Inside London’s Albanian ‘Mafia’ who bring fear to community dubbed ‘Little Tirana’

In a quiet, leafy suburb of north London, a hive of criminal activity fronted by Albanians is bubbling under the surface.

The mobsters run protection rackets, people trafficking networks and deal drugs in a zone around Southgate London Underground station.

The bustling and relatively well-heeled suburb on the Piccadilly line has become a ‘fortress’ for the criminal network, sources have told Metro.

The criminals use the threat of extreme violence to force the community to bend to their will.

An increasing number of restaurants and other businesses are being asked for protection money and, in some cases, forced to hand over their premises to the Albanian ‘Mafia.’

Such is the stranglehold the gangsters have over the community that locals call the area around the station ‘Little Tirana’ after the Albanian capital.

Sources have told Metro that the local community is too frightened to speak out, such is the spectre of violence.

The assassination of an Albanian drug lord by a rival in a revenge attack on the other side of the city – in Battersea, south west London – on Christmas Eve in 2019 is just one example of how the tentacles of international Albanian gang crime seep into the rest of the city.

Flamur Beqiri, 39, whose sister Misse has starred in The Real Housewives of Cheshire, was shot dead in front of his wife and young child.

His killer, Anis Hemissi, was convicted of murder and possession of a firearm. The evidence heard Beqiri was a drug lord who was living the high life in the capital.

Meanwhile the gang, in Southgate, operates without the obvious trappings of luxury.

They are ‘hiding in plain sight’, running their affairs out of cafes and on the streets.

How is it affecting the local community?

A source told Metro that few in the community were willing to speak out for fear of reprisals by the gangs.

They said: ‘The Albanian gangs have a grip on the community and there is a lot of fear about being taken out [killed]. They have taken over some of the businesses and have threatened others.

‘There have been connections with people trafficking, protection rackets and drug dealing. It’s their turf for sure and they hide in plain sight.

‘We know who they are and where they operate out of. It has been reported to the police that they need to get a grip of this. It’s an international crime network which is colonising the area around Southgate station and is spreading up the high street.’

The source said that shop owners had been harassed and threatened by the gangsters looking to extend further their financial clout and potential for laundering money.

They added: ‘The area is a criminal fortress for the Albanian mob, no one dares to speak about it but it’s changing the area. For example, Cypriot businesses that have been running shops for generations are being forced out. People feel powerless.’

The main focus of police intervention against the gang has been around Ashfield Parade, which is considered its stronghold locally. Albanian people smuggler Arlin Leka, who lived on the street, was jailed in 2023 after being convicted of illegally trafficking Albanian men into the UK.

Police have also raided another address on the road and have been made aware of the ongoing concerns over gang operations there, a source told Metro.

A shopkeeper in the area said he was ‘scared to death’ to upset the Albanian mob.

He said: ‘I’ve been here for more than 20 years and we have never had any problems until the last couple of years. When the Albanian criminals moved in the whole atmosphere changed. They want to take all the businesses.

‘Here in Southgate, and in the Cockfosters area, they are making life very difficult for shops to continue. Sometimes they pay people to cause vandalism or fight outside the shops to make life so difficult that they close. Then the Albanians move in. It’s been particularly bad for Greek Cypriot businesses.’

The Turkish ‘Mafia’

Metro understands while the Turkish ‘Mafia’ rules the roost in Tottenham and Wood Green, further north in Southgate and Cockfosters the Albanian mob is dominant.

The two rarely clash, with the Turks fearing the unbridled violence by the Albanian mob.

During a trial last year, it was heard that when raiders stormed an Albanian cannabis factory to steal stock, their machetes and knives proved no match for the handguns the Albanians pulled to defend their territory.

Croydon Crown Court heard that the robbers who were trying to steal from the factory in Croydon had ‘brought knives to a gunfight’.

The revenue from drug supply fuels the Albanian operation with street muscle being the key to taking over a significant slice of the £5 billion cocaine market, which is smuggled into the UK via south and central America.

According to police estimates, they are buying up to £5,000 a kilo and started off selling it for less than market value to ward off their rivals and corner the market.

The supply of cocaine and other drugs on an industrial scale has provided the Albanian mob with funds to almost ‘buy up’ communities.

A source in security showed Metro a disused building site in Southgate where the gangs sell to addicts.

He said: ‘They sell here. They have privacy and know their patch inside out. It’s a whole little world here where the Albanian gangs rule. I’ve reported it so the police must be aware.’

Over in Barking, a heavily armed Albanian crew, called the Hellbanianz, filmed themselves brandishing weapons while flaunting cash, Rolexes while driving Ferraris. They ran the Gascoigne estate where their ‘soldiers’ lived.

Sources said they operated as if they were ‘untouchable’ and unrivalled in their willingness to move to violence if deemed necessary.

The Omertà rule of the Italian Mafia to not speak of criminal activities to anyone other than fellow gangsters also applies to the Albanians.

They are known to torture opponents and have a pool of heavies ready to mete out any violence, often assembling outside cafes by day ready for dispatch to ‘take care of business.’

It is understood the National Crime Agency has the Albanian henchmen and their bosses top of their agenda. But to the citizens of Southgate the quaint sounding ‘Little Tirana’ in their midst has left them fearing for their lives.

The security source said: ‘Of course there are some law-abiding Albanian businesses. It’s not about the country – it’s this dangerous criminal element that has put down roots in our community.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Comments Add as preferred source