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Georgios Spyropoulos, 45, planned to have his uncle tortured, robbed and killed for a large amount of money he believed he kept in a safe, the indictment returned by a grand jury in Trenton alleges.
It charges him with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, attempted robbery and a trio of weapons charges.
Alexandros Sgourdos, who manages the family’s 8th Avenue diner in Manhattan and co-owns both eateries, was the target of the plot, authorities said.
The object, they said, was to get his uncle to give up the combination to a safe where Spyropoulos believed a large amount of money would be found — even if it meant torturing him.
Once that was done, Spyropoulos wanted his uncle killed and his body disposed of so that people would think he went missing, authorities said.
Detectives learned through a confidential informant that Spyropoulos was looking for someone to kill Sgourdos for him, said Col. Rick Fuentes, the NJSP superintendent. The C.I. was then able to introduce an undercover trooper to play the part of a would-be assassin, he said.
Spyropoulos gave the trooper an unregistered handgun, along with a photo of the target, the uncle’s address, and a $3,000 down payment — with at least another $20,000 to follow, the colonel said.
The usual lunchtime crowd had packed the landmark diner on Route 3 when Spyropoulos was arrested there on April 9 by detectives from the NJSP’s Violent and Organized Crime North Bureau.
Investigators reported finding four weapons in his Clifton home, including two semiautomatic handguns, along with six cell phones and several thousand dollars in cash in his Mercedes.
“The New Jersey State Police prevented a case of bad blood within a family business from turning into a case of cold-blooded murder,” Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said today.
“If there had not been a State Police informant and an undercover detective positioned to foil this murder plot, the result would have been tragic,” he said.
Spyropoulos, Hoffman said, “took every step necessary to hire and equip men he believed would brutally murder his uncle and steal his money.”
“This was not just a case of Spyropoulos having a bad day and making idle threats,” state Division of Criminal Justice Director Elie Honig said. “With this indictment, we will make certain that he faces justice for his conduct.”
Supervising Deputy Attorney General Lauren Scarpa Yfantis, chief of the Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, and Deputy Attorney General Annmarie Taggart, the deputy bureau chief, presented the indictment to the state grand jury for the Division of Criminal Justice. The investigation was led by State Police Detective Sgt. Peter Layng of the Drug Trafficking North Unit, Hoffman said.
Spyropoulos posted $600,000 after his bail was reduced from $1 million and has remained free.
An arraignment date on the indictment has yet to be set.
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