The investigating detectives and FBI agents immediately suspected the Albanian mob, which makes up with viciousness what it lacks in competence.

A senior NYPD official noted that things have changed considerably since the days of John Gotti, who became head of the Gambino crime family in 1986 by having Castellano killed outside Sparks in true “goodfella” fashion. A Bronx mafioso named Frank Locascio became Gotti consigliere. And Locascio brought in an Albanian gangster named Zef Mustafa to serve as his driver.

As one observer put it, “Zef couldn’t drive for shit.” But Mustafa knew a whole host of Albanian gangsters who were each more fearsome than the next, making them Gotti’s kind of hoods.

“Very tough people,” the NYPD official noted.

The Albanians began hanging out in Italian joints and gradually began to assume ownership.

“[The NYPD and FBI] started seeing Gotti and his crew hanging out in Italian restaurants owned by Albanians,” the police official recalls. “It was like a slow, creepy takeover.”