This month is shaping up as protection/extortion racket “dismantling” season in the greater Athens area, as alleged members of one such gang – ostensibly “embedded” within a local football club’s “ultras” – were led before prosecutors to hear charges and provide testimony as suspects.
Fourteen arrested individuals were led before prosecutors on Thursday, charged with felony counts of extortion, assaults and arson, among others, against business premises whose owners failed to “cooperate”.
A total of 17 individuals have been arrested in the case, three of whom are already imprisoned for other offenses. Eleven are local men, while the other suspects are foreign nationals.
The alleged protection racket emerged in the wake of a police investigation over a particularly violent rumble by hooligans last week outside the Panathinaikos football field in central Athens. Reports pointed to two opposing factions of the club’s “ultra” fans clashing before a football friendly.
The case is the second to emerge in the national limelight this month. Earlier, a loosely connected cabal comprised of municipal employees and regional government health inspectors – masterminded by two private citizens – blackmailed food-&-beverage business owners, hotels and even a yoga studio operator by threatening to write-up and proceed with legal action over various municipal and health code violations. As such, the first protection racket used non-violent methods in favor of employing the “full weight” of city hall and the regional government as their “muscle” and method of persuasion.
In terms of the second case, police said 78 instances of extortion have been uncovered against the owners of cafes, eateries, bars and nightclubs. Authorities have cited five instances of cars being torched and the separate bombings of a gas station, a business and a residence.
Besides weekly “shake-downs” of businesses, members of the alleged racket also served as “security” for various events, and as “bouncers” at clubs and concerts.