Aleksander Vacaj remains at large after allegedly
ordering two thugs to attack Artende Gjeli (below)
Posted on 06/01/2008 10:07:07 AM PDT by joan
BY ALISON GENDAR, BRIAN HARMON, BARRY PADDOCK, XANA O'NEILL and LARRY McSHANE
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Friday, May 30th 2008, 4:00 AM
A spurned boyfriend ordered two thugs to slash his ex-love's pretty face with a razor and broken beer bottle as she worked in a luxury Chinatown condo, police sources said Thursday.
Aleksander Vacaj, an Albanian national, remained on the run Thursday after ordering the pair to "Frankenstein" the woman - slice her up as payback for her rejection, the sources said.
The attackers were shot by an off-duty NYPD detective who was dating victim Artende Gjeli. The cop wound up ditching the flowers he brought her for his service revolver.
Detective Martin Carrano, bleeding from a razor cut to his skull, unloaded 10 shots from his service revolver to end the ugly confrontation.
One suspect was killed and the other critically wounded in a four-minute frenzy of violence captured by security cameras.
"If [Carrano] wasn't here, I'd be dead. They would have cut me up," Gjeli told police.
She was gashed on the face, hands and upper thigh and needed 23 stitches to close her wounds after the attack.
The scenario was reminiscent of the infamous 1986 assault on model Marla Hanson - slashed by two razor-wielding thugs hired by her landlord after she turned him down for a date.
Despite the detective's relationship with Gjeli, police said the shooting was justified.
Carrano's father said his son was "in pretty bad shape" Thursday, with a razor slice that ran across the back of his head, nearly from ear to ear.
A police source said the victim's ex-boyfriend "was furious she had left him" in February.
Vacaj, 32, of Lodi, N.J., who has prior arrests in New York and New Jersey on assorted charges, also was afraid she "might rat him out in some way," the source said.
Federal agents were spotted Thursday at a Bronx address listed in Vacaj's name. Sources said the NYPD reached out to the FBI to get help from agents who are familiar with criminals who have ties to Albania.
Vacaj and the two ex-cons accused of carrying out the demented attack live in the Bronx. Cops were investigating whether he paid the men to slice up Gjeli or talked them into the carrying out the crime, the source said.
Vacaj's Lodi neighbors said he moved in there about a year ago with his wife, who moved out after a couple of months. He has since lived there with two other women, one of whom resembled Gjeli.
Neighbors said Vacaj acted like a big shot when he came around and was abusive to women.
"This guy walks around like his s--- doesn't stink. He's a manhandler. He roughs up those girls," said a neighbor.
On Wednesday night, Carrano, a 20-year police veteran, arrived at 123 Baxter St. in Chinatown about 10 minutes before the attack. He was summoned by Gjeli after she allegedly received death threats from Vacaj earlier in the day, the source said.
The detective and Gjeli had been dating for less than a month. They met when she filed a complaint with Queens cops, claiming her 5-foot-11, 220-pound ex-boyfriend slapped her inside a Queens nightclub on May 17.
Vacaj and Gjeli had dated for several years before she dumped him, sources said. After the bad breakup, Gjeli received a series of angry phone calls from Vacaj.
On Wednesday, he placed several calls to the building desk before Gjeli began her 3p.m.-11p.m. shift, police sources said. He finally got her on the phone and threatened to kill her and her family, the sources said.
She then called Carrano, who agreed to swing by the building when his shift was finished. Their date soon turned deadly.
The suspects showed up at the building about 10:30 p.m. and Gjeli buzzed them in. Suspect Eugene Morales asked if he could rent a room, and Gjeli told the two it wasn't a hotel, police said.
Morales then grabbed Carrano and sliced the back of his head with a single-edged razor before both men rushed the front desk and began hacking at Gjeli, police said.
With the victim screaming, kicking and fighting, Carrano pulled his on-duty Smith & Wesson handgun.
Morales, with the blade in his hand, approached the detective while Andres Martinez, 22, continued slashing at Gjeli with the broken bottle, police said.
The detective opened fire, striking each suspect twice. Morales, 22, of the Bronx, died at the scene. Martinez, also of the Bronx, was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital in critical condition.
He was breathing with the aid of a tube and unable to speak with police. Police said both suspects had previous records; Martinez was on probation for a robbery and criminal impersonation of a police officer.
Morales had half a dozen arrests, most for drug offenses.
Gjeli, whose family lives in a second-story apartment in Lodi, also has prior arrests for fraud and witness tampering in New Jersey.
She was hired for the concierge job when the building, with its 24 luxury condos, began accepting tenants a year ago.
"She always did her job to perfection," said condo board President Paul Fox. "She's a member of the family."
agendar@nydailynews.com
With Caitlin Millat, Wil Cruz, Oren Yaniv and Jonathan Lemire
Another candidate for the America’s Most Wanted show if he manages to keep eluding the police.
the demented attack
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Demented? Does the author mean insane?
This was not demented. It was a carefully planed conspiracy among, at least, 3 people. All three people could not have been insane.
Well, I have read from a number of sources that the chief business of most Albanians is crime, and here’s yet another indication.
Interesting, too, that his two criminal stooges appear to be Latinos, perhaps illegal aliens.
“Morales, with the blade in his hand, approached the detective while Andres Martinez, 22 . . .” Evidently there aren’t enough Albanians available to do these jobs, so he had to outsource the contract.
Are these 'upstanding citizens' of the legal or illegal variety?
Possible, of course, he could have reloaded but more likely the reporter is a nitwit. More likely a semi-auto.
Appears also that the felony murder law should apply to all the thugs involved.
—yeah—those “ten shot revolvers” are sort of rare-—
Saw one at the gun store. .22 cal, large wheel.
Gosh reporters are stupid -- which wouldn't bother me so much if they didn't think of themselves as society's brain!
As for the alleged perp.... He needs to learn that there is NO woman worth going to jail over. Not even for one night. Plenty more where that one came from. And if she messes you up that bad? Stay away. Drama does not equal love.
/johnny
ahh.. cultural diversity...
-—H&R made a series of 9-shot .22’s, —never heard of a ten shot—
It was probably a fully semi-automatic .9 cal glock assault revolver.
If this Albanian national POS has been arrested twice before, why is he still in this country?
Oh, I heard a video about one.
And third world values.
Nowhere is it mentioned what his religion is. There is an 80% chance that he is a member of ROP. After all he is exhibiting the attitude towards women that is promoted by ROP.
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