Greek-American organized crime
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Greek-American organized crime is fairly recent in the United States, mostly located on the east coast in New York and Philadelphia specifically. Spiros Velentzas, who held control over Greek-American neighborhoods in Queens during the 1980s and 90s, ran a highly lucrative horse racing parlors using satellite dishes to pick up racing results throughout the country (an innovative alternative to the News Wire service of the early 20th century) as well as running high stakes "barbut" dice games.
The "Five Families" of New York made no attempt to move in on Velentzas operations however, as one mobster was said to have stated those "...rotten Greeks know the game so damn good they'd cheat us blind."
Working with the Lucchese crime family, who offered protection in exchange for a percentage of their gambling operations, Velentzas was able to keep out recently arriving Greek immigrants threatening to muscle in on his gambling operations. Although attempting to expand operations in areas controlled by the Gambino crime family, Greek criminals retreated into their enclaves after warnings from the Gambinos.
During the 1970s, Chelsais "Steve" Bouras headed Philadelphia's "Greek Mob" until his death in 1981, gunned down at a South Philadelphia restaurant by gunmen (supposedly ordered by New Jersey mobster Nicodemo Scarfo).
Within major organized crime groups, prominent syndicate mobsters include Tony "the Greek" Frankos, Demetrios Frangoulis, Alfonso Frangoulis, Theodore Anton, Mike "The Greek" Potson and Gus Alex, the latter a high ranking member of the Chicago Outfit.
[edit] References
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
