Greek mafia
| Founding location | Greece |
|---|---|
| Territory | Greece, Albania, Netherlands, Italy, Poland, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, France, United States (Cypriots), Australia, Canada, Cyprus, South Africa, and other parts of Africa |
| Ethnicity | Greeks, Maniots, Greek Cypriots, Cretan Greeks, Pontic Greeks, Greek Macedonians, Greek Epirotes, Thracian Greeks |
| Membership | Greek Americans, Athenians, Peloponnesians, Cretans, Cypriots, various other Greek islanders, Pontic Greeks |
| Criminal activities | Drug trafficking, arms trafficking, assassination, assault, bank fraud, bankruptcy, blackmailing, bribery, bombing, contract killing, extortion, fraud, entryism, illegal gambling, Insurance fraud, kidnapping, money laundering, murder, police corruption, political corruption, protection racket, racketeering, tax evasion, witness intimidation, witness tampering |
| Allies | Sicilian mafia, Camorra, Russian mob, Albanian mafia, Philadelphia Greek Mob, Velentzas crime family, Greek Core(South Cartel) |
The Greek Mafia is the colloquial term used to refer to various organized crime elements originating from Greece. Indigenous organized criminal groups are well-entrenched in the largest Greek urban centers, particularly in Athens. This is not only in thanks to the widespread political corruption in the country itself. The Greek mafia should not be confused with Greek street gangs, who take part in smaller street crime. Outside of the domestic Greek criminal organizations the Sicilian mafia, Camorra, the Albanian, Russian and Georgian mafia groups have been operating in Greece in collaboration with the domestic criminal syndicates.
In the United States, the term "Greek Mafia" may also include or refer specifically to various Greek-American organized crime groups. Notable ethnic Greek or Greek-American organized crime groups in the United States include the Philadelphia Greek Mob in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Velentzas crime family in New York City. Greek-American crime groups vary in the extent of their connections to Greek mafia groups in Europe; some Greek-American crime groups may be only loosely connected or even completely independent of Greek mafia groups in Europe, while certain Greek-American crime groups may essentially be American extensions of Greek mafia groups in Europe.
Greek crime bosses are locally described as νονοί της νύχτας (translated as "Godfathers of the night"). Largely operating as owners of nightclubs, Greek crime groups are able to operate their illegal businesses from there on. In contrast to the Sicilian mafia or the Albanian mafia, Greek criminal groups follow the same structure organized gangs have within the French Milieu or the Penose in the Netherlands. Domestically, they are largely smaller organized crime cells, sometimes family-based, who collaborate but from time to time also feud with one another. There are close to 217 known domestic crime lords operating in the country. Internationally, the smuggling and racketeering practices have a larger reach, and are not necessarily based on Greek nationals alone. With the need to infiltrate and manipulate multiple types of businesses in order to successfully smuggle internationally, more often than not such organisations resemble professional international cartels rather than traditional organised crime groups.
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Wikipedia