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2024-03-29T06:28:40Z
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“King of the Night” – Profile of Greek crime boss Vassilis Stefanakos
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/king-of-the-night-profile-of-greek-crime-boss-vassilis-stefanakos
2020-02-20T17:37:41.000Z
2020-02-20T17:37:41.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/king-of-the-night-profile-of-greek-crime-boss-vassilis-stefanakos" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237149081,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237149081?profile=original" /></a>By Milko for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>Vassilis Stefanakos (photo above) was born in 1961 in a suburb of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Athens" target="_blank">Athens</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Greece" target="_blank">Greece</a>. He was involved in smuggling oil and cigarettes, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug trafficking</a>, and protection rackets. After the death of his boss at the start of the 21<sup>st</sup> century, he became one of the new leaders of his organization, alongside Aristidis Lakiotis and Ioannis Skaftouros.</p>
<p>It is alleged that Stefanakos ordered the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murder</a> of rival crime boss Themis Kalapotharakos, but he was never convicted. However, in 2006, the law did find him guilty in absentia of assault, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Smuggling" target="_blank">smuggling</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Racketeering" target="_blank">racketeering</a>, and sentenced him to 14,5 years in prison. Thanks to false identities given to him by corrupt police, he managed to evade justice.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-greek-crime-boss-alexandros-angelopoulos" target="_blank"><strong>Greek crime boss "The Greek Escobar" Angelopoulos</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Until January 2008, when he was arrested in the vicinity of his residence in the Athens suburb of Haïdari. Later, he was also sentenced to 21 years behind bars for his involvement in a murder committed by Alket Rizai and for helping Rizai and Vassilis Palaiocostas during a prison break in 2006.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237149870,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237149870?profile=original" /></a>He was released from prison in August of 2016 thanks to an early release law passed by the Greek government in 2015. He didn’t get to enjoy his freedom for long. On January 17, 2018, Stefanakos was shot dead in Haïdari, Athens. He was 57 years old.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-greek-crime-boss-panagiotis-vlastos" target="_blank"><strong>Greek crime boss Panagiotis Vlastos</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Assassins used at least one AK-47 and police found at least 22 bullet casings at the murder scene. They were waiting for Stefanakos and ambushed him when he exited his home. He wasn’t an easy target because he always moved around in an armored car and with a bodyguard.</p>
<p>As he was about to get into his car, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hitman" target="_blank">hitmen</a> came riding in on a motorcycle. One of the men opened the passenger door and sprayed bullets at the defenseless crime boss.</p>
<p><em><strong>Milko (a pseudonym) is a Dutchman who has studied organized crime in the Netherlands, its history, and its offshoots in foreign countries for over two decades. He is also very knowledgeable about crime in other European countries and is eager to share his information.</strong></em></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Profile: Greek crime boss Panagiotis Vlastos
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-greek-crime-boss-panagiotis-vlastos
2017-03-07T10:58:48.000Z
2017-03-07T10:58:48.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-greek-crime-boss-panagiotis-vlastos" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237084275,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237084275?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By Milko</p>
<p>Panagiotis Vlastos was born in Athens, Greece, in 1971. Growing up in Metamorfosi, Vlastos got involved in crime at an early age, committing theft and burglaries. In the 1990s, he and another gangster named Kostas Nastoulis were fighting a gangland war against each other. In 1994, Vlastos murdered Yerasimos Nastoulis, a brother of Kostas, and Dimitros Spinos, one of Kostas Nastoulis’ underlings.</p>
<p>In the years that followed two of Vlastos’ brothers were killed. His brother Kostas was shot to death by police, while his brother Markos – who himself was not involved in the criminal business - was presumably murdered by henchmen of Kostas Nastoulis.</p>
<p>After being arrested and convicted Vlastos was sent to prison in June of 1998. He continued running his criminal enterprise from behind bars where he was accompanied by four to eight other inmates serving as bodyguards at all times. He ran an <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a> racket and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Loansharking" target="_blank">loansharking</a> operation. Nightclubs had to pay him for “protection.” If club owners refused to pay, he bombed their establishments with explosives.</p>
<p>He was released from prison in 2007, but quickly ran in trouble with the law again after he had shot a shop owner who refused to pay him his extortion fee. Back in prison, he partnered up with crime bosses Vassilis Stefanakos and Ioannis Skaftouros even though they continued to operate independently, they cooperated on many issues and even exchanged men for various jobs.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-greek-crime-boss-alexandros-angelopoulos" target="_blank">Profile of Greek crime boss Alexandros Angelopoulos</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Between 2005 and 2009 Vlastos’ war with Kostas Nastoulis flared up once again. Both sides took casualties, among them Aristidis Lakiotis in 2005, Yiannis Gavakis in 2006, Aristotelis Yiayias and Vasilis Nasipian in 2007 and Yiorgos Anagnostopoulos in 2009.</p>
<p>The partnership between Vlastos, Stefanakos and Skaftouros remained stable throughout and after this period. All three crime bosses were even thought to be responsible for the attack on the home of Judge Kalaïtzi, who presided over a case involved the three men in which they were charged with the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Kidnapping" target="_blank">kidnapping</a> of the wealthy businessman Periklis Panagopoulos. The three gangsters were also alleged to have bombed the home of the warden of the prison they were housed in and the home of a prosecutor.</p>
<p>On February 2013, 43-year-old Vlastos tried to escape from a prison again – it was to be his fourth attempt. A helicopter with four passengers – two armed – appeared above the prison. A rope was thrown down which would be used to pull Vlastos up. The crew used Kalashnikovs to keep guards at a distance. In total, they fired over 500 rounds of ammo. A gunfight erupted between the guards and gangsters during which Vlastos was shot in the leg by one of the prison guards. Vlastos then fell down three-and-a-half meters.</p>
<p>Whether he was tired of battling authorities is unknown, but on March 9, 2015, Vlastos caved and pleaded guilty in multiple criminal cases against him. He admitted his involvement in kidnappings, bomb attacks, and extortion.</p>
<p><em><strong>Milko (a pseudonym) is a Dutchman who has studied organized crime in the Netherlands, its history, and its offshoots in foreign countries for over two decades. He is also very knowledgeable about crime in other European countries and is eager to share his information.</strong></em></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/europe-overview">European organized crime section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>