Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:16):
Okay, I'm gonna teach you a quick and easy way
to make three million dollars a year. Just bear with me. First,
in a small sauce pan, mix a half cup of
water with one and a half cups of sugar. Okay,
Now bring that to a boiler. Second, in a separate bowl,
dump a cup and a half of tahini, Add a
(00:37):
pinch of salt and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Now,
I know the real stuff is expensive, but trust me,
it's worth it. Third, this sugar water is it boiling? Great? Okay,
pour that into your tahini and now mix it. Then
dump it all into a loaf pan and stick it
in the fridge for a few hours. Press stove. You've
(00:57):
just made a delicious pan of small batch, hand crafted halday.
Now to get that three million dollar profit, all you
have to do is do it again a couple of
thousand times every day for the rest of the year.
Or if you're Vasili's Palio Costas, you can just kidnap
(01:17):
the guy behind the rest of it. From Kaleidoscope and
iHeart Podcasts, I'm Miles Gray and this is the good Thing.
(01:44):
Chapter one, Study Abroad Robbing Banks gave Vasilis Paliocostas, the
curious boy from a tiny mountain village, an opportunity for
real adventure traveling the world. His mentor, Costa Samaras, told
us that in nineteen ninety one, after Vasilis's first heist
(02:07):
in Ioannina, the pair took off.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
We had the racially, as soon as it was financially possible,
we'd go to foreign coome. They live lawfully, of course,
with fake papers under different names.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Of all the places they went, Samara says, Mexico was
the most appearing.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Not too much police, cheap food, cheap living, not far from.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Europe, but also in a way the country felt like home.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
The mentality of the people was lacking Greece. Mexicans were
more relax the siesta, their bands in the squares you'd
see there, the mariachi bands would come and play their music.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
The good times came to an end when the money
ran out. Greece's Robin Hood and his merry band headed home,
and in June of nineteen ninety two they relieved the
National Bank of Columbaka of about one point four million dollars.
It's still to this day the biggest bank heist in
Greek history. Now, I should say we can't pinpoint every
(03:24):
move Vasili's made around this time. His book isn't always
precise with dates, and he and Samoas disagree on several details.
For example, Vasilis claims that after Columbaka Samadas came down
from the mountains and called a journalist to brag about
what they'd done. That's definitely not in Samodas's version of events,
(03:46):
but we do know this. After Columbaka Vasilis took the
trip of a lifetime. He was about twenty seven years old,
and like so many twenty somethings, with a little pocket
money and no responsibilities, he got the idea to backpack
across Europe. Except Vasilis's plan was slightly more ambitious than
(04:07):
most gap year trips. Instead of buying a urail pass,
he decided to navigate a route by bicycle five thousand
miles from Germany to India. It sounds nuts to me,
but George, you actually have some experience with this kind of.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Thing, right, Yeah, So a few years back I walked
a couple one hundred miles in the south of France
and through Italy and eventually ended up in Rome took
about five weeks, so I can kind of appreciate firsthand
for the effort this kind of event you would take.
But also I have to admit that the idea of
riding from Germany to India on a bicycle without Google
(04:49):
Maps is one hundred percent bonkers.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
But also not soul bonkers when you consider, Hey, this
is Vasili's Paliokostas we're talking about. In his he explained
that a bicycle is the ideal vehicle if you want
to avoid authorities. I mean, think about it. With a bike,
you don't need to get a license or buy insurance,
you never have to stop for gas, and if it
(05:12):
breaks down you can fix it yourself, and if it's
really broken, whatever, just buy a new one. So he
and a buddy from Greece bought a pair of mountain
bikes in Germany and pointed their tires east. They pedaled
down the Rhine Valley and accidentally took an exit onto
the Autobat. Then they crossed the Danube and burned their
(05:33):
quads up the Carpathian Mountains. From there it was a
straight shot down the plains of Bulgaria and into Istanbul.
They caught a ferry over the Bosphorus to continue through
Syria until Yeah, border guards were never going to let
a couple of Greek speaking, supposedly Brazilian bicyclists pass. For Vasilis,
(05:58):
though it was barely a setback. I mean, he and
his crew were used to coming up with plan bees
whenever a security guard or a cop through a wrench
in their plans. So Vasilis pivoted. He bought a couple
of plane tickets. Then he and his pal stowed their
bikes in the cargo hold and flew to Beijing. They
(06:18):
were still determined to bike to India, but this time
they decided to approach from the east. The new plans
suited Vasilis just fine. Other travelers had warned him to
stick to Beijing's tourist attractions instead of venturing into rural China.
They said Chinese villages were unfriendly, impoverished, and racked by famine.
(06:40):
But Vasilis didn't buy it. After all, there were similar
rumors about the people he grew up with back in
the rough mountains of Greece, and he wanted to experience
the region for himself.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
We wanted to be near ordinary Chinese villages see what
their lives are like, their habits, feel their aura, their
lands aura.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Turns out he was right to be unafraid. In Chinese villages,
he found hospitality and friendly, resilient people, but the best
thing about the area no cops. Vasilis and his pow
romped across China's interior, enjoying themselves until somewhere between Shanghai
and Tibet, something unthinkable happened. A railroad employee stole our
(07:24):
thieves bikes. As he wrote in his book, one of.
Speaker 4 (07:29):
The employees must have forgotten their communist i deals. It's
capitalism that leads to stealing.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Vasilis and his friend could have bought new bikes, but
instead they just took it as a sign they'd seen
what they wanted to see, so they cut the trip short,
jetting off in different directions. By nineteen ninety five, Vasilis
was back in Greece. Now twenty nine years old, he
(07:58):
seemed to have perfected the art of robbing banks, making
the whole thing look effortless. By some estimates, he hit
up as many as twenty banks in the late nineties,
often with his big brother at his side. But one
person who definitely wasn't working with him now, Costas Samaras.
As Samaras hinted to us, Columbaca was a turning point.
(08:21):
After that, a rift had developed between him and the brothers.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
Do you miss this collaboration at all?
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (08:31):
I miss it like a fandas is so to speak.
I mean, look, we didn't have a bad time the
different places we went, but people change.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
In his book, Vasilis uses much harsher words, accusing his
former mentor of everything from incompetence to disloyalty. However, it
happened shortly after the trio split. The Columbaka Proceeds. Samaras
took off and never saw the brothers again. As far
as Vasilis was concerned, maybe this wasn't such a bad thing.
(09:05):
He was getting tired of bank robberies, too much risk
for not enough reward, and what he really wanted was
to retire and relax while he was still young. In
order to do that, he just needed one big score,
one that he didn't have to split three ways, and
that's when it hit him.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
The idea of kidnapping a businessman for ransom kept me
drifting through my mind.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
He was about to switch careers from bank robbing to
kidnapping Chapter two, Man of the People. The truth is
(09:52):
there's little romance in kidnapping. There's no suave Ocean's eleven
plot where you're really rooting for a team of do
good kidnappers. Bank Robbery is different. There are lots of
stories of gentlemen thieves, clever burglars who steal artfully without
harming a soul, and that makes it fun. But kidnapping
(10:13):
it crosses a line. Abducting an individual can lead to
a whole other level of trauma, and there are implicit consequences,
like often kidnappers threaten to hurt the person if a
ransom doesn't come through, all of which makes it seem
like Vasilis was abandoning his morals or his good thief
view of himself, when in fact nothing could be further
(10:36):
from the case. For the Palocostas Boys, the period leading
up to the kidnapping was when the pair really bolstered
their reputation as good guys, giving away a lot of
their hard won money, and in fact, as George found out,
it's the stories from this period that still persist.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
So when the team were in Tricola looking for people
who had connections to Vasilis. We drove out of town
to iim Or Knee, which is an area just on
the outskirts where things felt a lot more rural. Houses
become more spread out, yards become bigger. You know, you've
got a few chickens knocking about. And we stopped inside
a shop and met a local named Trotos, who claimed
(11:15):
to have known us of this. When he was a
little kid.
Speaker 5 (11:21):
The family had beehives and he used to visit them
to collect local honey. So he's seen them around since
they were little, and as he puts it, they were
the best kids. There were no better children.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
He'd known them since they were just kids, when they
were playing and running around the mountains. But when our
team brought up the brothers record of crime, Krotos got
pretty defensive, telling us what.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
They did was illegal, but around here they didn't cause
any trouble.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
The stories that Hotas and others told us are endless.
I've broke farmers finding tractors full of hay, you know,
suddenly showing up on the doorsteps, or widows getting money
to put their kids through school, an old man mysteriously
having his operation bills paid for. People are about to
lose their house and finding an envelope of cash. I
mean it all comes from the same period, this stretch
(12:13):
where the brothers were hitting up banks left and right.
Hotass even brought up this story, which is one of
my favorites.
Speaker 5 (12:23):
One time Vasili stole a car from the village not
far from here. He took the car, committed the robbery,
and left it with money as an apology for the damage.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Imagine not being able to spot your car for a
week and then finding it returned with an envelope of cash.
Villagers swear these stories are real. But what's funny is
that it isn't just the locals who tell these stories.
We talk with someone who used to be pretty high
up in the prison system. Now we can't use their
name or voice because they made a lot of dangerous
(12:53):
enemies in that line of work. But they also told
us many of the same stories of the brother's generosity.
Like Houtos, they described it Bylocostus boys as people who
quote didn't cause trouble. The only difference is our prison
insider wondered if the locals were glamorizing things a bit
too much. Was there a little too much enthusiasm in
(13:14):
this idea of social banditry and sharing the spoils with
the community, because on the one hand, it's hard to
find the people who had direct involvement with this generosity,
and on the other hand, even our prison official had
to admit Vasilis blocostas is a lack.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
So what's a vlock? I had the exact same question.
It turns out Vlocks are a Greek ethnic minority. They're
these old school mountain dwelling herdsmen. For centuries, they wore
their own style of clothes and spoke their own language.
The Vlocks have a reputation of being extremely hard working
and extremely icelated from society, but they're also known for
(14:03):
being very neighborly.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
Yeah, that's right. They have this reputation for sharing their
bounties and really embracing the idea that as mountain people,
they're all in it together. And it seems Facilis really
embraced this heritage. But there's another side of being of
black as well.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yeah. I think you were telling me how in Greece
blocks are kind of lampooned as hicks.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah, I guess that's right. I mean, calling someone of
black is kind of like calling someone a redneck, and
they're isolated, partially because they prefer it, but also because
the state hasn't made supporting them a priority. They haven't
historically been treated well by the government. So if there's
a group that probably doesn't care about the plight of
rob banks or kidnapped millionaires, it's these people that the
(14:46):
scillis grew up.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
With Chapter three, Candy Crush. If vasili s and Nkos
were going to quit the game for good kidnapping, an
(15:08):
ordinary businessman wasn't going to cut it. The pair needed
a bigger prize, someone who was filthy rich. The question
was who rich businessmen in Greece were a dime a dozen,
so Vasili started making a list of potential kidnapping victims.
(15:28):
But being the philosopher bank robber he was, he still
wanted to do it ethically, so he spelled out four
major requirements for himself.
Speaker 6 (15:39):
First, that he's rich enough to deliver our ransom demands
without being completely destroyed. Second, he must have a coherent
family environment to ensure that negotiations run smoothly and.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
That we would get our money. Third, he must be
healthy enough jere this ordeal.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
And last, but Most importantly.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
It had to being a moral. Corrupted businessman will knowingly
affect the lives of a group of people.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
The victim had to deserve it. Vasilis wasn't just going
to kidnap some businessman. He wanted to kidnap a crook. Now,
of course, planning a so called ethical kidnapping isn't easy.
Vasilis was looking for a specific target, someone who is
embedded in Greece's world of kickbacks, corruption and political favors,
(16:28):
and he became obsessive about the research. To prep. He
visited bookstores and libraries, skimming business weeklies and newspapers. He
scoured balance sheets and investor reports in search of names.
The thing is, he really wanted to get this right. Sometimes,
Vasilis thought a potential target had already suffered enough, and
(16:50):
he worried about the effect a kidnapping would have on them.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
I faced many ethical dilemmas. In two consecutive instances, all
of the potential victims someone from their immediate families. Taking
another blow like being kidnapped, would undoubtedly finish them.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
In other cases, it was because the businessmen were more
ethical than he'd imagine.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Many would be crossed off when I realized they were
a truthless businessman, when I found they possessed a human
way of doing business, something that didn't leave me unmoved.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
And then it happened. After immersing himself in what he
calls the stench of rotten economic and political systems, Vasili
spotted a title that would change everything, a book published
by the Greek Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He flipped
through the pages and salivated. Here was a list of
(17:46):
all the major corporations in Greece, their revenue, profit margins, expenses,
and most importantly, the home addresses of their CEOs. Vasili
studied the book for weeks. Finally he settled on a name,
Alexander Aoklu. So I asked Christina to tell me about
(18:09):
this guy.
Speaker 5 (18:10):
So in nineteen ninety five, Alexandro's Jaideglu was Greece's Halva
King Halva for the uninitiated, is a confection beloved across
the Balkans. It's a bit like fudge, but it contains tahini.
Haidolu's family had been making this delicacy for decades, and
their business had grown into an empire. It was the
largest processor and exporter of sesame seeds, which is the
(18:33):
base ingredient of tahini in all of Europe. At the
same time, the Greek government was in some turmoil. Two
years earlier, a politician named Adonis Samaras, no relation to
our friend Costas, had abandoned the ruling party to start
a right wing branch called Political Spring, and this Alexander
haideglu Well. He and his family were close friends with
(18:55):
the new party's leader, the Heidelus back to his parties Rise.
They were so tight, in fact, that the politician routinely
came up north to hang out at the hull of
kings Villa.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Now this sounded like the kind of backslapping and log
rolling that Vasili's lowed, greedy businessmen and politicians chumming it
up as regular people barely scraped by Vasilis poured over
Aito Glue's ledger. The man had made millions in the
last year alone, and his labor practices and situations seemed
(19:30):
to tick off all of Vasilis's requirements. Vasilis Paliocostas had
found his crook Chapter four Trica la Syndrome. In the
winter of nineteen ninety five, Vasili Simbicos began staking out
(19:50):
the home of the candy king Alexander Aito Glu in
the north of Greece. As Vasilis put it, the pair
quote made a hell of a team. All Nikos was
temperamental and intuitive, and perhaps the best ghetaway driver in
the country. Vasilis prided himself on being methodical and deliberate,
just like his mentor somebod els. But it wasn't just that.
(20:13):
Vasilis believed it was something in their bloodline that made
the brothers expert bandits, particularly when the stakes were high.
As he wrote in his book.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
It was like we were in sync, a single nod,
a glance, a gesture. It must have been because the
same blood of many generations of defiant Highlanders ran in
our veins, the same blood that never let us rest,
never let us surrender.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
As the Paliocosta says observed their mark, they discovered that
every day Haita Glu follows the same routine wake up,
drive his two kids to school, and around eight am
commute to his factory, taking a shortcut on a one
way dirt road. He also never has a security detail.
It isn't long before the brothers come up with a
(21:05):
plant on December fifteenth. Vasilis downs a knit cap and
stuffs a browning handgun into his trousers. Over his shoulder
hangs a backpack containing a Scorpion machine gun and two grenades,
and then he makes his way to a quiet intersection
on the one lane dirt road that Aita Glue travels
each day. He's waiting for the candy man to drive by. Meanwhile,
(21:33):
brother Nikos is in an suv a few miles away,
driving directly in front of Aita Wu. The cars crawl
down the road, and because Nikos is driving in front,
he has total control of the businessman's speed. Aito Glue
can't get around him, so when they reach the intersection
where Vasilis is hiding, Nicos hits the brakes. Aita Blue's
(21:55):
car lurches to a stop, and then Vasili's pounces. He
opens a passenger door, slides into the seat, and shoves
a pistol against the candy Man's chest.
Speaker 4 (22:07):
I say, or I'll blow you to pieces.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
The businessman freezes. The next minute is a blur. Vasilis
throws a hood over Aito Glo's head, cuffs his hands,
and stuffs him into the back of Nikos's trunk. Vasilis
looks over his shoulder. On this desolate road, nobody has
seen a thing. The brothers drive. They have no destination.
(22:34):
Their goal is to rove the countryside, criss crossing the
back roads they know so well, until Aito Glue's family
caves to their demands. Nikos leaves the negotiations. He calls
the candy man's brother and demands the equivalent of about
two million dollars. Now two million might sound like a lot,
but it's a sum the two have talked over for
(22:56):
a while, and Vasilis wants to ask for more. After
the kidnapping, they'll need the extra money to survive on
the lamp, and after studying the books, he knows Haito
Lu can afford it. Nikos gets too worried, though, and
talks his little brother down. He says it's too much money.
They'll never pay it. They'll just try to capture us
(23:18):
or kill us. So Vasili's begrudgingly agrees. Aito Glu's brother
is a rich man too. He's the owner of a
professional basketball team in Thessaloni, and when he's on the
phone with Nikos, he casually mentions that he works with
crime bosses all the time, and he isn't scared. He
acts as if he's dealing with amateur kidnappers. He even
(23:41):
implies that the Paliocosas brothers are common mafiosos. Nikos is kissed.
He tells Aita Gluz brother, you're not dealing with henchmen
for sports fans. You're dealing with professionals, So act accordings.
He hangs up the suv writes deeper into the mountains.
(24:02):
They drive for a few hours, aimlessly killing time. Then
the brothers hear moans coming from the trunk with a
hood wrapped over his head. Aito glu is struggling to breathe.
Nico stops, pulls over and opens the trunk. The rich
man tries to bargain for his freedom. He has a
briefcase with a couple thousand dollars in it, Please take
(24:24):
it and leave me alone. Vasili starts feeling bad for
the guy, so he and Nikos move their victim from
the trunk to the back seat of the suv. They
take off his hood so he can breathe, and cross
their fingers that the tinted windows will hide his whereabouts.
They start driving. Two kidnappers show furring a millionaire through
(24:45):
the dusty roads of the Greek countryside. Suddenly, Daito Glu
has found his oxygen. He starts to schmooz and won't
shut up.
Speaker 7 (24:57):
We go to don't worry, you will get your money.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
Hell up with ya?
Speaker 7 (25:00):
Hey, you guys are real pro I admire your entrepreneurial spirit.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
As the drive continues, I begins to charm the brothers.
He says he sees something and that I.
Speaker 7 (25:12):
Don't get it. What can the state make use of
telligent people like you?
Speaker 1 (25:16):
Vasilis wants to hate. I hate to belue. Just a
few days ago the man symbolized everything wrong with priests, greed, corruption, inequality,
But Vasilis has to admit he likes the banter. Hanging
with the candy man is starting to be well fun.
I to Go starts offering the brothers tips on how
(25:38):
to best kidnapp it. Go that way, no, this way,
and begins telling jokes. Vasilis joins in and seeses, hey.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
Maybe we should try to get the police to chase us.
After all, you're paying a lot of money. You should
enjoy the action.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
You know Stockholm syndrome right where a prisoner starts to
sympathize with his kidnappers. Well, the opposite starts to happen.
The kidnappers start to sympathize with their prisoner. I don't
think there's a name for this, so let's give it one.
Call it trika la syndrome.
Speaker 8 (26:14):
As it turned out, he was a cool guy with
a sense of humor and a positive mind as well.
We were already becoming pals. If someone were to peek
inside the car, they would never guess what was actually.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
Happening, aita glus growing on them. In fact, when Nico
starts driving a little erratically, the businessman tells him to
slow down, otherwise the police might find them. He jokes
that if they run into an ambush, they'll even help out.
Speaker 7 (26:41):
If anything happens, you shouldn't tie me and give me.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
A kisnakov Vasilis laughs. He likes him, but not that much.
Aito Glu of course, isn't the only person trapped in
the car. The Polyocostis brothers are stuck in there too,
And the next day your curiosity gets the better. They
begin asking their captive, Hey, what's it like to be
(27:05):
a wealthy businessman? Anyway? What starts his innocent small talk
becomes what Vasilis calls a crash course in the real
market economy. Handcuffed in the back of an suv, Aito
Glu begins lecturing two professional criminals on the complexities of
procuring sesame seeds in the global marketplace. He tells them everything,
(27:28):
including how he has to bribe Greek grocery stores to
get his product on the shelves. Vasilis is wrapped with attention.
Speaker 6 (27:35):
Aito g Los, our teacher and his kidnappers were his students.
Speaker 4 (27:41):
You can't even imagine the stories.
Speaker 6 (27:43):
About schemes, bad checks and all kinds of blackmail.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Will listen to.
Speaker 1 (27:49):
Between Aito Glu's brother, who openly admitted to having connections
with crime bosses, to the candy man discussing how he
routinely paid into Greece's black market. The brothers are convinced
of one thing that the rich really do live by
a different set of rules, and, as Vasilis puts.
Speaker 4 (28:07):
It, keep nappings my ass. The real money is elsewhere.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Chapter five, The Price of Fame. By all accounts, Nicos
and Vasilis treated Haito Glu well. When it was time
to sleep, they folded down the seats of their raft.
Four and gave Aito Glu a sleeping pad and sleeping
back so he could rest well inside the car. Meanwhile,
(28:47):
they took turns sleeping on the snow covered ground outdoors.
They fed their hostage well too. Over long breakfasts. The
three of them would chat as they filled their bellies
with tuna, olives, cheeses, fresh tomatoes, and bread. After eighty
(29:08):
hours in the car, Vasilis and Nikos would get their ransom,
at least a piece of Vasilis let his older brother
handle negotiations with Aitolu brother, and turns out Nkos is
kind of soft. He agreed to only one point two
million dollars, about one million dollars less than he originally asked.
(29:30):
The negotiation made Vasilis live it. He'd done so much
planning for this money, so much research, and they had
had long discussions about exactly how much ransom to ask for,
and now that Nkos has agreed to take even less,
Vasilis is furious at his older brother. Yes, it's partially
because he caved, but he's even more upset that his
(29:52):
brother made the decision unilatter. They were supposed to be
a team. It was a slight Vasilis wouldn't forget the
rest of the kidnapping proceeded as planned. Aitoglu's brother deposited
the money in a secluded spot below a bridge seventy
miles south of Tricola. After picking it up, the kidnappers
(30:15):
dropped their victim at a local bus station. Iit to
Glue departs in good spirits, telling his kidnappers and.
Speaker 7 (30:24):
Guys, if it didn't cost so much, I'd like another
adventure with.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
You next day, the news spreads. Nico Celepis, a thrie
Kola journalist who knew the Paliocostas brothers as a teenager,
remembers how people in their hometown reacted to the kidnapping.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
As soon as we heard, we were like, what have
they done this time? Did they really kidnap this guy?
On the one hand, we couldn't help but laugh. On
the other hand, it's like, okay, but this is serious.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
The one person who actually seemed okay with the kidnapping, though,
was Haito Glue. When he talked to the press, he
spoke well of his kidnappers.
Speaker 7 (31:06):
A La muff I lived in a car for four days.
They treated me humanly above all, and I had the
opportunity to talk with them for many hours I got
to have I wasn't scared for myself. Actually, I enjoyed
some wide ranging discussions.
Speaker 1 (31:23):
And what's funny is that as much as Vasili's and
Nkos learned from Aito Glue about the economy, the education
went both ways. Aito Glu came away from the kidnapping
with some real empathy for the people who abducted him.
Speaker 7 (31:37):
After what we all need to realize is that there
are people on the other side of the economy. It
is a social issue. We have to understand why this
phenomenon is created and what prevents these people from joining
our society.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
Speaking to the press, Aito Glue humanized his kidnappers. He
described as social outcasts, as people in need of help.
He said if his kidnappers were caught, he really hoped
the state wouldn't use violence against them. He also said
that he now believed that Greece needed to put more
effort into and rethink its correctional system. But, as Vasilis
(32:18):
noted in his book, Aito Glue's words weren't taken seriously.
Newspapers and pundits were quick to call Aito Glue delusional.
As Vasilis writes.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
The ruling class mercilessly derided Haitola. They didn't want people
to think that his kidnappers were human beings and had
proven so. Their goal was to scare the public.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
The extensive news coverage turned Vasilis and Nicos Palocostas into
household names, and as extreme as their act was, there
were a lot of people who appreciated what the brothers did.
They had extorted one of Greece's richest men and succeeded
in a exposing him to a different side of the
country without harming or traumatizing him. But if there's any
(33:06):
doubt whether the brothers had picked the right mark, years later,
Vasilis would be vindicated in his choice of victim. In
two thousand and nine, the French government got its hands
on a huge list naming potential tax cheats, all of
them people with undeclared Swiss bank accounts. The list that
was handed over to the Greek government included the names
(33:26):
of almost two thousand Greeks. The Greek government did nothing.
Two years later, a Greek journalist stumbled upon the list.
It included names of prominent Greek businessmen, bankers, and high
level politicians, so he published it The crazy thing is
when the Greek state responded, it wasn't by investigating the
(33:49):
names for tax evasion or putting these tax cheats behind bars. Instead,
they arrested the journalists. But one of the names that
was made public was Alexander Kaito Glu, and also his
brother and his father. Between the three, they had just
over twenty million dollars hidden in Swiss bank accounts. And
(34:12):
it wasn't just the Haitaglu family. The corruption went straight
to the top. Also named were a number of advisors
and associates to Antonio Samaras, the right wing politician who
inspired Vasili's to kidnap Aaitoglu in the first place and
was now Greece's Prime minister. But that association would get
the brothers in trouble, because it's one thing to rob
(34:42):
local banks, it's another thing to kidnap and extort an
ultra wealthy industrialist, especially one who's best friends with the
country's prime minister. After the kidnapping, the state took quick action.
They put a one million dollar bounty on both of
the brothers heads. Suddenly, one of the best get rich
(35:04):
quick schemes in all of Greece was to find Vasili's
Paliopostas and everybody in the country could participate except him.
(35:31):
The Good Thief is a Kaleidoscope production in partnership with
iHeart Podcasts. I'm Miles Gray. Our executive producers are Mangesh Hatikudur, Costas, Linos,
Oz Wallashan, and Kate Osborne. From iHeart executive producers are
Katrina Norvell and Nikki or Our partners at The Greek
Podcast Project. Our executive producer Daphne Carnesis, field producers Christina
(35:55):
Bilioni and George Miadis, and sound designer Nico Skloviniki, who's
also the voice of Costa Samanas. Mary Philip Sandy is
our supervising producer. Shane McKeon is our producer. The show
is written in research by Lucas Ryman, fact checking by
Donia Suleman, sound design and final mix by Pran Banny.
(36:17):
This episode featured the voices of Yorgos, Carramijos and Thanasis Pilionis.
Our theme song is by Imaan Baldi with additional music
by Botany. Finally, thanks to Will Pearson Connell Byrne, Bob
Pittman and John Marynapolis