FROM the outside it looked like any other run-down high street barber’s shop.
Sandwiched between a charity store and a second-hand outlet selling washing machines, CSG Barbers promised shaves and haircuts.
But behind the blacked-out window and door lay a high-rolling DIY casino where drug dealers and criminals bet tens of thousands of pounds, while being served by pretty waitresses.
The illegal den was uncovered by cops who nailed two Albanian brothers running cocaine from South East London to the Midlands.
The pair were making up to £4,000 A DAY with a network of Romanian runners who supplied drugs to Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire.
Drugs were delivered to up to 145 users daily, often folded up in Lottery tickets.
Now The Sun can reveal the full story of how cops brought down Edmund and Edward Haziri’s criminal empire — by trawling through some 1.2MILLION texts, WhatsApp messages and calls.
The brothers lived a life of luxury, driving fancy cars, buying Rolex watches and wearing designer clobber from the likes of Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton and Moncler.
They treated their wives to Christian Louboutin and Valentino shoes, while their children were also decked out in designer gear.
Edmund, 36, owned a gaudy gold chain encrusted with 30 carats worth of diamonds.
He and Edward, 34, enlisted their Albanian cousin Gazmend Hoxha, 47, and an old school pal, Alban Krasniqi, 34, to act as middle men for their “Eddie Line” — named after a car wash their dad once ran.
When cops raided Krasniqi’s flat in Blackheath Hill, South London, in March 2022, there was a poster of Al Pacino’s Tony Montana, from the 1983 gangster movie Scarface, pinned to the wall.
They found a cache of mobiles but were unable to locate the main phone used for taking orders.
A sniffer dog was called in, which found the iPhone in a neighbour’s garden after Krasniqi hurled it out a window.
Police were able to get into the handset after watching CCTV footage of the gangster-loving 34-year-old unlocking his PIN in a corner shop.
Officers knew the brothers were big players in the drugs market — but had no idea they were also running an illegal casino.
Detective Inspector Kane Martin, of Derbyshire Police, which ran the operation, said of the barbers they used as a front: “To the passing eye you wouldn’t know what was going on inside, but I don’t think you’d have gone in for a haircut because it was quite obviously not a place for cutting hair.
“The poker den in the basement was managed and operated by Edmund. It was an advanced and expensive set-up.
“The front door looks like nothing, but then associates would go through into a holding area with CCTV before being allowed through a door and down to the casino.
“We presented evidence in court of some really high-stakes games on poker and blackjack tables, with tens of thousands being placed on bets while waitresses served drinks.”
Mercedes-driving Edmund’s brother Edward managed the family-run bistro D’Angelo, on Orpington’s High Street.
It was also a “key meeting place” for the brothers’ Leicester-based relative Hoxha to drop off drugs money in a carrier or washbag.
CCTV footage retrieved by cops showed criminals counting wads of cash in the kitchen before stuffing it into envelopes.
The brothers’ parents both worked in the bistro but they faced no charges.
DI Martin, who ran his force’s county lines drug dealing team at the time, said: “Hoxha’s key role was to act as facilitator, travelling to London to pick up cocaine and drop off the proceeds.
“A runner would meet him every day and he would supply the drugs to customers. We identified up to five separate runners operating on any one day and there were in excess of 20. All but two were Romanian.
“In February 2022 we believe they made up to £4,000 in one day.
“Krasniqi was the mainstay of the operation group and he ran the Eddie Line.
“It was very well known in the area for supplying good quality cocaine from the Albanians.
“As part of the operation we had to examine 1.2million lines of telecommunications data and more than 45 different phone numbers.
“There was a huge amount of analytical work, with the group often dropping phones and picking up new numbers.
“Ultimately, when the money went back to London, we were able to evidence where it was coming from.”
The cops’ trail started in early 2020, after a PCSO spotted a driver acting suspiciously in the Swadlincote area of Derbyshire.
It was thought to be linked to drug dealing and Operation Wildflower was launched.
Surveillance and vehicle stops linked the network to the brothers.
DI Martin said: “The brothers were at the top and furthest removed from the customer base, with no hands-on involvement in the chain of operation.
“But we knew they were running the Eddie Line.”
Police swooped in a series of raids in March last year.
Derby crown court heard the gang handled 9kg of cocaine, with an estimated street value of £1.1million.
Nine men were jailed for a total of some 70 years for their roles in the enterprise, including the brothers — Edmund for 15 years and Edward for 15 years, six months.
Hoxha got 11 years while Krasniqi was caged for nine.
Albanian gangsters have taken control of the UK’s illicit cocaine market over the past 20 years after forming an alliance with deadly Latin American drug cartels.
The most infamous gang is The Hellbanianz, based on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking, East London.
They court the limelight and have become synonymous with garish music videos on social media, where they pose with fistfuls of cash, jewellery and flash cars.
Thousands of Albanians arrived in Britain in the late 1990s and early 2000s during a refugee crisis and first made their mark in Soho’s sex trade.
Police sources have previously revealed the Balkan gangsters went on to fight against Jamaican and Chinese gangs for control of London’s cocaine trade.
But The Sun told in January how they are banned from Liverpool, where local crime godfathers have warned them to stay away.
One source said: “The local gangs protect Liverpool and will not let them in.
“They have been warned. Geographically they are probably strongest in north and east London.”
