An Albanian gangster serving 32 years for murder is filming TikTok videos from his prison cell begging his followers for cash, despite sporting a pair of £550 Dolce & Gabbana sneakers.
Gangster killer Eugert Merizaj, 33, appears to be using a banned mobile phone for his online prison appeal, which was uncovered by The sun on Sunday.
Merizaj spoke to the self-proclaimed ‘King of Instagram’ and fellow Albanian Kozak Braci in a video filmed last week inside HMP Manchester.
In the clip, Braci tells Merizaj: ‘You will have 2,000 euros from me, 2,000 euros from Fabio (an Albanian murderer imprisoned in Greece)… as support so that you can get out of prison.’
He also boasts about spending £50,000 on lawyers and says: “No one will let me out.” I’ve run out of money.
The 33-year-old reportedly spends his money on designer clothes and can be seen in one picture wearing a pair of Dolce & Gabbana trainers which sell for £550.
Gangster Eugert Merizaj’s killer was wearing a pair of Dolce & Gabbana sneakers in prison that sell for £550.
Merizaj, 33, appears to be using a banned mobile phone for his online appeal against prison.
Merizaj spoke to the self-proclaimed ‘King of Instagram’ and fellow Albanian Kozak Braci in a video filmed last week inside HMP Manchester.
The financial appeal comes after it was revealed in August last year that Merizaj was live-streaming videos from his cell in the UK on TikTok in which he flirted with women and played online games with criminals in other prisons.
He even boasted that a drone left his phone in his Manchester prison and that he hides it inside some toilet paper.
Merizaj also boasted that if prison officials discovered his phone, he would just “buy another one.”
He claimed at the time that it was the third phone he had used in prison and that each one cost him £2,000.
The 33-year-old filmed himself and his fellow prisoner, calling himself Cameron, flirting with a woman who claimed to be 21.
“She’s sassy, man,” Cameron is heard saying. ‘Does she know we’re in jail?’
Merizaj also used a feature called ‘Live Match’ on TikTok to communicate with friends outside of prison and also earn small sums.
Live Matches involve TikTok users recording themselves speaking to other users for five minutes, often imploring donations from online viewers.
The 33-year-old reportedly spends his money on designer clothes and can be seen in one picture wearing a pair of £550 Dolce & Gabbana sneakers.
In the clip, Braci tells Merizaj: ‘You will have 2,000 euros from me, 2,000 euros from Fabio (an Albanian murderer imprisoned in Greece)… as support so that you can get out of prison.’
Eugert Merizaj (above left), who uses the nickname ‘Babale’, and a fellow prisoner, who goes by the name Cameron, filmed themselves flirting with a woman (pictured) on TikTok.
Eugert Merizaj (pictured) was sentenced to 32 years in prison for his role in the brutal shotgun murder of a drug rival.
Hemawand Ali Hussein (pictured) was shot in the head at a house in Hartlepool by a gang Merizaj was part of in 2019.
The winner of a match is the one who receives the most “gifts” from the spectators, in the form of colorful virtual stickers.
Gifts are converted into points that can ultimately be redeemed for money. However, TikTok is believed to take a cut of more than 50 percent.
Some popular gifts, such as roses and footballs, can be bought for less than a penny, but the most expensive, stars, cost more than £400.
Merizaj was part of a gang who lured cannabis dealer Hemawand Ali Hussein to a house in Hartlepool in 2019 before shooting him with a shotgun.
The gangster was located in Belgium after the murder and extradited to the United Kingdom.
Three other members of the Albanian gang were jailed for murder and three suspects are at large.
Jailing him for life in 2022, Judge Lavender accepted that Merizaj did not pull the trigger and was not in the house when the murder occurred, but said he had been heavily involved in its planning and had purchased weapons, including an axe.
Sources suggested to The Sun that prison officials were investigating the videos after the newspaper told them about them.
The Prison Service previously said: ‘Phones are not tolerated in prisons and those who break the rules face harsh punishments, including extra time behind bars.
“We are working with TikTok to remove these videos and our £100m investment in airport-style security has helped stop more than 28,000 attempts to smuggle drugs, phones and weapons into prisons since last October.”
