45Β°
Endrit Kllogjeri, 30, had been convicted of multiple extortion-related counts by U.S. District Court jurors in Trenton last June.
A month earlier, co-defendant Francis Garzon pleaded guilty to extortion and conspiracy in connection with the 2019 scheme.
Kllogjeri, Garzon and an unidentified co-conspirator tried to shake down the Monmouth County victim and his son, who lived in Brooklyn, with a ruse that they'd been wronged, authorities said.
The defendants threatened to harm the father, they said, if he didn't recover a bag from his son that purportedly held undisclosed property worth $100,000 that the trio claimed was stolen from them.
"Garzon further demanded an additional payment of $100,000 as 'interest' for [the son's] possession of the bag," according to an FBI complaint.
Garzon went to the father's Marlboro home, told him that he "did not know who he was dealing with," then pulled out a revolver, pointed it at him and cocked the weapon's hammer, the complaint says.
A series of threatening conversations followed, including cellphone texts that included photos and videos of the son and his family, it says.
FBI agents tipped off to the situation went undercover, with a detective posing as the dad messaging an offer to settle things with $70,000 in cash.
Kllogjeri and Garzon were headed to the meet when the agents arrested them in Brooklyn on Dec. 9, 2019, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi sentenced Garzon, the gunman, to a plea-bargained 10 years in federal prison this past January.
Kllogjeri was sentenced on March 21 to three years of supervised release in addition to his 84-month prison term.
Both men must serve 85% of their sentences before they'll be eligible for early release. There's no parole in the federal prison system.
Sellinger credited the FBI with the investigation leading to the conviction, secured by by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric A. Boden, who's the attorney-in-charge of his Trenton office, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian D. Brater.
He also thanked Marlboro Township police and the NYPD for their assistance.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Garfield-Lodi and receive free news updates.
