‘Besa’ – the gangs’ ruthless criminal code

LIKE the Italian Mafia’s law of “omerta” or silence, members of Albanian criminal gangs live and die by a ruthless code of conduct.

Their oath, “besa” – meaning trust – is the promise to defend with their lives the honour of the ruling family.

With the collapse of communism in 1990 and subsequent civil unrest and widespread corruption, around 15 families seized the opportunity to establish organised criminal gangs, known as Mafia Shqiptare.

Each family has an executive committee, or “barjack”, which selects a “krye”, or boss, who in turn appoints a “kryetar,” a second-in-command. The gangs forged links with crime gangs throughout Europe to smuggle counterfeit goods and weapons into Western Europe (the grenade Dale Cregan used in 2012 in Manchester to kill three people, including a policewoman, came from Albania).

They also managed cannabis farms in the Balkan hills, using their network to ship cannabis – and later cocaine – into mainland Europe. Those who break the besa code are invariably punished ruthlessly.

While the first wave of Albanian gangsters in Britain were thought to have cornered much of the brothel market in areas including London’s Soho, a second wave was forging strong links with British crime syndicates.

In 2006 two Albanian were involved in Britain’s largest cash robbery at the Securitas depot in Kent, and were jailed two years later for their part in the theft masterminded by an English gang. They will be deported after serving their sentence.

Now, it is thought Albanian organised crime groups play an important role in smuggling people from Calais to England’s south coast.

In August, two Albanians living in London were convicted of working with English criminals to smuggle people across the English Channel, even planning to use a jet ski.