Alekos Kosmopoulos, 47, was linked to a high-profile bloody battle between underworld figures in the late 1980s and was convicted of the murder of a former associate a few years later.

Police said that Kosmopoulos resumed his criminal activities after being released from jail, but over the past few years had maintained a much lower profile.

In view of this, officers believe that his murder is likely to have been a settling of old scores or a contract killing.

Police said that two gunmen shot Kosmopoulos several times before riding off. No description of the suspects was issued by late last night.

Mobster shot dead in mafia-style Athens hit – H KAΘHMEPINH – 10.11.2008 – This story was found at: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100012_10/11/2008_102005

According to police, two of the three victims were probably killed by mistake. A 38-year Albanian was the target of the attack. A second Albanian, aged 26, and a Romanian, aged 37, were probably killed accidentally, according to police who found 35 cartridge cases at the scene.

The assailants entered the cafe at about 10.30 p.m., started shooting and then fled in a car, witnesses said. There were no reports of any other injuries.

The attack was the latest in a string of murders and attempted murders that have taken place in bars and clubs in the area.

Three dead in mafia-style hit – H KAΘHMEPINH – Friday May 16, 2008 – http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100016_16/05/2008_96648

The three suspects, also ethnic Greeks from Russia, are alleged to have carried out a revenge attack on the 42-year-old, who was shot more than 25 times with a machine gun outside his home. The 42-year-old is alleged to have fatally shot the uncle of the 23-year-old suspect in Russia two years ago. Of the two other suspects, both aged 37, one is believed to have had a financial dispute with the victim.

According to police, the 42-year-old was known to Russian officers, who had investigated his alleged involvement in several murders. He had also formed part of a criminal ring trading in stolen cars that was recently disbanded by Athens police.

http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100014_01/09/2007_87321

It is understood from Gündeş’s accounts that the actions and statements of the years between 1960 and 2000 were correct.

So, when the state institutions could not deal with a situation, it employed men from the mafia, hired hit men from outside and lured them to fire guns “in the name of the country.”

Gündeş explained very well the logic that dominated MİT in the past. He demonstrated the miserable state this institution was in by “kissing mafia boss Alaattin Çakıcı on both cheeks” and sending his regards to him. Gündeş’s words made me sad for MİT. I was one of those that believed this institution to be more proper not only today but also in the past. Apparently it is no different from other security organizations.

There is no need for discussion anymore.

The state’s security units employ people from outside and instigate them, or simply look the other way when it serves their purposes.

Here are the memoirs of some retired officers, their explanations on TV, the accounts of former police or law officers, the statements by Gündeş.

On top of all these add the treatment of Ogün Samast, the police and the gendarmerie, and you will see what is trying to be done.

It was something else that actually stopped ASALA:

I would like to add a last point here:

It was not the right wing militant and mafia boss Çatlı or mafia boss Çakıcı that finished off the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA). They are bragging in vain. It was the raid of Paris’s Orly Airport in 1983 that finished the ASALA off. Feeling ill at ease by the raid, the French and U.S. Armenians who used to support ASALA monetarily stopped the aid and the issue was closed. I know this through French authorities that were involved. The ones that were instrumental in the stopping of the aid were MİT and the Foreign Ministry. Otherwise, ASALA did not yield because it was afraid of the Turkish bullies. They were stopped because they had gone too far with their murders.

Run by the Albanian and Russian mafias, one such ‘baby factory’ is reportedly operating in Athens, according to the Mail. Young women, primarily Bulgarians and Romanian gypsies, are selected by racketeers on the basis of beauty and health for impregnation.

Once pregnant, the women are fed, housed and clothed for nine months to ensure a healthy pregnancy. The babies are born in a private location to avoid hospital questions, with a paid midwife on hand. The mothers will typically care for the baby for the next 40 days, when the child will be ready for delivery to the buyer. Such transactions can cost up to £20,000.

Greek officials said black-market baby-selling rings are increasing, with nine known instances of the sale of Bulgarian babies in the first half of 2006–police arrested 33 suspected racketeers, including 24 Bulgarians, seven Greeks (including doctors and lawyers) and two Albanians.

In an additional case, five Albanians were arrested near the Greek-Albanian border under suspicion of selling eight Romanian babies.

“This is an escalating problem, the scale of which is impossible to grasp,” Lieutenant Colonel Antonia Andreakou, director of the Greek police’s public security division handling cross-border crime, told the Mail.

“This is just a fraction of the number of cases. We need to prove that money has exchanged hands, as this is what makes the transaction illegal, but that is very difficult to do.”

Police said those responsible recruit poor women who are young, pretty and healthy with promises of false passports and papers to get them into Greece. After they arrive in the country, the girls are handed heavy bills they can’t afford to pay, and told the debt will be written off if they get pregnant and give up their baby.

“The girls have no option but to comply,” a police source told the Mail. “You would not want to upset these people.”

For the women who are convinced to participate, the deal can ultimately cost them their life.

“Once the woman has served her purpose, she is as good as dead,” a senior police source said. “The gang will force her into prostitution and drive her into the ground.”

In a related story, the Mail reported earlier this month on a British woman accused of stealing a baby from a teenage Romanian gypsy, who admitted that she traveled to Greece early in December to sell her six-month-old daughter for nearly £10,000.

Sophia Percula, who according to reports was just 15 years old and had been transported to Greece by her step-father, told police that she had arranged to meet Marie Golby, 41, in an Athens grocery store, but that Golby had stolen the child without paying the money.

While police have said they do not think the incident was gang-related, it is an indication of the growing frequency of baby-trafficking in the country.

By Gudrun Schultz LifeSiteNews.com Tuesday January 2, 2007 Source URL: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jan/07010201.html