Police hunt for Albanian gangster in murder of Staten Island groom
They picked the wrong guy to push around.
Law-enforcement sources say surveillance video shows that groom-to-be Anthony Lacertosa and his boozing buddies threw a Staten Island restaurant employee to the ground — but the angered worker was alleged Albanian gangster Redinel Dervishaj, who then allegedly killed Lacertosa with a butcher knife.
Investigators believe Dervishaj, 35 — who was shot in the arm during a 2007 gangland extortion attempt — has since borrowed money from a friend and fled the city, a law-enforcement source said.
Surveillance footage taken outside the Annadale eatery during Lacertosa’s engagement party Saturday shows the 27-year-old bricklayer and his pals trashing the joint’s patio furniture and knocking Dervishaj to the ground, a law-enforcement source said.
The video shows the restaurant’s manager brandishing a gun as Dervishaj — who is missing a finger — fetched a knife from inside to confront Lacertosa and his crew, said another law-enforcement source.
The manager allegedly tried to fire his weapon, but the gun jammed. Dervishaj then stabbed Lacertosa in the torso, killing him in front of his horrified fiancée, the sources said.
Police found the bloody knife in a trash bin outside a nearby deli, a source said, and yesterday, two restaurant employees cleaned the blood off the ground with a mop.
In 2007, Dervishaj went with a fellow Albanian gangster to a man’s house in Queens, threatening to kill the man’s family if he didn’t cough up $20,000. The man refused, instead shooting Dervishaj in the arm and killing his partner with a .357 Magnum. Dervishaj pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny and was sentenced to time served, a law-enforcement source said.
The violence runs in the family. Dervishaj’s brother, Plaurent Dervishaj, 39, is wanted in Albania for allegedly murdering at least four rival gang leaders, including one with an anti-tank weapon. Albanian law-enforcement officials declared Plaurent Dervishaj their most wanted fugitive.
Lacertosa – who went by the nickname “The Hulk” – was arrested for marijuana in 2011.
Fiancee Bridgette Schneider, 24, was too distraught to speak yesterday.
“My sister isn’t up to talking,” said one of her sister’s outside Schneider’s home.
Law-enforcement sources say surveillance video shows that groom-to-be Anthony Lacertosa and his boozing buddies threw a Staten Island restaurant employee to the ground — but the angered worker was alleged Albanian gangster Redinel Dervishaj, who then allegedly killed Lacertosa with a butcher knife.
Investigators believe Dervishaj, 35 — who was shot in the arm during a 2007 gangland extortion attempt — has since borrowed money from a friend and fled the city, a law-enforcement source said.
Surveillance footage taken outside the Annadale eatery during Lacertosa’s engagement party Saturday shows the 27-year-old bricklayer and his pals trashing the joint’s patio furniture and knocking Dervishaj to the ground, a law-enforcement source said.
Slain at engagement party.
The manager allegedly tried to fire his weapon, but the gun jammed. Dervishaj then stabbed Lacertosa in the torso, killing him in front of his horrified fiancée, the sources said.
Police found the bloody knife in a trash bin outside a nearby deli, a source said, and yesterday, two restaurant employees cleaned the blood off the ground with a mop.
In 2007, Dervishaj went with a fellow Albanian gangster to a man’s house in Queens, threatening to kill the man’s family if he didn’t cough up $20,000. The man refused, instead shooting Dervishaj in the arm and killing his partner with a .357 Magnum. Dervishaj pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny and was sentenced to time served, a law-enforcement source said.
The violence runs in the family. Dervishaj’s brother, Plaurent Dervishaj, 39, is wanted in Albania for allegedly murdering at least four rival gang leaders, including one with an anti-tank weapon. Albanian law-enforcement officials declared Plaurent Dervishaj their most wanted fugitive.
Lacertosa – who went by the nickname “The Hulk” – was arrested for marijuana in 2011.
Fiancee Bridgette Schneider, 24, was too distraught to speak yesterday.
“My sister isn’t up to talking,” said one of her sister’s outside Schneider’s home.
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