His father Hito died when he was only 6 months old so he was raised in a tough childhood which shaped his life by his mother and his relative Mehmet Qorri.
[1] The primary aim of the Tanzimat reforms was that of creating a strong modern local apparatus with which to govern the empire.
[5] When the Ottoman troops came in Kuç to take the taxes Gjoleka and the locals attacked them and sent them to Delvina to spread the message that "Albania belongs to its rightful owners and not the Sultan of Istanbul" shortly afterwards Gjoleka with a group of 300-500 men attacked Delvina defeating the Ottomans and expelling them thus bringing the first town under Albanian control and giving the first win to the rebels.
[6] Shortly after Gjoleka together with Çelo Picari led the Albanian rebels towards Gjirokastër where they took over the city and sieged the castle and with the help of the Albanian inhabitants repulsed 2 Ottoman counter assaults from Janina and Thessaly led by Shahin Bej Kosturi and Ismail Pasha killing in the process 2 of Shahin's the most trustable men Hasan Bej and Tahsin Efendi and wounding Ismail himself.
[9] He along with a group of other rebels refused to surrender to the Ottomans even due to the offers of wealth and pardoning by the government , after spending the harsh winter of 1847 in a cave near Kuç which became known as "Shpella e Gjolekës" even though they were supplied with food by the local population they retreated towards the Greek-Ottoman border in Trikala in order to avoid being traced by the Ottomans thing which could lead to a massacre of the locals.
The çeta held on against the Ottomans but were captured in 1848 due to the betrayal of a Greek soldier and were deportated to Anatolia while Gjoleka himself was heavily wounded.