site.btaNo One Arrested after Greek Crime Boss Giannis Skaftouros’s Assassination a Week Ago

The key player in the Greek underworld Giannis Skaftouros, aka "Uncle Joe" was gunned down on the day after Easter at his parents' home in the Greek village of Skourta, in the regional unit of Viotia, local media reported. Skaftouros's assassination was reminiscent of a movie scene taken straight out of The Godfather.

Shortly before the murder, the gangster and his family were having lunch in his parents' villa in South Greece. At the gathering were Skaftouros’s mother, wife, daughters, grandchildren, and other relatives of his. Four people arrived on motorcycles, their faces obscured by helmets. Two of them entered the premises and opened fire with a handgun and a Kalashnikov rifle. The 55-year-old Skaftouros died of his wounds, his 22-year-old daughter and her father-in-law have been hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

Witnesses, who heard the gunmen order everyone but their targeted victim to lie down on the ground, told the police that their accents suggested foreign, likely Albanian roots.

Experts believe that the execution was organized by contract killers who followed a well-thought-out plan. They likely had inside information confirming that Skaftouros had given his personal bodyguards a day off. The Greek crime boss hired guards to follow him whenever he was out in public; however, on April 25 their shift was supposed to begin later than usual.

Sources working for the Greek police suggest that the assailants may have been keeping a tab on Skaftouros in order to do the job when his guard was down.

One of the motorbikes used by the assailants broke down and was later discovered. It had been registered as stolen three years ago. Despite a massive police campaign to capture the suspects, so far no one has been arrested.

The Kathimerini daily commented that this case was the latest in a series of murders meant to have the players in the Greek underworld "get even". The newspaper listed over 20 contract killings carried out over the last five years, some of them most likely ordered by Skaftouros himself.

Skaftouros has a long criminal record. He has been involved in extortion, bomb attacks, kidnappings and murder. He and fellow countrymen Vassilis Stefanakos (murdered in 2018) and Panagiotis Vlastos (now serving a prison sentence) established one of the most influential criminal groups in Greece. Skaftouros likely took part in Vassilis Paleokostas’s first attempt to use a helicopter to escape the high-security Korydallos prison in Athens in 2006.

In 2012, Greece’s Criminal Court of Appeal sentenced both Skaftouros and Vlastos to a life in prison for kidnapping the shipping magnate Pericles Panagopoulos for a 30-million-euro ransom, and for killing George Gousios, a businessman. Five years later, however, Skaftouros was acquitted in both cases.

Just a few months prior to Uncle Joe’s release from prison in 2018, a fellow prisoner from Albania tried and failed to stab him. Shortly before his release, he purchased an armoured car.

According to a police source quoted by the To Vima daily, Skaftouros's criminal activities reached Bulgaria and Cyprus. Experts agree that his murder was orchestrated by one criminal group trying to eliminate the competition while sending a message of dominance.

The series of killed Greek gangsters that started in 2017 has so far failed to result in sentencing. The police claim they know who the culprits are but lack the evidence necessary to bring them to justice.