NYPD Cop Arrested For Extorting Restaurant Owner

ABC 7
Dec. 04, 2013

A NYPD cop and two fellow thugs — including a reputed gangster who was involved in a fatal stabbing of a groom-to-be — were arrested Tuesday for extorting monthly "protection" payments from an Albanian restaurant in Queens, federal authorities said.

The cop, Besnik Llakatura, conspired to shake down the restaurant owner with Llakatura playing the role of the good cop with the victim who was his friend, authorities said.

The restaurant owner went to Llakatura, a friend, and asked what he should do. Lakatura advised the restaurant owner from reporting the extortion telling him he had no choice but to make the payments, authorities said.

The victim shelled out $24,000 over five months for the phony protection.

In a phone call intercepted by the feds, Llakatura jokingly referred to how he "taxes" local businesses, according to court papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Also charged were Redinel Dervishaj — who allegedly warned the victim that he had to pay up because he had opened the restaurant in "our neighborhood" — and Denis Nikolla who allegedly menaced the victim at gunpoint when he initially refused their threats.

"The defendants told their victims they offered 'protection' but in reality they peddled fear and intimidation through the Albanian community," said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.