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Was the Albanian Mafia responsible for the murder of Danbury restaurateur/chef Zef Vulevic (aka Zef Vulaj and Joe Vuli)?

• Frank J. Cilluffo &George Salmoiraghi wrote a very good article for Washington Quarterly describing the origins and rise to power of the Albanian Mafia:

Smuggling is the Albanian mafia’s core competency, and over the past decade the Albanians have steadily come to dominate smuggling to and within Europe, even overshadowing their erstwhile mentors, the Italian mafia. Smugglers are smugglers, and the commodity on any given day shifts with demand, whether it is narcotics, weapons, fuel, stolen goods—or people. And the current conflict opened the floodgates of people seeking to leave Kosovo for safety. That in turn generated a smuggling boom so great that the Albanian clans had to turn desperate customers away...

The Albanians and the Italians simultaneously have a symbiotic and competitive relationship. The fares take business from the mafia, but they also provide invaluable services...

Albanian clans or "fares" run multinational operations. They have or could possibly take control of the entire Albanian government.
• Leading French criminologist Xavier Raufer has written the book: "The Albanian Mafia" - he says Albanian guerrillas and the local mafia are indistinguishable.

• Rudolph Giuliani [former mayor of New York] was confronted with Albanian Mafia threats in New York back in the 1980's as a Federal prosecutor.

Albanians who take to crime have created new and unique problems for some law-enforcement officers around the country. Language and a code of silence have protected the Albanian-American crime factions from outside penetration. "They are real secretive" says a detective...

• Andy Thibault, columnist, of the Law Tribune Newspapers, wrote that Joe V. (aka Zef Vulevic) learned to borrow money when he worked at Mario's on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. He started his culinary career there 20 years ago. Thibault goes on to say:

"Joe V rubbed elbows with a lot of tough guys," a cop told me. "They're pretty tough guys. Some of them have racketeering involvements."

Big donors to Connecticut Public Television might remember Joe V from his appearance two years ago at the Bond Hotel in Hartford, where he served buffalo tenderloin and buffalo sausage at a fundraising party.

His customers, Joe V told Hartford Courant feature writer Pat Seremet, aka Party Patty, "go for the heavier meats."


• M. Bozinovich of serbianna.com wrote an excellent summary of some of the current information about how dangerous and widespread the Muslim Albanian Mafia has become. He calls them "The New Islamic Mafia." He recounts some history, for example, when two Albanian mobsters killed two employees who crossed them at the famous New York City strip club - Scores:

A 1996 murder of a waiter, Jonathon Segal, and a bouncer, Michael Greco, in New York's Scores restaurant illustrates the indifference and haste with which Albanian assassins kill: two ethnic Albanians employed as Gambino family assassins opened fire on the waiter and bouncer after instigating an argument over quality of service they got in the restaurant.

Given this list of circumstantial evidence: Zef Vulevic's Albanian heritage - he is from a first generation Albanian family. His legal name: Vulevic is Serbo-Croatian, however, his family name: Vulaj is Albanian. Vulevic was having financial problems. He had a feisty personality. He had a habit of borrowing money. He frequently "rubbed elbows" with mob types. Plus, the extremely brutal nature of the crime with no real attempt to hide the body. The lack of investigative leads in the month since his body was found. Indications that more than one person was involved in the crime. Combined with the high visibility of the Vulevic/Vulaj family and Zef Vulevic in the Albanian community and New York metro area with their multiple fine Italian restaurants.

Therefore, based on the weight of the circumstantial evidence it looks like the Albanian Mafia had a hand in the murder of Zef Vulevic. No other scenario fits this crime and the facts we have.

And the Winner is...The Albanian Mafia(PDF) [Washington Quarterly]
Albanian mob invades Italy [balkanpeace.org]

related:
Danbury Murder Mystery-Update #6 [May 3, 2004]
Danbury Murder Mystery-Update #5 [May 3, 2004]
Albanian Mafia: Zef Vulevic Murder Update [Aug. 21, 2004]
The Rudaj Organization aka: The Albanian Mafia [Nov. 1, 2004]
Albanian Mafia Boss Denied Bail [Dec. 10, 2004]

last updated: Dec. 17, 2004
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COLUMN FOLLOWS -
Connecticut Law Tribune May 24, 2004
Copyright 2004 ALM Properties, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Connecticut Law Tribune
May 24, 2004

SECTION: CLOSING ARGUMENTS; Vol. 30; No. 21; Pg. 20
LENGTH: 541 words
HEADLINE: Chef-Chop Surprise Has Cops Scrambling
BYLINE: By ANDY THIBAULT
Law Tribune Contributing Writer
BODY:
A carload of cops and prosecutors landed on a fire hydrant. Then they stumbled into Mario's on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. They ate like pigs and drank like fish. The bill was $7. This was 20 years ago, not long before Stamford restaurateur Joe Vuli, aka Zef Vulevic and Zef Vulaj began a culinary career at Mario's.

"That's probably where he learned to borrow money," a patron remarked.

Not far from the Bronx Zoo, Mario's is one of the last traditional Italian restaurants. It's the real deal. The hosts tell you what to eat, and you eat until you can't move. Then you eat some more.

Before he went to jail for corruption, Congressman Mario Biaggi would hold weekly meetings at Mario's. Everybody goes there -- cops, judges, hoods. It's a rough crowd.

"Joe V rubbed elbows with a lot of tough guys," a cop told me. "They're pretty tough guys. Some of them have racketeering involvements."

Big donors to Connecticut Public Television might remember Joe V from his appearance two years ago at the Bond Hotel in Hartford, where he served buffalo tenderloin and buffalo sausage at a fundraising party.

His customers, JoeV told Hartford Courant feature writer Pat Seremet, aka Party Patty, "go for the heavier meats."

Over time, JoeV would open seven top-of-the-line restaurants in Connecticut and New York, including Vuliabove the Stamford Marriott and Gusto Ristorante in Danbury.

They say JoeV borrowed a lot of money. He was a fiery guy. He slapped a waiter around in Stamford and pulled a gun on another. His Norwalk home was about to be foreclosed.

Joe V's body was found on April 24 near the famous women's prison in Bedford, N.Y., one-time home to the Long Island Lolita and the Scarsdale Diet Doctor killer. It was just a few miles from where the body of another Stamford restaurateur, Joseph Pellicci, was found 31 years ago. Coincidentally, both Joe V and Pellicci had two bullets in the back of the head.

"CHEF-CHOP SURPRISE," The New York Post announced after some Earth Day volunteers cleaning the roadway discovered Joe V's parts in several trash bags. He had been 6-foot-1 and 240 pounds. Meanwhile, a cleaning crew had done a big job at Gusto in Danbury. A section of rug was replaced. Cops seized an electric meat saw.

Joe V and his relatives were not known to back down from anyone. One of his cousins, Vaso, aka Vinny, spent some time at the Hartford jail on sabbatical from the restaurant business. Vinny's fellow lodgers say he was unique.

Vinny would give away tuna fish to his friends. An entourage would help him carry several bags purchased from the commissary. He stood 6-foot-3, 250 pounds. His barrel chest and chiseled face said he wasn't afraid of anyone.

"He wasn't the typical white guy in jail--he was comfortable, he didn't hang out with the white guys," a former dorm-mate of Vinny's told me. "He would be yelling back and forth with the toughest guys there."

The Pellicci case remains unsolved, despite the fact that police have evidence linking a prime suspect to the crime. Perhaps the killer or killers of JoeV will be held accountable more quickly.

"Believe me, we are going to find out who did this to Joe," JoeV's younger brother, Martin Vulaj told The New York Times. ****

LOAD-DATE: May 24, 2004

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