Police have disrupted a serious criminal organization said to be behind numerous bombings, blackmail and kidnappings following a major operation.
The casefile assembled by prosecutors has recently been released and often reads as an excerpt from a fanciful crime thriller, complete with prison break attempts with helicopters, extortion, blackmail, bomb plots, corrupt prison guards and even the involvement of a former defense minister.
The organized crime network appears to have been led from prison by three well-known serial offenders who have been convicted of kidnapping a shipowner and other crimes. They appear also to still have had access to the ransom paid in that kidnapping which they used to fund their criminal plots which carried out by collaborators ‘on the outside’. The group also appears to have had links with domestic terror groups.
17 people have been arrested and 37 people face charges in the case, of whom 10 are already in prison. Among those named in the case is the former Defense Minister, Akis Tsochatzopoulos who is serving a prison sentence for money laundering related to bribes paid for arms procurement programs. He is accused of involvement in the attempted extortion and bombing attacks on individuals related to Ioannis Sbokos. Sbokos, who is also in prison, was the general secretary in charge of the Defense Ministry’s procurement program and was allegedly the target of a million euro extortion attempt by the ring leaders of the group.
Those accused of involvement in the ring include a number of well known inmates serving time for serious crimes, 6 correctional workers, a lawyer (who is accused of being a an accessory to bribery) bouncers, one man already wanted in connection to the domestic terrorist Nikos Maziotis, and the 54 year-old former police officer who was recently arrested in connection to Christodoulos Xiros.
The crimes
Among the crimes that the group masterminded is the kidnapping of the ship-owner Pericles Panagopoulos who was kidnapped in 2009 and released after the family paid a record ransom. Police seized 337,000 euros which may be part of the ransom paid to the kidnappers.
Effectively the men convicted of masterminding that crime in 2012 - Panagiotis Vlastos and Ioannis Skaftouros - are said to have continued to lead a criminal gang from behind bars.
The group is thought to be behind a bomb attack on the 2nd of November 2012 on the home of the judge Paraskevi Kalaitzi. Ms Kalaitzi was the judge in the kidnapping case of Panagopoulos.
A similar attack on the 20th of July, 2013 on the home of the Trikala prosecutor who worked on related case is also linked to the group. That case saw a leader of the group tried on charges related to a failed prison escape attempt on the part of Vlastos using a helicopter.
Police are also examining the connection of the ring to a car bomb attack directed at the former director of the Korydallos Prison. Responsibility for that attack had been taken by the domestic terror group ‘Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire.’
How the criminal network was uncovered
The unraveling of the web of criminal activity is said to have begun when one of the leaders of the group – the 45 year old Panagiotis Vlastos – sought to kill one of his relatives and accomplices (identified as 'Litsa Vlastou' in court documents) after believing she had betrayed him and stolen money.
The woman, apparently fearing for her life, appears to have gone to the police.
The efforts by the so-called ‘Greek Mafia’ to kill the woman culminated in the failed ‘New Year’s bombing’ of her home less than a month ago. It is believed that the 54-year old ex police officer who was arrested in connection to Christodoulos Xiros was the man who planted 15 kilos of ammonium based explosives at the base of her apartment building. It is believed that the blast would have been large enough to bring down the building. However it failed to detonate.
It appears that the woman was a major source of the information obtained by the Greek police over the criminal network, providing them even with ‘orders’ sent by the inmate masterminds to the free members of the group. These concerned bomb attacks, protection rackets, and preparatory work for an escape attempt. The woman has been placed in a witness protection program.
According to court documents, one of the ringleaders of the group, Panagiotis Vlastos, had given the woman at least 1.5 million euros in laundered cash from the kidnapping of the shipowner and holds her responsible for the loss of a large portion of it.
The casefile writes:
"The final bomb attack which is recorded is that of New Year's on the home of Litsa Vlastou. She testified to police that Panagiotis Vlastos wanted to kill her and her family. She appears to have hidden in her living room about 1.5 million euros for Panagiotis Vlastos who for a time being gave her a monthly salary of between 600-1000 euros. When, however, P. Vlastos sent another accomplice to take the money he ascertained that 250,000 was missing. That enraged the man who appears to be one of the leaders of the ring and who threatened [L. Vlastou]. To find the money he told her to sell even her house, threatening that he would wipe out her whole family. Indeed after the explosion on New Year’s, Panagiotis Vlastos appears to have struck her during a visit in prison in front of two correctional workers when she told him that she didn’t have the money. It is noted that the correctional workers did nothing. P. Vlastos subsequently said that he had begun preparations to carry out his threats. It appears that the New Year’s bomb and all that followed were the trigger for the unraveling of the criminal network."
The Sbokos case
The former defense minister Akis Tsochaztopoulos is alleged to be involved in a campaign of bomb attacks directed at relatives of Yiannis Sbokos, who was the general secretary of procurement in the defense ministry under Mr Tsochatzopoulos’s leadership. Sbokos is being held in the same prison as Tsochatzopoulos and the group’s ringleaders. He has been convicted on charges related to the defense ministry bribery scandal.
It appears that the group were attempting to extort millions of euros from Sbokos who they believe has a large fortune. In an effort to get Sbokos to turn over the cash, they planted several bombs directed at Sbokos’s relatives. Akis Tsochatzopoulos is said to have informed the group of Sbokos’s alleged fortune. In the casefile it is noted that the ringleaders of the group enjoyed a large degree of freedom within the prison, moving about all the wings and meeting with whomever they liked.
Together with P. Vlastos another man identified as ‘Skaftouros’ is said to have been one of the ringleaders.
The casefile writes:
“There were four explosions recorded against Ioannis Sbokos and Anna Sbokou (April and May 2014). One day before the explosion – according to the testimony of the sister Anna Sbokou – an unknown man called and speaking good Greek tolde her, ‘Ms Anna? Watch out because you and your brother will suffer great harm.”
Interesting testimony is provided by a prisoner according to whom, “when the prison was ‘open’ – that is when inmates were given exercise periods, Vlastos would continually go up to the small guard’s room and from there could communicate with any prisoner of the ground-level wing. Vlastos sometimes met and talked with Sbokos.” The same prisoner said that some were attempting to extort money from Sbokos but did not name them.
Testifying to authorities ‘Litsa’ said the following: “P. Vlastos had told her that the first explosive device which exploded at the home of Ioannis Sbokos on 16/4/2014 had been placed on the order of G. Skaftouros but because nobody lived there, Sbokos was not afraid. For that reason Vlastos said that they had to place a bomb at Sbokos’s sister’s home so that he would be scared and give the money to Skaftouros. Specifically Vlastos had told her, “Giannakis will get off Sbokos 2-3 million euros.”
“Litsa” indeed told the authorities that the information that Sbokos had a lot of money and could provide such a sum was given to Skaftouros by Akis Tsochatzopoulos who had a major grudge against him. More specifically, according to the document, Sbokos at an unknown point had received a suitcase with ten million euros which was intended for Tsochatzopoulos, but he never gave it to him.
For that reason Tsochatzopoulos – as she says – informed Skaftouros about the money that Sbokos had and potentially the addresses of his siblings. Subsequently, “Litsa” reckoned in her testimony that, from the money that Skaftouros was attempting to extort from Sbokos, Tsochatzopoulos would obviously get a share. At another point Vlastos appears to have told her that the information about Ioannis Sbokos had been learnt from Makis Psomiadis, who is also held in the 6th wing, without however having told her anything else.
P. Vlastos appears to have also mentioned to ‘Litsa” that Sbokos, from the bribes of the arms contracts had obtained 500-700 million euros in gold and had it in banks in Switzerland. The amount which Skaftouros was apparently trying to extort was ‘crumbs’ in comparison with Sbokos’s fortune.”
The large casefile lists a number of other bomb plots, extortion rackets and escape attempts and notes that the organized crime ring appears to have had close links with domestic terror groups “maintaining with them a mutual relationship of assistance, even organizing mutual escape attempts.” They sought to intimidate police, correctional workers and judges through campaigns of intimidation and also bribery, having bribed correctional workers, police officers and even attempted to bribe judges.
Of the success of police in uncovering the network and its many branches, the Minister for Public Order Vasilis Kikilias stated,
“It is with great joy that today again, as multiple times over the past eight months, I congratulate the Natural Leadership of the Greek Police and the men and women of the security services for multiple hits, which we have achieved, in our attempts to eliminate serious crime and terrorism.
Today, after all, with the successful operation of the Greek Police, the indications are strengthened regarding the cooperation of terrorists with serious criminal elements as their similar and overlapping roles are now proven.
We will continue in the same methodical, diligent and self-sacrificing way our struggle against all manner of criminality. It is society’s demand and a national necessity for the Police to provide protection and a safe environment for the citizen, securing social peace and stability, something which is a European issue, particularly following the recent events in France and Belgium.”
However while it is no doubt a success for the Greek police to have arrested alleged collaborators of Vlastos and Skaftouros, serious questions must be answered about how exactly Greece's prisons are run if two known serious and serial offenders are able to continue to direct such an extensive criminal network even after they have been locked up for the good of society.
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