A dirty NYPD cop and a pair of Queens thugs — including a man who was once arrested for fatally stabbing a groom at an engagement party — were busted Tuesday on charges they shook down an Astoria restaurant owner and others in the Albanian-American community, according to Brooklyn federal prosecutors.
The disgraced officer, Besnik Llakatura, allegedly pretended to offer the victim advice in dealing with the shakedown attempt — but was part of the plot all along, according to court papers.
The cop warned the businessman against fighting back against the thugs and their cash demands, officials said.
“These people, they run Astoria,” he told the victim, who was an acquaintance.
Llakatura, who worked out of Staten Island’s 120th Precinct before he was suspended, conspired with fellow Albanian-Americans Redinel Dervishaj and Denis Nikolla to extract a total $24,000 from the victim between July and November, the feds say.
“The defendants told their victims they offered ‘protection’ but in reality they peddled fear and intimidation through the Albanian community,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.
Llakatura warned the victim against going to authorities and told him the thugs knew where his family lived.
Prosecutors said Nikolla once pulled a gun on the panicked businessman after he balked at handing over a payment.
The hulking Dervishaj was arrested in 2012 for fatally stabbing Antonio Lacertosa at his own Staten Island engagement party but wasn’t indicted after he successfully argued self-defense.
Llakatura was caught on federal wiretaps boasting that he routinely shook down other local business owners for “taxes,” authorities said.
He also described dealing with one man who didn’t offer up enough cash to satisfy his greed. “I grabbed him by the neck and told him, ‘come here motherf—–.’”
“You’re going to get it and give it to me one way or another,” he told yet another mark, according to a criminal complaint. “How do you want to do it?”
Wearing a Puma track top, Adidas track pants and white Air Jordan sneakers, the bald Albanian pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday and blew a kiss to family in the court gallery.
Llakatura, who is married, is also suspected of stalking a former mistress and is the subject of an ongoing federal lawsuit alleging that he brutalized a motorist along with four other cops.
Nikolla’s feisty, raven-haired wife declared her man innocent outside of court before launching into a profane tirade against awaiting photographers.
Both Nikolla and Dervishaj have prior extortion busts.