A Belmont-based drug gang with Albanian roots called The Wolfpack has been caged.
All of its members and associates have plead guilty, with ten of them already sentenced, said U.S. Attorney Preet Baharara.
Authorities said the gang, located in the Arthur Avenue area of the borough’s Little Italy even offered customers a phone-in delivery service for marijuana and cocaine, as well as selling weapons.
Forfeit $3 million
The gang’s leader, Frankie Frokaj, was sentenced Wednesday, Dec. 11 to 135 months in prison in connection with narcotics and firearms offenses. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit $3 million.
Frokaj, 29, pled guilty in April 2013 to one count of conspiring to distribute 1,000 kilograms and more of marijuana.
All thirteen members and associates of the Wolfpack originally charged in this case in September 2012 have pled guilty. Ten were sentenced to terms ranging from probation to 168 months in prison.
Bharara said the gang’s demise meant “Bronx neighborhood streets are safer as a result.”
According to the indictment, other documents filed in Manhattan federal court, and statements made at various proceedings in this case:
The Wolfpack was a criminal organization composed primarily of individuals of Albanian descent that operated from at least 2008 until August 2012 in the Bronx.
It planned and committed a variety of criminal acts as opportunities arose, including narcotics distribution and weapons possession.
The group maintained dedicated phones over which customers could order cocaine and marijuana, and coordinated the use of cars to deliver cocaine and marijuana to its customers.
Members and associates of the Wolfpack used these “drug routes” to distribute at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana and 500 grams of cocaine. The group also distributed prescription pills containing oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance.
Several Wolfpack members, including Frokaj, carried firearms in furtherance of their narcotics crimes and engaged in the sale of firearms.
To date, the government recovered eight firearms and ammunition from members of the Wolfpack through sales involving a confidential informant and during their arrests,
Other gang members and associates sentenced to terms ranging from 60 to 151 months were Christopher Nrecaj, 168 months; Corry Lombardi, 70 months; Driton Haxhijaj, 60 months; Joseph Camaj, 70 months; Deda Frokaj, 63 months, and George Cekaj, 151 months.
The three remaining defendants are scheduled for sentencing in January and February
Bharara praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the NYPD in putting the case together for prosecution by his office’s Organized Crime Unit.
