Charles McGonigal, the retired FBI senior official now charged with violating sanctions and money laundering laws, has largely disappeared from headlines since his indictment by the Justice Department almost three months ago. As this contributor reported , the McGonigal scandal, which represents a serious stain on the Bureau’s reputation, involves much more than shady ties to Russian oligarchs.
The case has a major Balkan dimension that appears even more explosive than the Kremlin angle. While working for the FBI, McGonigal injected himself into Albanian politics, seemingly serving as a heavy for the ruling Socialist government there, including its Prime Minister Edi Rama. His efforts may have included a shakedown operation to extort tens of millions of dollars from Albanian business people in exchange for help from McGonigal with staying in Washington’s good graces.
That Balkan aspect of the McGonigal scandal has received scant coverage in American media, despite its troubling implications for the White House, given the close ties between the Biden administration and the Rama government. In contrast, the Albanian media has reported on this seedy matter extensively, given the explosive changes it contains, particularly regarding ties between Rama’s Socialists and international drug trafficking .
Times change, and the remarkable fact that the decade of Rama’s government happens to coincide with Albania becoming the top drug-smuggling venue in all Europe is being stated far beyond the Balkans. Now that the United Kingdom has a serious problem with Albanian narcotrafficking, their media are finally noticing that gangsters from that small Balkan country have become Europe’s preferred source for illegal narcotics. In far away Ecuador, the media is observing that Albanian organized crime and their drugs have made that South American country’s violence problem go from bad to worse.
As the Washington Examiner has reported , the Biden administration displays a “strange tolerance” for the Rama government despite its thinly concealed involvement in the drug trade. Now, however, that may be coming to an end. The McGonigal scandal has opened the door to real investigations of Albania’s drug-crime-corruption nexus, and those may reveal
Above all, Albania has elections coming on May 14. The McGonigal scandal has figured prominently in political discussions there. Rama and his government now have a crisis on their hands, which may take them down after a decade in power. The mid-April visit of Gabriel Escobar for meetings with Albania’s top politicians got attention because he’s the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State who’s responsible for issues in the western Balkans. It’s not every day that Foggy Bottom sends its top diplomat for the region to check in on little Albania. Officially this was just about routine business such as “strengthening democracy” before elections.
However, Escobar sounded remarkably even-handed in his comments to the local media. As he stated in a TV interview, “my visit here is absolutely not tied to the local elections. It is part of regular consultations that we have with close allies. And Albania is a close ally.” He continued when asked about the coming election, “We’re not in the position to choose candidates or choose members of political parties. Our relationship with Albania is with the people of Albania, not with one party and not with one person.”
It’s difficult to misread Escobar’s comment, which makes clear that, while the Biden administration may prefer to see Rama and his Socialist Party in power, nothing will change between the United States and Albania, no matter who wins any elections.
The Albanian rumor mill claimed that Escobar’s visit included laying down the law by the State Department to Rama and his government. In the aftermath of McGonigal’s indictment, the Justice Department is looking into all the fallen FBI man’s foreign connections, including in Albania. Any such investigation would quickly bump into the Rama government’s connections to organized crime and the drug trade.
That birthed panic in certain circles, and although it’s easy to dismiss local political gossip, it seems to include some truth. I understand from U.S. government sources that the intelligence community, which has known about the Rama government’s unpleasant narcotrafficking ties for years, possesses thick secret dossiers telling the unpleasant tale. Potomac whispers have it that the Justice Department is indeed investigating McGonigal’s Albanian connections up to the highest levels.
Neither does that investigation target just Rama. The Justice Department is said to be looking into top Socialists, too, including Erion Veliaj, mayor of Tirana, the country’s capital, and a close Rama ally. Veliaj’s reputed ties to international organized crime, relating to drug trafficking and money laundering, have been reported , so it’s not surprising that he’s coming under Washington’s scrutiny. In true Balkan fashion, some Albanian politicians claim that Veliaj, smelling blood in the water and viewing himself as the prime minister’s successor, is assisting the press campaign against Rama.
Regardless, the McGonigal scandal has changed the game in Albania. For a decade, Edi Rama has gotten away with turning his country into a U.S.-allied NATO member narcostate in Europe. It seems the Biden administration may finally have had enough of this repulsive arrangement. We’ll know more after Albania’s elections in a couple of weeks.
