DEADLY BRAWL: Redinal Dervishaj was arrested yesterday in a Chicago suburb after going on the lam for allegedly stabbing Anthony Lacertosa to death during a wild fight outside Staten Island restaurant Espana (above). (Seth Gottfried)
DEADLY BRAWL: Redinal Dervishaj was arrested yesterday in a Chicago suburb after going on the lam for allegedly stabbing Anthony Lacertosa (above) to death during a wild fight outside Staten Island restaurant Espana.
DEADLY BRAWL: Redinal Dervishaj (right) was arrested yesterday in a Chicago suburb after going on the lam for allegedly stabbing Anthony Lacertosa (inset) to death during a wild fight outside Staten Island restaurant Espana. (
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The reputed Albanian gangster wanted in the slaying of a Staten Island groom-to-be was busted yesterday in a Chicago suburb, law-enforcement sources said.
Redinel Dervishaj, 35, was holed up inside his aunt’s home in Palos Hills, a small community just southwest of the Windy City, when he was collared at 12:30 p.m., the sources said.
Dervishaj, whose brother is an international fugitive wanted for four murders in Albania, is expected to be extradited in a few days in connection with the stabbing death of Anthony Lacertosa, 27, outside the Espana restaurant in Staten Island’s Annadale section.
“It will be a case of whether it’s self-defense or manslaughter or murder, depending on what the evidence shows and what a grand jury decides,” said one source.
Another source said Dervishaj has fully confessed.
The stabbing occurred at 2 a.m. Saturday out of the range of an exterior security camera, but seconds later, Lacertosa is seen stumbling back into the lens’ view, clutching his chest and opening his jacket, sources said.
“He stumbles forward and leaves a swipe of blood on the side of Dervishaj’s pickup. It’s then that people realize he’s been stabbed,” said one source who has reviewed the video.
The bricklayer, known as “The Hulk,” was given CPR by his 24-year-old fiancée, Bridgette Schneider, but died at a hospital.
The deadly brawl began when Espana manager Ridi Zeneli and Dervishaj, who is believed to be an employee, arrived back at the restaurant in Dervishaj’s pickup to close up shop, sources said.
When they pulled into the restaurant’s driveway, they caught two members of Lacertosa’s entourage urinating on the front of the building, sources added.
“Words are exchanged, people start pushing and shoving, and soon more of Lacertosa’s crew pour out of the restaurant,” a source said.
About 12 people surrounded Zeneli and Dervishaj, who is missing a finger, and was “swinging his arms like a madman,” said a source.
“He’s going nuts. At some point, it appears he knocks a guy out,” the source added.
During the fracas, Dervishaj was tossed over the hood of a car parked on the street and landed on the ground, security tapes show.
He quickly bounced back up and retreated into his pickup, but couldn’t open the door and fled into a side entrance of the restaurant, where he allegedly grabbed the butcher’s blade and plunged it into Lacertosa’s torso, sources said.
Zeneli fetched his gun from inside, but he ran off when it jammed, sources said. He has not been charged with a crime.
Dervishaj was shot in 2007 in a gangland extortion attempt and was arrested in 2004 for menacing his then-wife with a knife, sources said. His brother, Plaurent, heads an Albanian gang.
Additional reporting by Rebecca Harshbarger