![]() ![]() So he tells us that Spyros arrives as a child, 14 years old, with his family in Neos Kosmos in the late 1940s, his parents, sisters and brother Dimitris, that is, looking for a better fate. Police correspondent Capeci has been writing about New York City organized crime since 1975 in both the New York Post and the New York Daily News, and he knew things better than anyone. Much of the biographical information about him has been revealed by the struggling journalist Jerry Capeci in his book "Gang Land". ![]() This has always been his great ability to go unnoticed. Velentzas remains almost unknown even in the US. Stuck on pedestals, when they grew up on the streets of Queens and everyone knew them as Greek and Italian, they both climbed the ladder of their own unions.Īnd finally Velentzas was the man Gotti was referring to when he infamously proclaimed: "Tell this bum that I, John Gotti, will uproot his fucking head!" Although Velentzas held his head, he was destined to have the same fate as the "leader of the leaders".īehind the railings today, serving a life sentence, the Greek mafia continues to plead not guilty to murder, saying he spends his life in prison for a crime he swears he did not commit… But he was also a personal friend and partner of the other "godfather", the "godfather of godfathers" John Gotti, the infamous boss of the Gambino family who came to control all of New York and beyond. Spyredon "Spiros" Velentzas, as he is known on the other side of the Atlantic, proved to be indeed the Greek "godfather" of New York. After all, he was accused of only one charge, for illegal gambling. With him in the much-praised 12-week trial were sentenced both of his leaders, Peter Drakoulis and Michael Grillo, but his brother Dimitrios escaped. But also that his criminal union had close contacts with the Italian mafia and especially the Lucchese family. ![]() Prosecutors Kevin McGrath and Elizabeth Lesser told the newspaper that Velentzas was in charge of a major gambling and money laundering network in New York and mainly in the Greek community of Astoria. The court did not even manage to reach a verdict for the most serious crime he was charged with, the murder of a jewelry thief. The reason for the then 57-year-old boss of the Greek underworld of Queens and Brooklyn, who had just been convicted of gambling, extortion, usury and tax evasion, among others, by the Brooklyn Federal Court. ![]()
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