GODFATHER OF NIGHT: A Greek Mafia Father, a Drug Runner Son, and an Unexpected Shot at Redemption (UPDATED)

My friend ordered the book "Godfather of Night" and after I read it, I will tell you how I like it. Here is some info from Amazon.com:

From Publishers Weekly
Reformed gangster Pappas offers a potent, fast-paced memoir: I didn't become a gangster out of greed, money, or to drive fancy cars. I got into it to make a point: To prove my manhood to a father who denied me. That father was Lukie Pappas, head of the biggest Greek crime family in the Southeast. At age 17 the author learned he was Lukie's illegitimate son. He changed his name from Kevin Cunningham to Kevin Lucas Pappas, but still received only a cold denial from Lukie. Angered by the rejection, Pappas began his own criminal life of swindles, drug trafficking, money laundering and racketeering. As a kingpin in Atlanta, he found the cocaine competition turning ugly: At age 24, he landed in the violent Atlanta federal prison. While serving two consecutive life sentences, Pappas agreed to an FBI offer: freedom in exchange for infiltrating his father's group as an informant: I walked out of prison full of anger and animosity toward my so-called father. Pappas is adapting this high-octane book into a documentary, scheduled for 2010 release. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Aug. 11)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description
What if you belonged nowhere and to no one? What if you learned as a teenager that the father who had mistreated you for years wasn’t your father at all–and that you were actually born to the mistress of a Greek gangster? And what if the only way to connect with your real father was to become his fiercest rival?

Kevin Cunningham grew up in Tarpon Springs, Florida, just another kid from the wrong side of the tracks. But from his first days, Kevin gravitated toward power, and in Tarpon Springs that meant local crime boss Lukie Pappas. As a boy, Kevin hung out at the Pappas Restaurant, and he saw how the townspeople approached Lukie. How they respected him. How they came to him for help. How they called him nounos–Greek for “godfather.” From the shadows, Kevin admired it all.

When he turned seventeen, Kevin’s world flipped upside down. His dying father confessed that Kevin was the son of another man–and not just any man. He was the son of Lukie Pappas. Suddenly, Kevin’s destiny was clear. His lineage became his fate. His rightful place was beside the Greek godfather who ruled his hometown.

But Lukie coldly rejected him, as both a son and a colleague. Fueled by rage and pride, Kevin claimed the Pappas name as his own and embarked on his own criminal enterprise. From two-bit swindling he rose quickly to high-stakes drug trafficking. Money laundering, gun running, and racketeering polished his underworld résumé, even as they placed him squarely in the cross-hairs of every federal agency with three initials and a most-wanted list. And when he got caught, Kevin’s time behind bars only honed his criminal instinct, hardened his resolve, and cemented his reputation as a larger-than-life outlaw who sometimes went down but could never be taken out.

Still in his early twenties but as powerful as any crime boss, Kevin surrounded himself with an elite group, a posse that called itself the Band of Five. Flush with fast cars, boats, planes, and women, they wanted for nothing, but their antics invited violent attempts to bring Kevin to his senses–or at least to his knees.

More than a gripping tale, Godfather of Night unveils the Greek American crime syndicate and its close alignment to power and takes readers to a dark place where family secrets collide with high-level crime and corruption. Kevin Pappas’s story is a true-crime epic for a new generation of wiseguys–full of the harrowing war stories and hard-won wisdom of a man who lived by his own rules, broke everyone else’s, and dared the world to try to stop him.

UPDATE AUGUST 29, 2009: I READ THIS BOOK IN FOUR DAYS AND I ENJOYED THE WAY HE TOLD HIS LIFE STORY. THERE WAS VERY LITTLE WRITTEN ABOUT THE GREEK MAFIA THOUGH. BASICALLY, IT'S ABOUT A GUY WHO WAS BROUGHT UP LIVING IN A MOSTLY GREEK TOWN IN FLORIDA. EVEN THOUGH HIS MOTHER AND FATHER WERE NON-GREEKS, HE LEARNED THE GREEK LANGUAGE AS WELL AS GREEK DANCING. HE WAS REALLY INTO THE GREEK CULTURE BUT NEVER REALLY KNEW WHY. THEN HE FOUND OUT THAT HIS MOTHER CHEATED AND HIS REAL FATHER WAS A GREEK MOB BOSS THAT WOULD NOT ADMIT THAT HE WAS HIS REAL FATHER. SO, BASICALLY HE BECOMES A BIG TIME COCAINE DEALER IN ATLANTA AFTER STARTING SMALL AT A VERY YOUNG AGE AND GOES THROUGH THIS ROLLER COASTER OF A LIFE. I DON'T WANT TO GIVE ANYTHING AWAY, BUT I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK EVEN THOUGH THERE IS VERY, VERY LITTLE ABOUT GREEK ORGANIZED CRIME IN IT.

THE FINAL GREEK MAFIA WAR OF THE CENTURY: PART ONE

IT'S GOING TO TAKE MANY ARTICLES TO TELL THE STORY OF THE FINAL GREEK MAFIA WAR OF THE 20TH CENTURY. SO, I DECIDED TO FIRST WRITE ABOUT THE CAST OF MAIN CHARACTERS:


VASSILIS GRIGORAKOS (FATHER OF NIKOS AND THEODOROS)
NIKOS GRIGORAKOS (OLDER BROTHER OF THEODOROS)
THEODOROS GRIGORAKOS (YOUNGER BROTHER OF NIKOS)
NIKOS YIANNOPOULOS (WAS CO-LEADER OF EXTORTION RING)
GIORGOS TSAKOYIANNIS (WAS CO-LEADER WITH NIKOS Y.)

In the late 1980's, Vassilis brought his family back from New York, where they had been living, to settle in the eastern Athens suburb of Ilioupolis. Vassilis and his eldest son Nikos initially became involved in protection rackets but soon formed a large network of people from the established gangland of Athens, active in the southern coastal suburbs. Vasisilis, reminiscent of the ancient Spartans, brought up his kids to be tough as nails and molded them into hardcore young men.

Nikos (aka Nick the Greek aka N.T.G.) was a big, bearded, burly, tough, biker-like bad ass who was known for being a one punch knock out striker and a man with nine lives. He was also known for wearing his biker jacket and jeans instead of suits and ties. He led by example and had a loyal following. He would never ask you to do something he would not do himself.

Theodoros (aka Teddy), also of a large stature, was a top martial artist who could do the splits as easy as I can sit on a chair.

Of course, they were good with all sorts of weapons as well.

In 1996, someone snitched..possibly an extortion victim but no one is for sure. It was reported a cafe owner in Ilioupolis went to the police, leading to the arrest of Nikos and Theodoros Grigorakos, Giorgos Tsakoyiannis, Nikos Yiannopoulos, Yiannis Sotiropoulos, Thanasis Billis and his brother Dimitris Billis.

In 1998, they were all back on the street and things were not the same. Basically, Tsakoyiannis and Yiannopoulos together ran the extortion racket which concentrated on nighclubs and bars in Athens. Before the arrests, the Grigorakos men worked for them. The Grigorakos family (especially Nikos) expanded their extortion territory to include such businesses as parking lots, repair shops, street vendors, etc. It came to the point where 80% of the territory came by Grigorakos hard work attaining new extortion victims. Nick had a saying, "A little from a lot of people..not a lot from a little people." He easily convinced people they could not depend on the police. "Why not pay 50 euros a week to make sure you are protected?", he would plea.

Nikos Yiannopoulos had many hard core soldiers and Giorgos Tsakoyiannis had the high level police connections. Even though the Grigorakos family had done so much for them, N.Y. and G.T. barely shared any of the spoils with the hungry Greek-Americans. So, when they did get out of jail in 1998, tension was in the air moneywise and trustwise. Nick the Greek was collecting extortion money and was not kicking it up the ladder. Whether the Americans were right or wrong, they were "steppin' on toes" left and right. The soldiers split into two camps..the Grigorakos camp and the Yiannopoulos camp. Tsakoyiannis played the neutral mediator but in reality was in the Yiannopoulos camp.

Part Two coming soon!!

HELLS ANGELS IN GREECE???

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club has been in Athens, Greece for many years now. Also, just recently they opened a chapter in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece. There are also rumors that a new chapter will be formed as early as this summer in Hania, Crete. Exactly what they are up to in Greece is a mystery for now but of course many HAMC members all over the world are into narcotics, motorcycle theft, fraud, extortion, murder, assault, as well as many legal business' like tattoo shops, bars, motorcycle shops, etc. One thing is for sure, the powers that be in Greece have allowed the "Red & White Machine" to roll on into the country without violence. What would happen if the "Godfathers of the Night" in Greece made a move on the club in Athens or up North? Most likely clubs from all over Europe would unite to back their brothers up in Greece. Of course, there is also a small chance that Greece would be evacuated to later be re-taken by the "Brotherhood." But for now, their closest rival is probably their sworn enemies, the Mongols, far away in Italy. Check out their website at www.hells-angels.gr

BOSS OF BOSSES: TSAKOYIANNIS?

THE BOSS OF BOSSES FOR ATHENS GREECE?
GIORGOS TSAKOYIANNIS








WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT GIORGOS TSAKOYIANNIS? WE KNOW HE WON THE BIG GREEK MAFIA WAR OF THE LATE 1990'S WITH THE GRIGORAKOS FAMILY. WE KNOW HE HAS POLICE OFFICERS AS BODY GUARDS. WE KNOW HE IS NOT KNOWN FOR BEING A TOUGH GUY WITH HIS FISTS BUT INSTEAD USES HIS MIND, HIS CONTACTS, HIS INTELLIGENCE NETWORK, AND HIS HITMEN. WE KNOW HE CONTROLS THE COCAINE MARKET FROM KIFISIA ALL THE WAY TO VARKIZA (ONLY AFTER HIS SOLDIERS CUT HIS PRODUCT AND RE-BRICK IT.) WE KNOW HE LIKES TO HIRE RUSSIANS AND OTHER FOREIGNERS TO DO HIS DIRTY WORK. IN MY NEXT ARTICLE, I WILL GIVE YOU A BLOW BY BLOW OF THE WAR THAT PUT HIM ON TOP.

GREEK ORGANIZED CRIME WORLDWIDE

Welcome to my blog on Greek Organized Crime in the world. Since there is absolutely no info on Greek OC anywhere on the internet, I have decided to start here and now with this blog. What people do not know is that there are extremely powerful "Godfathers of the Night" in Greece that are just as ruthless,cunning, and that are just as connected to government officials as the Mafia lords of Italy. There are also Greek mobsters in the USA, UK, Australia, South Africa as well as other areas. You are welcomed to leave a post or email me with any info you may have on Greek Organized Crime (let's just call it GOC). I do not care if you are a police officer, gangster, geek, or freak..I want to hear what you have to say. Soon, in my next article, I will write about a man who controls the Greek cocaine market in Athens from Kiffisia all the way to Varkiza and has top cops on his payroll to watch his back and to arrest his foes. Stay tuned!!