rate and growing economy.

Paradoxically, as operations intensify against people smugglers, the door is about to be opened for many more legal immigrants.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/863620.stm

__________________
Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air, you'll never find me
I will turn your face to alabaster
Then you will find your servant is your master

Wrapped around your finger - The Police

Don't you know, our extreme patriotism will prevent the future Kosovar mafia from being involved with any part of our backing the Kosovo government. And when stories come about on violence in the region, our government and media will simply dismiss them as hearsay Gotta love the USA.

__________________
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread." - Alexander Pope

As many times before. Correct view.

__________________
Devil and the deep blue sea behind me
Vanish in the air, you'll never find me
I will turn your face to alabaster
Then you will find your servant is your master

Wrapped around your finger - The Police