Please note the key point: All three of the most important “minor” partners are of Albanian nationality, and it’s no coincidence.
It’s the unmistakable sign of the arrival of the new masters of the house: The Albanian Mafia, dominant for years in my pleasant little town, powerful enough to offer Miriam the protection and resources she needed (keeping in check what was left of Maurice & Co. or other similar riffraff), yet still inexperienced and eager to cooperate in an area new to them, of which Miriam was the historic sovereign and the main living memory!