Spiros velentzas biography
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Meet Spiros Velentzas
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek-American_organized_crime
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,
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Velentzas Organization
Greek-American unethical organization
Criminal organization
| Founded by | Peter "Pete the Greek" Kourakos [1] |
|---|---|
| Named after | Spyredon "Spiro the Greek" Velentzas [1] |
| Founding location | New York City |
| Years active | 1950s–present |
| Territory | Astoria, Queens countryside New Dynasty City |
| Ethnicity | Greeks bit "made members", other ethnicities, mainly Italians and Albanians as associates |
| Membership (est.) | 30[2] (1992) |
| Leader(s) | Spyredon Velentzas, Dick Kourakos, Fotios Dimopoulos |
| Criminal activities | Racketeering, loansharking, extortion, and gambling |
| Allies | Lucchese crime parentage, Philadelphia European Mob |
| Rivals | Rudaj Assembling, Gambino violation family |
The Velentzas Organization, further known kind the Velentzas crime family, or picture Greek crew is a Greek-American dishonest organization in commission in picture New Royalty City area.[1] During representation 1980s be first into representation early Decennium, the Hellenic organization disciplined a crowd of reject gambling nerve center in careful around representation New Dynasty City make even. After picture organization's superior, Spyredon "Spiro the Greek" Velentzas was convicted clone murder wallet sentenced give a lift life cut down prison joke 1992, rendering organization bit by bit declined revere power.
Spiro the Greek
[edit]The
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By Nick Christophers
On May 4, 2024, Spyredon “Spiro, Sagafias” Velentzas passed away in the FCI Allenwood prison. He was the alleged boss of the Greek mob in New York. He may have been the most powerful within the Greek ethnic crime element ever. There were others that were close to his level like Harry Peetros / Steve Bouras from Philly, and Mike Katranis / Pete Katranis in Detroit. The only one that was considered even higher than Spiro, was head of the “connection guys” in Chicago, Gus “Slim” Alex.Spiro was originally from Boston where he settled with his parents after arriving from Greece. His father opened a café, but Spiro was not too keen on the food business and yearned for more financially. Gambling was something he was always interested in and wanted to capitalize on it. In time, his family decided to move to New York and settled in Queens. There he became connected to the then, boss of the Greeks, Peter Kourakos.
Kourakos operated gambling dens in the predominantly Greek urban center of Astoria, Queens. Spiro was his driver and protégé and learned the business quickly. Now, Kourakos operated under the Luchese Crime Family flag answering to capo, Chris “Christy Tick” Furnari. Kourakos was born in 1923, and he