The former Minister of National Defense Akis Tsohatzopoulos has been implicated in the ring and seems to have been giving information to ring leaders Panagiotis Vlastos, Yannis Skaftouros and Vasilis Stefanakos. In total 37 people are accused of being involved in the extortion ring, including lawyers and prison officers. A recent foiled bombing in Metamorfosi is attributed to the extortion ring.
According to one member of the extortion ring, Mr. Tsohatzopoulos appears to have told him that Yannis Sbokos, the former general secretary of armaments, received a suitcase containing 10 million euros on his behalf which he never passed on. The gang began pressuring Sbokos for the money and organized three bomb attacks against relatives of the former general secretary.
While the ringleaders are all imprisoned, according to the Police investigation they appear to have operated with impunity, being allowed to use mobile phones and visit whomever they wanted in prison. The investigation also details how one ring member brutally assaulted a female visitor with the prison guards not intervening.
Furthermore, the investigation also numerous reports to the 54-year-old alleged accomplice of Christodoulos Xiros who was recently arrested in Kalamata. The former police officer seems to have been employed to pressure Tsohatzopoulos and Sbokos to comply with the ringleader demands.
The case file also contains the deposition of a long-term convict involved in the case, who alleges he knows the identity of the shooters who killed two Golden Dawn members in November of 2013. The convict notes that while he was not involved in the shooting, he supplied the shooters with the white helmets.
