Not many know about the Greek mob. But they were pretty organized. They had two Greek mafia families in the United States, one was the Vesuvius family and the other family was the Kondonyanis family.

1. VESUVIOUS FAMILY (New York)

First Boss- Spyrodon Vesuvius (1958-1983) Was a successful mob boss and New York businessman. Owned a few Greek restaurants in the Brooklyn and Queens areas. Had some connection to Las Vegas casino skimming in the 1970s.

Second Boss- Peter "Pete the Greek" Diapoulos (1983-1990) Took over the leadership after Vesuvious. Once a bodyguard for New York mobster Joe Gallo. Was sentenced to 10 years in prison for grand theft in 1990. The organization died out after he was sent to prison.




2. KONDONYANIS FAMILY (Philadelphia)

First Boss- Steve Kondonyanis (1960s-1976) Was the first Greek mafia boss in Pennsylvania. His family was involved in loansharking, extortion, meth trade and gambling. Kondonyanis was sentenced to life in prison for murder in 1976.

Second Boss- Chelsais Bouras (1976-1981) Bouras took over the family in 1976. But he was gunned down at the Meletis Greek Restaurant in South Philly by the order of local LCN boss Nicodemo Scarfo.

One of our members, plawrence, once wrote about Joe the Greek.

Great post. Definitely a must read.

Interesting Stuff ... Thanks for sharing, brother!

A must-read thread, especially for anyone relatively new to the BB.

Fanucci and Maranzano

Signor V.

I've done some reaseach and pretty sure that the K&A Gang, the Pagans, and Chelsais Bouras and the Philly Greek Mob made Philadelphia the meth capital of the country in the early 80's
EDIT: And Ray "Long John" Martorano of course, whome was hooked up with John Berkery of K&A

Also, don't forget about the Velentzas crime family who were hooked up with Lucchese and had a dispute with Rudaj's Albans about a decade ago.

How much influence does the Greek O.C. in their respective cities have? I was in Montreal once at a Greek joint and the owner was connected (not in any family but had contacts). His place after working h ours became a hang out for strippers, drug sellars, and if what someone said was true, undercover cops.

Never heard of the Vesuvious organization.

And as far as I can tell the Greeks in Philadelphia have been greatly fractured after the assasination of Chelsais Bouras who seemed to be the glue of the group. Altho some activity mgiht still be going on in Greek neighborhoods in Phily.

The Velentzas, however, I would estimate of being the most influential of the three. By no means as big as the other syndicates of New York, as well as paying a cut of their rackets in Astoria and surrounding areas to the Lucchese. They are regarded as the best at what they do, in the realm of gambling operations. They once muscled into Gambino areas, but were pushed back shortly thereafter by a mere warning from the family.

As I said before they got into a squabble with Rudaj, who controlled some of their rackets from 1999 to 2004. So it's safe to say they had less clout then Rudaj Organization at that time. But are still under Lucchese purview apparently. So they have underworld political influence.