Posted on 08/04/2007 8:08:45 PM PDT by monkeycard
One man was killed and another wounded after being shot in Queens late Tuesday by a contractor who told investigators that the men had demanded $20,000 from him and threatened to harm his wife, law enforcement officials said.
The contractor, Lulzim Kupi, 42, told investigators he shot the men in self-defense. He was expected to be charged with second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, the police said. One man who was shot, Redinel Dervishaj, 32, was in stable condition at Elmhurst Hospital Center with gunshot wounds to the arm and torso, law enforcement officials said. The other man, Gentian Kasa, 31, died after being shot several times, at least once in the head, officials said.
The shootings took place about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday on Putnam Avenue, in Ridgewood, close to a tan brick row house Mr. Kupi shares with his wife, three children and two adults believed to be his or his wife’s parents. According to law enforcement officials, Mr. Kupi, an Albanian immigrant, said he had been at dinner with relatives in Connecticut hours before the shooting, when he received a threatening phone call from either Mr. Kasa or Mr. Dervishaj. He told investigators that the caller demanded $20,000 in cash.
Mr. Kupi told investigators he and his family went home, and some time later, he got another call and went outside with a .357 magnum in his pocket or tucked in his waistband.
The police said they believed the three men knew each other from the contracting business, possibly through a job or jobs building bars for Albanian social clubs.
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(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
ping
Sounds like a fairly typical mob business dispute.
If the facts are as reported, hopefully he’ll be able to beat the murder rap, but in NYC, unfortunately, there’s really no way for him to beat the gun charge.
Honestly, there could be a lot more to this story—I wouldn’t take it at face value. It smells like organized crime to me. The family protection story may just be a cover for something else that went bad.
Kupi's brother is allegedly one of the leaders in the Albanian mob, and Dervishaj is under federal investigation, the sources said.
Could be a mob thing going on here I have no clue, but to threaten to rape someones wife is wrong.
Watch. The cops will have failed to read the suspect his Miranda rights in Albanian and the charges will be dismissed.
Why are the cops getting invovled in an Albanian mob dispute?
Okay, I take it back.
What the heck kind of firearm did Oleg drag out of the toybox this time?
That guy has the most interesting choice of guns.
We will learn the truth soon, it will be on an upcoming episode of Law and Order (albeit slightly left of center).
I guess the neighbors called the police and they came relatively quickly.
Explains why Mr. Kupi didn’t dump the bodies into the East River as is traditional in this kind of event.
Here in Texas we’d pin a medal on him;
in New York he’s a criminal.
Is there any clearer distinction between one society and another than that?
Very good point.
He had a gun, a .357 handgun no less, in New York City. He’s toast.
Yep
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