Two men accused in an organized crime extortion operation allegedly featuring death threats, missing millions and mega sports bets are free on bond, a loss for federal prosecutors who wanted them held in jail until trial.
The men were in Hammond, Indiana court on Wednesday for a contentious hearing where a famous mob movie was center stage outside of the courthouse.
The suspected operations boss of the business, Dean Gialamas, from Naperville, and Alexander Gagianas from Arizona, an accused bookmaker and enforcer for the restaurant-based gambling business, were painted by prosecutors as dangerous and likely to flee the country.
At issue is a clip from the 2019 mafia movie “The Irishman” that prosecutors say was sent from Gagianas to Gialama, featuring this dialogue:
“Hi ya Frank, this is Jimmy Hoffa…
Yea, yea. Glad to meet you.
Glad to meet you too-even if it’s over the phone…
I heard you paint houses…
Yes sir I do…”
That term, “painting houses” is mob speak for killing people.
“I also do my own carpentry…”
And “carpentry” is the disposing of corpses, contend prosecutors.
The mob movie clip allegedly sent by Gagianas, known as Alex Gyros, is cited in the original federal indictment in the case. It describes how Gagiana “referenced doing some ‘painting’ ” for the gambling organization, just as in the movie.
“It wasn’t a discussion about a contract or murder of anybody, which is absurd. Okay?” said Gagiana’s attorney Theodore T. Poulos. “Alex is very he’s very religious. He attends the Greek Orthodox Church quite regularly.”
He disputes any hint of a suggestion that his client was offering to be an Outfit hitman.
“The government has never claimed that that communication was about murdering anybody, said Poulos. “The government never made that claim. You saw in court that they didn’t make that claim. You saw in court today that they agreed that Alex Janis can be released on a $300,000 unsecured bond. Because Alex is not a danger to community, he’s certainly not a flight risk. He’s a minor player in this matter. He’s a really good family man.”
Gagianos’ wife Niki was herself surprised by a subpoena as she left court after surrendering her own passport as part of her husband’s signature bond. The nature of the subpoena isn’t known.
A similar release order was issued Wednesday for Dean “Gem” Gialamas from Naperville, cut loose on an unsecured bond of $1 million and home confinement.
“Dean Gem” is the suspected major domo to ringleader James “Jimmy the Greek” Gerodemos, who is locked up. Together, federal investigators say they oversaw a global gambling ring from Jimmy the Greek’s restaurants and looped in the owner of this popular Italian eatery in southwest suburban Burr Ridge. The owner of Capri Gigi Rovito is currently on bond and home confinement in the case.
In court filings Rovito claimed to be a longtime, active churchgoer atShrine of Our Lady of Pompeii in Chicago and last month the judge granted his request to attend Sunday Mass. But as our team reported back then, parish officials said Rovito was not a church goer-echoed today by district judge Andrew Rodovich who said a priest actually called him to dispute Gigi Rovito’s faithful claim.
This came up Wednesday when another defendant asked for church privileges, and the judge quipped that he didn’t want to get another call from a clergyman.
