Thousands of Albanians and others who fled the Balkans for the United States in recent years have emerged as a serious organized crime problem, threatening to displace La Cosa Nostra (LCN) families as kingpins of U.S. crime

Thousands of Albanians and others who fled the Balkans for the United States in recent years have emerged as a serious organized crime problem, threatening to displace La Cosa Nostra (LCN) families as kingpins of U.S. crime, top FBI officials said Wednesday. The Albanian criminal enterprises, operating largely in New York and other Eastern seaboard cities, represent a major challenge to federal agents because of their propensity for violence and brutality, the officials said. "They are a hardened group, operating with reckless abandon," said Chris Swecker, the newly named FBI assistant director for the Criminal Investigative Division. Swecker and other officials said some of the Albanians served as enforcers in the established Mafia families for several years. When the FBI dealt a major blow to the LCN families in recent years, the Albanians began to emerge, and now are taking over turf once controlled by the traditional mob bosses.