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Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna teach you a quick and easy way

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Speaker 1: to make three million dollars a year. Just bear with me. First,

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Speaker 1: in a small sauce pan, mix a half cup of

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Speaker 1: water with one and a half cups of sugar. Okay,

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Speaker 1: Now bring that to a boiler. Second, in a separate bowl,

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Speaker 1: dump a cup and a half of tahini, Add a

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Speaker 1: pinch of salt and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Now,

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Speaker 1: I know the real stuff is expensive, but trust me,

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Speaker 1: it's worth it. Third, this sugar water is it boiling? Great? Okay,

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Speaker 1: pour that into your tahini and now mix it. Then

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Speaker 1: dump it all into a loaf pan and stick it

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Speaker 1: in the fridge for a few hours. Press stove. You've

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Speaker 1: just made a delicious pan of small batch, hand crafted halday.

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Speaker 1: Now to get that three million dollar profit, all you

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Speaker 1: have to do is do it again a couple of

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Speaker 1: thousand times every day for the rest of the year.

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Speaker 1: Or if you're Vasili's Palio Costas, you can just kidnap

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Speaker 1: the guy behind the rest of it. From Kaleidoscope and

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Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts, I'm Miles Gray and this is the good Thing.

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Speaker 1: Chapter one, Study Abroad Robbing Banks gave Vasilis Paliocostas, the

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Speaker 1: curious boy from a tiny mountain village, an opportunity for

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Speaker 1: real adventure traveling the world. His mentor, Costa Samaras, told

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Speaker 1: us that in nineteen ninety one, after Vasilis's first heist

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Speaker 1: in Ioannina, the pair took off.

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Speaker 2: We had the racially, as soon as it was financially possible,

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Speaker 2: we'd go to foreign coome. They live lawfully, of course,

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Speaker 2: with fake papers under different names.

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Speaker 1: Of all the places they went, Samara says, Mexico was

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Speaker 1: the most appearing.

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Speaker 2: Not too much police, cheap food, cheap living, not far from.

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Speaker 1: Europe, but also in a way the country felt like home.

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Speaker 2: The mentality of the people was lacking Greece. Mexicans were

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Speaker 2: more relax the siesta, their bands in the squares you'd

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Speaker 2: see there, the mariachi bands would come and play their music.

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Speaker 1: The good times came to an end when the money

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Speaker 1: ran out. Greece's Robin Hood and his merry band headed home,

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Speaker 1: and in June of nineteen ninety two they relieved the

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Speaker 1: National Bank of Columbaka of about one point four million dollars.

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Speaker 1: It's still to this day the biggest bank heist in

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Speaker 1: Greek history. Now, I should say we can't pinpoint every

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Speaker 1: move Vasili's made around this time. His book isn't always

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Speaker 1: precise with dates, and he and Samoas disagree on several details.

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Speaker 1: For example, Vasilis claims that after Columbaka Samadas came down

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Speaker 1: from the mountains and called a journalist to brag about

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Speaker 1: what they'd done. That's definitely not in Samodas's version of events,

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Speaker 1: but we do know this. After Columbaka Vasilis took the

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Speaker 1: trip of a lifetime. He was about twenty seven years old,

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Speaker 1: and like so many twenty somethings, with a little pocket

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Speaker 1: money and no responsibilities, he got the idea to backpack

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Speaker 1: across Europe. Except Vasilis's plan was slightly more ambitious than

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Speaker 1: most gap year trips. Instead of buying a urail pass,

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Speaker 1: he decided to navigate a route by bicycle five thousand

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Speaker 1: miles from Germany to India. It sounds nuts to me,

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Speaker 1: but George, you actually have some experience with this kind of.

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Speaker 3: Thing, right, Yeah, So a few years back I walked

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Speaker 3: a couple one hundred miles in the south of France

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Speaker 3: and through Italy and eventually ended up in Rome took

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Speaker 3: about five weeks, so I can kind of appreciate firsthand

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Speaker 3: for the effort this kind of event you would take.

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Speaker 3: But also I have to admit that the idea of

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Speaker 3: riding from Germany to India on a bicycle without Google

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Speaker 3: Maps is one hundred percent bonkers.

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Speaker 1: But also not soul bonkers when you consider, Hey, this

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Speaker 1: is Vasili's Paliokostas we're talking about. In his he explained

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Speaker 1: that a bicycle is the ideal vehicle if you want

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Speaker 1: to avoid authorities. I mean, think about it. With a bike,

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Speaker 1: you don't need to get a license or buy insurance,

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Speaker 1: you never have to stop for gas, and if it

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Speaker 1: breaks down you can fix it yourself, and if it's

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Speaker 1: really broken, whatever, just buy a new one. So he

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Speaker 1: and a buddy from Greece bought a pair of mountain

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Speaker 1: bikes in Germany and pointed their tires east. They pedaled

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Speaker 1: down the Rhine Valley and accidentally took an exit onto

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Speaker 1: the Autobat. Then they crossed the Danube and burned their

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Speaker 1: quads up the Carpathian Mountains. From there it was a

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Speaker 1: straight shot down the plains of Bulgaria and into Istanbul.

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Speaker 1: They caught a ferry over the Bosphorus to continue through

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Speaker 1: Syria until Yeah, border guards were never going to let

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Speaker 1: a couple of Greek speaking, supposedly Brazilian bicyclists pass. For Vasilis,

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Speaker 1: though it was barely a setback. I mean, he and

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Speaker 1: his crew were used to coming up with plan bees

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Speaker 1: whenever a security guard or a cop through a wrench

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Speaker 1: in their plans. So Vasilis pivoted. He bought a couple

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Speaker 1: of plane tickets. Then he and his pal stowed their

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Speaker 1: bikes in the cargo hold and flew to Beijing. They

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Speaker 1: were still determined to bike to India, but this time

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Speaker 1: they decided to approach from the east. The new plans

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Speaker 1: suited Vasilis just fine. Other travelers had warned him to

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Speaker 1: stick to Beijing's tourist attractions instead of venturing into rural China.

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Speaker 1: They said Chinese villages were unfriendly, impoverished, and racked by famine.

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Speaker 1: But Vasilis didn't buy it. After all, there were similar

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Speaker 1: rumors about the people he grew up with back in

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Speaker 1: the rough mountains of Greece, and he wanted to experience

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Speaker 1: the region for himself.

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Speaker 4: We wanted to be near ordinary Chinese villages see what

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Speaker 4: their lives are like, their habits, feel their aura, their

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Speaker 4: lands aura.

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Speaker 1: Turns out he was right to be unafraid. In Chinese villages,

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Speaker 1: he found hospitality and friendly, resilient people, but the best

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Speaker 1: thing about the area no cops. Vasilis and his pow

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Speaker 1: romped across China's interior, enjoying themselves until somewhere between Shanghai

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Speaker 1: and Tibet, something unthinkable happened. A railroad employee stole our

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Speaker 1: thieves bikes. As he wrote in his book, one of.

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Speaker 4: The employees must have forgotten their communist i deals. It's

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Speaker 4: capitalism that leads to stealing.

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Speaker 1: Vasilis and his friend could have bought new bikes, but

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Speaker 1: instead they just took it as a sign they'd seen

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Speaker 1: what they wanted to see, so they cut the trip short,

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Speaker 1: jetting off in different directions. By nineteen ninety five, Vasilis

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Speaker 1: was back in Greece. Now twenty nine years old, he

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Speaker 1: seemed to have perfected the art of robbing banks, making

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Speaker 1: the whole thing look effortless. By some estimates, he hit

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Speaker 1: up as many as twenty banks in the late nineties,

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Speaker 1: often with his big brother at his side. But one

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Speaker 1: person who definitely wasn't working with him now, Costas Samaras.

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Speaker 1: As Samaras hinted to us, Columbaca was a turning point.

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Speaker 1: After that, a rift had developed between him and the brothers.

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Speaker 5: Do you miss this collaboration at all?

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Speaker 1: Yes?

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Speaker 2: I miss it like a fandas is so to speak.

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Speaker 2: I mean, look, we didn't have a bad time the

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Speaker 2: different places we went, but people change.

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Speaker 1: In his book, Vasilis uses much harsher words, accusing his

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Speaker 1: former mentor of everything from incompetence to disloyalty. However, it

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Speaker 1: happened shortly after the trio split. The Columbaka Proceeds. Samaras

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Speaker 1: took off and never saw the brothers again. As far

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Speaker 1: as Vasilis was concerned, maybe this wasn't such a bad thing.

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Speaker 1: He was getting tired of bank robberies, too much risk

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Speaker 1: for not enough reward, and what he really wanted was

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Speaker 1: to retire and relax while he was still young. In

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Speaker 1: order to do that, he just needed one big score,

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Speaker 1: one that he didn't have to split three ways, and

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Speaker 1: that's when it hit him.

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Speaker 4: The idea of kidnapping a businessman for ransom kept me

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Speaker 4: drifting through my mind.

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Speaker 1: He was about to switch careers from bank robbing to

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Speaker 1: kidnapping Chapter two, Man of the People. The truth is

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Speaker 1: there's little romance in kidnapping. There's no suave Ocean's eleven

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Speaker 1: plot where you're really rooting for a team of do

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Speaker 1: good kidnappers. Bank Robbery is different. There are lots of

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Speaker 1: stories of gentlemen thieves, clever burglars who steal artfully without

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Speaker 1: harming a soul, and that makes it fun. But kidnapping

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Speaker 1: it crosses a line. Abducting an individual can lead to

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Speaker 1: a whole other level of trauma, and there are implicit consequences,

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Speaker 1: like often kidnappers threaten to hurt the person if a

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Speaker 1: ransom doesn't come through, all of which makes it seem

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Speaker 1: like Vasilis was abandoning his morals or his good thief

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Speaker 1: view of himself, when in fact nothing could be further

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Speaker 1: from the case. For the Palocostas Boys, the period leading

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Speaker 1: up to the kidnapping was when the pair really bolstered

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Speaker 1: their reputation as good guys, giving away a lot of

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Speaker 1: their hard won money, and in fact, as George found out,

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Speaker 1: it's the stories from this period that still persist.

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Speaker 3: So when the team were in Tricola looking for people

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Speaker 3: who had connections to Vasilis. We drove out of town

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Speaker 3: to iim Or Knee, which is an area just on

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Speaker 3: the outskirts where things felt a lot more rural. Houses

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Speaker 3: become more spread out, yards become bigger. You know, you've

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Speaker 3: got a few chickens knocking about. And we stopped inside

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Speaker 3: a shop and met a local named Trotos, who claimed

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Speaker 3: to have known us of this. When he was a

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Speaker 3: little kid.

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Speaker 5: The family had beehives and he used to visit them

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Speaker 5: to collect local honey. So he's seen them around since

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Speaker 5: they were little, and as he puts it, they were

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Speaker 5: the best kids. There were no better children.

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Speaker 3: He'd known them since they were just kids, when they

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Speaker 3: were playing and running around the mountains. But when our

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Speaker 3: team brought up the brothers record of crime, Krotos got

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Speaker 3: pretty defensive, telling us what.

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Speaker 5: They did was illegal, but around here they didn't cause

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Speaker 5: any trouble.

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Speaker 3: The stories that Hotas and others told us are endless.

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Speaker 3: I've broke farmers finding tractors full of hay, you know,

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Speaker 3: suddenly showing up on the doorsteps, or widows getting money

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Speaker 3: to put their kids through school, an old man mysteriously

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Speaker 3: having his operation bills paid for. People are about to

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Speaker 3: lose their house and finding an envelope of cash. I

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Speaker 3: mean it all comes from the same period, this stretch

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Speaker 3: where the brothers were hitting up banks left and right.

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Speaker 3: Hotass even brought up this story, which is one of

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Speaker 3: my favorites.

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Speaker 5: One time Vasili stole a car from the village not

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Speaker 5: far from here. He took the car, committed the robbery,

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Speaker 5: and left it with money as an apology for the damage.

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Speaker 3: Imagine not being able to spot your car for a

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Speaker 3: week and then finding it returned with an envelope of cash.

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Speaker 3: Villagers swear these stories are real. But what's funny is

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Speaker 3: that it isn't just the locals who tell these stories.

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Speaker 3: We talk with someone who used to be pretty high

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Speaker 3: up in the prison system. Now we can't use their

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Speaker 3: name or voice because they made a lot of dangerous

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Speaker 3: enemies in that line of work. But they also told

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Speaker 3: us many of the same stories of the brother's generosity.

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Speaker 3: Like Houtos, they described it Bylocostus boys as people who

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Speaker 3: quote didn't cause trouble. The only difference is our prison

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Speaker 3: insider wondered if the locals were glamorizing things a bit

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Speaker 3: too much. Was there a little too much enthusiasm in

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Speaker 3: this idea of social banditry and sharing the spoils with

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Speaker 3: the community, because on the one hand, it's hard to

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Speaker 3: find the people who had direct involvement with this generosity,

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Speaker 3: and on the other hand, even our prison official had

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Speaker 3: to admit Vasilis blocostas is a lack.

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Speaker 1: So what's a vlock? I had the exact same question.

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Speaker 1: It turns out Vlocks are a Greek ethnic minority. They're

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Speaker 1: these old school mountain dwelling herdsmen. For centuries, they wore

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Speaker 1: their own style of clothes and spoke their own language.

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Speaker 1: The Vlocks have a reputation of being extremely hard working

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Speaker 1: and extremely icelated from society, but they're also known for

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Speaker 1: being very neighborly.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. They have this reputation for sharing their

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Speaker 3: bounties and really embracing the idea that as mountain people,

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Speaker 3: they're all in it together. And it seems Facilis really

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Speaker 3: embraced this heritage. But there's another side of being of

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Speaker 3: black as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I think you were telling me how in Greece

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Speaker 1: blocks are kind of lampooned as hicks.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I guess that's right. I mean, calling someone of

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Speaker 3: black is kind of like calling someone a redneck, and

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Speaker 3: they're isolated, partially because they prefer it, but also because

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Speaker 3: the state hasn't made supporting them a priority. They haven't

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Speaker 3: historically been treated well by the government. So if there's

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Speaker 3: a group that probably doesn't care about the plight of

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Speaker 3: rob banks or kidnapped millionaires, it's these people that the

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Speaker 3: scillis grew up.

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Speaker 1: With Chapter three, Candy Crush. If vasili s and Nkos

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Speaker 1: were going to quit the game for good kidnapping, an

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Speaker 1: ordinary businessman wasn't going to cut it. The pair needed

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Speaker 1: a bigger prize, someone who was filthy rich. The question

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Speaker 1: was who rich businessmen in Greece were a dime a dozen,

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Speaker 1: so Vasili started making a list of potential kidnapping victims.

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Speaker 1: But being the philosopher bank robber he was, he still

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Speaker 1: wanted to do it ethically, so he spelled out four

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Speaker 1: major requirements for himself.

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Speaker 6: First, that he's rich enough to deliver our ransom demands

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Speaker 6: without being completely destroyed. Second, he must have a coherent

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Speaker 6: family environment to ensure that negotiations run smoothly and.

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Speaker 4: That we would get our money. Third, he must be

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Speaker 4: healthy enough jere this ordeal.

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Speaker 1: And last, but Most importantly.

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Speaker 4: It had to being a moral. Corrupted businessman will knowingly

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Speaker 4: affect the lives of a group of people.

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Speaker 1: The victim had to deserve it. Vasilis wasn't just going

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Speaker 1: to kidnap some businessman. He wanted to kidnap a crook. Now,

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Speaker 1: of course, planning a so called ethical kidnapping isn't easy.

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Speaker 1: Vasilis was looking for a specific target, someone who is

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Speaker 1: embedded in Greece's world of kickbacks, corruption and political favors,

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Speaker 1: and he became obsessive about the research. To prep. He

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Speaker 1: visited bookstores and libraries, skimming business weeklies and newspapers. He

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Speaker 1: scoured balance sheets and investor reports in search of names.

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Speaker 1: The thing is, he really wanted to get this right. Sometimes,

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Speaker 1: Vasilis thought a potential target had already suffered enough, and

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Speaker 1: he worried about the effect a kidnapping would have on them.

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Speaker 4: I faced many ethical dilemmas. In two consecutive instances, all

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Speaker 4: of the potential victims someone from their immediate families. Taking

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Speaker 4: another blow like being kidnapped, would undoubtedly finish them.

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Speaker 1: In other cases, it was because the businessmen were more

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Speaker 1: ethical than he'd imagine.

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Speaker 4: Many would be crossed off when I realized they were

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Speaker 4: a truthless businessman, when I found they possessed a human

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Speaker 4: way of doing business, something that didn't leave me unmoved.

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Speaker 1: And then it happened. After immersing himself in what he

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Speaker 1: calls the stench of rotten economic and political systems, Vasili

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00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:39,320
Speaker 1: spotted a title that would change everything, a book published

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Speaker 1: by the Greek Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He flipped

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Speaker 1: through the pages and salivated. Here was a list of

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Speaker 1: all the major corporations in Greece, their revenue, profit margins, expenses,

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Speaker 1: and most importantly, the home addresses of their CEOs. Vasili

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Speaker 1: studied the book for weeks. Finally he settled on a name,

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Speaker 1: Alexander Aoklu. So I asked Christina to tell me about

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Speaker 1: this guy.

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Speaker 5: So in nineteen ninety five, Alexandro's Jaideglu was Greece's Halva

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Speaker 5: King Halva for the uninitiated, is a confection beloved across

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Speaker 5: the Balkans. It's a bit like fudge, but it contains tahini.

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Speaker 5: Haidolu's family had been making this delicacy for decades, and

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Speaker 5: their business had grown into an empire. It was the

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Speaker 5: largest processor and exporter of sesame seeds, which is the

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Speaker 5: base ingredient of tahini in all of Europe. At the

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Speaker 5: same time, the Greek government was in some turmoil. Two

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Speaker 5: years earlier, a politician named Adonis Samaras, no relation to

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Speaker 5: our friend Costas, had abandoned the ruling party to start

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Speaker 5: a right wing branch called Political Spring, and this Alexander

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Speaker 5: haideglu Well. He and his family were close friends with

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Speaker 5: the new party's leader, the Heidelus back to his parties Rise.

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Speaker 5: They were so tight, in fact, that the politician routinely

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Speaker 5: came up north to hang out at the hull of

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Speaker 5: kings Villa.

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Speaker 1: Now this sounded like the kind of backslapping and log

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00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:17,199
Speaker 1: rolling that Vasili's lowed, greedy businessmen and politicians chumming it

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Speaker 1: up as regular people barely scraped by Vasilis poured over

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Speaker 1: Aito Glue's ledger. The man had made millions in the

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Speaker 1: last year alone, and his labor practices and situations seemed

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Speaker 1: to tick off all of Vasilis's requirements. Vasilis Paliocostas had

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Speaker 1: found his crook Chapter four Trica la Syndrome. In the

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Speaker 1: winter of nineteen ninety five, Vasili Simbicos began staking out

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Speaker 1: the home of the candy king Alexander Aito Glu in

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Speaker 1: the north of Greece. As Vasilis put it, the pair

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Speaker 1: quote made a hell of a team. All Nikos was

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Speaker 1: temperamental and intuitive, and perhaps the best ghetaway driver in

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Speaker 1: the country. Vasilis prided himself on being methodical and deliberate,

301
00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:13,040
Speaker 1: just like his mentor somebod els. But it wasn't just that.

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Speaker 1: Vasilis believed it was something in their bloodline that made

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00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:21,240
Speaker 1: the brothers expert bandits, particularly when the stakes were high.

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Speaker 1: As he wrote in his book.

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Speaker 4: It was like we were in sync, a single nod,

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Speaker 4: a glance, a gesture. It must have been because the

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Speaker 4: same blood of many generations of defiant Highlanders ran in

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Speaker 4: our veins, the same blood that never let us rest,

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Speaker 4: never let us surrender.

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Speaker 1: As the Paliocosta says observed their mark, they discovered that

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Speaker 1: every day Haita Glu follows the same routine wake up,

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00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:55,240
Speaker 1: drive his two kids to school, and around eight am

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00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:58,520
Speaker 1: commute to his factory, taking a shortcut on a one

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Speaker 1: way dirt road. He also never has a security detail.

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Speaker 1: It isn't long before the brothers come up with a

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00:21:05,880 --> 00:21:10,560
Speaker 1: plant on December fifteenth. Vasilis downs a knit cap and

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00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:14,560
Speaker 1: stuffs a browning handgun into his trousers. Over his shoulder

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Speaker 1: hangs a backpack containing a Scorpion machine gun and two grenades,

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Speaker 1: and then he makes his way to a quiet intersection

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Speaker 1: on the one lane dirt road that Aita Glue travels

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Speaker 1: each day. He's waiting for the candy man to drive by. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 1: brother Nikos is in an suv a few miles away,

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Speaker 1: driving directly in front of Aita Wu. The cars crawl

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Speaker 1: down the road, and because Nikos is driving in front,

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Speaker 1: he has total control of the businessman's speed. Aito Glue

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Speaker 1: can't get around him, so when they reach the intersection

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Speaker 1: where Vasilis is hiding, Nicos hits the brakes. Aita Blue's

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Speaker 1: car lurches to a stop, and then Vasili's pounces. He

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Speaker 1: opens a passenger door, slides into the seat, and shoves

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Speaker 1: a pistol against the candy Man's chest.

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Speaker 4: I say, or I'll blow you to pieces.

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Speaker 1: The businessman freezes. The next minute is a blur. Vasilis

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00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,879
Speaker 1: throws a hood over Aito Glo's head, cuffs his hands,

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Speaker 1: and stuffs him into the back of Nikos's trunk. Vasilis

335
00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:26,240
Speaker 1: looks over his shoulder. On this desolate road, nobody has

336
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Speaker 1: seen a thing. The brothers drive. They have no destination.

337
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Speaker 1: Their goal is to rove the countryside, criss crossing the

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Speaker 1: back roads they know so well, until Aito Glue's family

339
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Speaker 1: caves to their demands. Nikos leaves the negotiations. He calls

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Speaker 1: the candy man's brother and demands the equivalent of about

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Speaker 1: two million dollars. Now two million might sound like a lot,

342
00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,159
Speaker 1: but it's a sum the two have talked over for

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Speaker 1: a while, and Vasilis wants to ask for more. After

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00:23:00,680 --> 00:23:03,560
Speaker 1: the kidnapping, they'll need the extra money to survive on

345
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Speaker 1: the lamp, and after studying the books, he knows Haito

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Speaker 1: Lu can afford it. Nikos gets too worried, though, and

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Speaker 1: talks his little brother down. He says it's too much money.

348
00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:18,160
Speaker 1: They'll never pay it. They'll just try to capture us

349
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:24,240
Speaker 1: or kill us. So Vasili's begrudgingly agrees. Aito Glu's brother

350
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,040
Speaker 1: is a rich man too. He's the owner of a

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Speaker 1: professional basketball team in Thessaloni, and when he's on the

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00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:34,240
Speaker 1: phone with Nikos, he casually mentions that he works with

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Speaker 1: crime bosses all the time, and he isn't scared. He

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00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:41,520
Speaker 1: acts as if he's dealing with amateur kidnappers. He even

355
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:48,040
Speaker 1: implies that the Paliocosas brothers are common mafiosos. Nikos is kissed.

356
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,640
Speaker 1: He tells Aita Gluz brother, you're not dealing with henchmen

357
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Speaker 1: for sports fans. You're dealing with professionals, So act accordings.

358
00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,919
Speaker 1: He hangs up the suv writes deeper into the mountains.

359
00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:06,640
Speaker 1: They drive for a few hours, aimlessly killing time. Then

360
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:10,320
Speaker 1: the brothers hear moans coming from the trunk with a

361
00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:13,800
Speaker 1: hood wrapped over his head. Aito glu is struggling to breathe.

362
00:24:14,920 --> 00:24:18,760
Speaker 1: Nico stops, pulls over and opens the trunk. The rich

363
00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 1: man tries to bargain for his freedom. He has a

364
00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,880
Speaker 1: briefcase with a couple thousand dollars in it, Please take

365
00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:28,520
Speaker 1: it and leave me alone. Vasili starts feeling bad for

366
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,680
Speaker 1: the guy, so he and Nikos move their victim from

367
00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:34,920
Speaker 1: the trunk to the back seat of the suv. They

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00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:37,560
Speaker 1: take off his hood so he can breathe, and cross

369
00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:40,920
Speaker 1: their fingers that the tinted windows will hide his whereabouts.

370
00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:45,920
Speaker 1: They start driving. Two kidnappers show furring a millionaire through

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Speaker 1: the dusty roads of the Greek countryside. Suddenly, Daito Glu

372
00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:56,160
Speaker 1: has found his oxygen. He starts to schmooz and won't

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Speaker 1: shut up.

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Speaker 7: We go to don't worry, you will get your money.

375
00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 4: Hell up with ya?

376
00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:04,919
Speaker 7: Hey, you guys are real pro I admire your entrepreneurial spirit.

377
00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:09,360
Speaker 1: As the drive continues, I begins to charm the brothers.

378
00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:12,560
Speaker 1: He says he sees something and that I.

379
00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:14,760
Speaker 7: Don't get it. What can the state make use of

380
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:15,800
Speaker 7: telligent people like you?

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Speaker 1: Vasilis wants to hate. I hate to belue. Just a

382
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:25,760
Speaker 1: few days ago the man symbolized everything wrong with priests, greed, corruption, inequality,

383
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:31,080
Speaker 1: But Vasilis has to admit he likes the banter. Hanging

384
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,879
Speaker 1: with the candy man is starting to be well fun.

385
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,359
Speaker 1: I to Go starts offering the brothers tips on how

386
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,600
Speaker 1: to best kidnapp it. Go that way, no, this way,

387
00:25:42,119 --> 00:25:46,520
Speaker 1: and begins telling jokes. Vasilis joins in and seeses, hey.

388
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Speaker 4: Maybe we should try to get the police to chase us.

389
00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:52,160
Speaker 4: After all, you're paying a lot of money. You should

390
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:53,000
Speaker 4: enjoy the action.

391
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:58,320
Speaker 1: You know Stockholm syndrome right where a prisoner starts to

392
00:25:58,359 --> 00:26:02,520
Speaker 1: sympathize with his kidnappers. Well, the opposite starts to happen.

393
00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:07,800
Speaker 1: The kidnappers start to sympathize with their prisoner. I don't

394
00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,520
Speaker 1: think there's a name for this, so let's give it one.

395
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:12,840
Speaker 1: Call it trika la syndrome.

396
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,119
Speaker 8: As it turned out, he was a cool guy with

397
00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,000
Speaker 8: a sense of humor and a positive mind as well.

398
00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:24,000
Speaker 8: We were already becoming pals. If someone were to peek

399
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,120
Speaker 8: inside the car, they would never guess what was actually.

400
00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:31,040
Speaker 1: Happening, aita glus growing on them. In fact, when Nico

401
00:26:31,119 --> 00:26:34,600
Speaker 1: starts driving a little erratically, the businessman tells him to

402
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,800
Speaker 1: slow down, otherwise the police might find them. He jokes

403
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,400
Speaker 1: that if they run into an ambush, they'll even help out.

404
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:44,600
Speaker 7: If anything happens, you shouldn't tie me and give me.

405
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 1: A kisnakov Vasilis laughs. He likes him, but not that much.

406
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:54,480
Speaker 1: Aito Glu of course, isn't the only person trapped in

407
00:26:54,480 --> 00:26:58,240
Speaker 1: the car. The Polyocostis brothers are stuck in there too,

408
00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:02,680
Speaker 1: And the next day your curiosity gets the better. They

409
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,720
Speaker 1: begin asking their captive, Hey, what's it like to be

410
00:27:05,760 --> 00:27:09,840
Speaker 1: a wealthy businessman? Anyway? What starts his innocent small talk

411
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:13,480
Speaker 1: becomes what Vasilis calls a crash course in the real

412
00:27:13,560 --> 00:27:18,320
Speaker 1: market economy. Handcuffed in the back of an suv, Aito

413
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:22,639
Speaker 1: Glu begins lecturing two professional criminals on the complexities of

414
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:27,760
Speaker 1: procuring sesame seeds in the global marketplace. He tells them everything,

415
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 1: including how he has to bribe Greek grocery stores to

416
00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:35,119
Speaker 1: get his product on the shelves. Vasilis is wrapped with attention.

417
00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:40,840
Speaker 6: Aito g Los, our teacher and his kidnappers were his students.

418
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:43,880
Speaker 4: You can't even imagine the stories.

419
00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,840
Speaker 6: About schemes, bad checks and all kinds of blackmail.

420
00:27:46,920 --> 00:27:47,760
Speaker 4: Will listen to.

421
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:53,040
Speaker 1: Between Aito Glu's brother, who openly admitted to having connections

422
00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,080
Speaker 1: with crime bosses, to the candy man discussing how he

423
00:27:56,200 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 1: routinely paid into Greece's black market. The brothers are convinced

424
00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:04,200
Speaker 1: of one thing that the rich really do live by

425
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:08,000
Speaker 1: a different set of rules, and, as Vasilis puts.

426
00:28:07,800 --> 00:28:13,359
Speaker 4: It, keep nappings my ass. The real money is elsewhere.

427
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:35,160
Speaker 1: Chapter five, The Price of Fame. By all accounts, Nicos

428
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:38,400
Speaker 1: and Vasilis treated Haito Glu well. When it was time

429
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 1: to sleep, they folded down the seats of their raft.

430
00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:43,640
Speaker 1: Four and gave Aito Glu a sleeping pad and sleeping

431
00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,200
Speaker 1: back so he could rest well inside the car. Meanwhile,

432
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:50,360
Speaker 1: they took turns sleeping on the snow covered ground outdoors.

433
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:55,000
Speaker 1: They fed their hostage well too. Over long breakfasts. The

434
00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:57,280
Speaker 1: three of them would chat as they filled their bellies

435
00:28:57,320 --> 00:29:08,200
Speaker 1: with tuna, olives, cheeses, fresh tomatoes, and bread. After eighty

436
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:12,400
Speaker 1: hours in the car, Vasilis and Nikos would get their ransom,

437
00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:16,320
Speaker 1: at least a piece of Vasilis let his older brother

438
00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:21,880
Speaker 1: handle negotiations with Aitolu brother, and turns out Nkos is

439
00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 1: kind of soft. He agreed to only one point two

440
00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:29,800
Speaker 1: million dollars, about one million dollars less than he originally asked.

441
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,760
Speaker 1: The negotiation made Vasilis live it. He'd done so much

442
00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:38,080
Speaker 1: planning for this money, so much research, and they had

443
00:29:38,080 --> 00:29:41,640
Speaker 1: had long discussions about exactly how much ransom to ask for,

444
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:44,960
Speaker 1: and now that Nkos has agreed to take even less,

445
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:49,600
Speaker 1: Vasilis is furious at his older brother. Yes, it's partially

446
00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:52,480
Speaker 1: because he caved, but he's even more upset that his

447
00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:56,040
Speaker 1: brother made the decision unilatter. They were supposed to be

448
00:29:56,080 --> 00:30:04,240
Speaker 1: a team. It was a slight Vasilis wouldn't forget the

449
00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 1: rest of the kidnapping proceeded as planned. Aitoglu's brother deposited

450
00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:11,840
Speaker 1: the money in a secluded spot below a bridge seventy

451
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 1: miles south of Tricola. After picking it up, the kidnappers

452
00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,960
Speaker 1: dropped their victim at a local bus station. Iit to

453
00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:23,000
Speaker 1: Glue departs in good spirits, telling his kidnappers and.

454
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:26,640
Speaker 7: Guys, if it didn't cost so much, I'd like another

455
00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:27,280
Speaker 7: adventure with.

456
00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:32,440
Speaker 1: You next day, the news spreads. Nico Celepis, a thrie

457
00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:35,720
Speaker 1: Kola journalist who knew the Paliocostas brothers as a teenager,

458
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:39,720
Speaker 1: remembers how people in their hometown reacted to the kidnapping.

459
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:43,840
Speaker 5: As soon as we heard, we were like, what have

460
00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 5: they done this time? Did they really kidnap this guy?

461
00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 5: On the one hand, we couldn't help but laugh. On

462
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:55,280
Speaker 5: the other hand, it's like, okay, but this is serious.

463
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 1: The one person who actually seemed okay with the kidnapping, though,

464
00:31:00,600 --> 00:31:04,000
Speaker 1: was Haito Glue. When he talked to the press, he

465
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 1: spoke well of his kidnappers.

466
00:31:06,320 --> 00:31:10,480
Speaker 7: A La muff I lived in a car for four days.

467
00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:13,560
Speaker 7: They treated me humanly above all, and I had the

468
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:17,240
Speaker 7: opportunity to talk with them for many hours I got

469
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:21,240
Speaker 7: to have I wasn't scared for myself. Actually, I enjoyed

470
00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:22,640
Speaker 7: some wide ranging discussions.

471
00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:25,920
Speaker 1: And what's funny is that as much as Vasili's and

472
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:29,760
Speaker 1: Nkos learned from Aito Glue about the economy, the education

473
00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 1: went both ways. Aito Glu came away from the kidnapping

474
00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:37,320
Speaker 1: with some real empathy for the people who abducted him.

475
00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:42,080
Speaker 7: After what we all need to realize is that there

476
00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:45,280
Speaker 7: are people on the other side of the economy. It

477
00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:49,080
Speaker 7: is a social issue. We have to understand why this

478
00:31:49,160 --> 00:31:53,719
Speaker 7: phenomenon is created and what prevents these people from joining

479
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 7: our society.

480
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:59,400
Speaker 1: Speaking to the press, Aito Glue humanized his kidnappers. He

481
00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:03,320
Speaker 1: described as social outcasts, as people in need of help.

482
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 1: He said if his kidnappers were caught, he really hoped

483
00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:10,160
Speaker 1: the state wouldn't use violence against them. He also said

484
00:32:10,200 --> 00:32:12,640
Speaker 1: that he now believed that Greece needed to put more

485
00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:18,160
Speaker 1: effort into and rethink its correctional system. But, as Vasilis

486
00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:21,920
Speaker 1: noted in his book, Aito Glue's words weren't taken seriously.

487
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,400
Speaker 1: Newspapers and pundits were quick to call Aito Glue delusional.

488
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:28,560
Speaker 1: As Vasilis writes.

489
00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:33,720
Speaker 4: The ruling class mercilessly derided Haitola. They didn't want people

490
00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,960
Speaker 4: to think that his kidnappers were human beings and had

491
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:40,560
Speaker 4: proven so. Their goal was to scare the public.

492
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:46,880
Speaker 1: The extensive news coverage turned Vasilis and Nicos Palocostas into

493
00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,920
Speaker 1: household names, and as extreme as their act was, there

494
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,800
Speaker 1: were a lot of people who appreciated what the brothers did.

495
00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:59,760
Speaker 1: They had extorted one of Greece's richest men and succeeded

496
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:01,800
Speaker 1: in a exposing him to a different side of the

497
00:33:01,840 --> 00:33:05,920
Speaker 1: country without harming or traumatizing him. But if there's any

498
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,640
Speaker 1: doubt whether the brothers had picked the right mark, years later,

499
00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 1: Vasilis would be vindicated in his choice of victim. In

500
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,560
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, the French government got its hands

501
00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,960
Speaker 1: on a huge list naming potential tax cheats, all of

502
00:33:20,000 --> 00:33:23,880
Speaker 1: them people with undeclared Swiss bank accounts. The list that

503
00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,680
Speaker 1: was handed over to the Greek government included the names

504
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:31,480
Speaker 1: of almost two thousand Greeks. The Greek government did nothing.

505
00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:35,440
Speaker 1: Two years later, a Greek journalist stumbled upon the list.

506
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 1: It included names of prominent Greek businessmen, bankers, and high

507
00:33:40,680 --> 00:33:45,280
Speaker 1: level politicians, so he published it The crazy thing is

508
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,880
Speaker 1: when the Greek state responded, it wasn't by investigating the

509
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: names for tax evasion or putting these tax cheats behind bars. Instead,

510
00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:57,440
Speaker 1: they arrested the journalists. But one of the names that

511
00:33:57,520 --> 00:34:02,560
Speaker 1: was made public was Alexander Kaito Glu, and also his

512
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:08,000
Speaker 1: brother and his father. Between the three, they had just

513
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:12,680
Speaker 1: over twenty million dollars hidden in Swiss bank accounts. And

514
00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:16,200
Speaker 1: it wasn't just the Haitaglu family. The corruption went straight

515
00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:19,799
Speaker 1: to the top. Also named were a number of advisors

516
00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:23,839
Speaker 1: and associates to Antonio Samaras, the right wing politician who

517
00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:27,239
Speaker 1: inspired Vasili's to kidnap Aaitoglu in the first place and

518
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:32,200
Speaker 1: was now Greece's Prime minister. But that association would get

519
00:34:32,200 --> 00:34:42,319
Speaker 1: the brothers in trouble, because it's one thing to rob

520
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:46,239
Speaker 1: local banks, it's another thing to kidnap and extort an

521
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 1: ultra wealthy industrialist, especially one who's best friends with the

522
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:56,040
Speaker 1: country's prime minister. After the kidnapping, the state took quick action.

523
00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:59,480
Speaker 1: They put a one million dollar bounty on both of

524
00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:04,279
Speaker 1: the brothers heads. Suddenly, one of the best get rich

525
00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,759
Speaker 1: quick schemes in all of Greece was to find Vasili's

526
00:35:07,800 --> 00:35:31,680
Speaker 1: Paliopostas and everybody in the country could participate except him.

527
00:35:31,719 --> 00:35:34,279
Speaker 1: The Good Thief is a Kaleidoscope production in partnership with

528
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:41,720
Speaker 1: iHeart Podcasts. I'm Miles Gray. Our executive producers are Mangesh Hatikudur, Costas, Linos,

529
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:46,759
Speaker 1: Oz Wallashan, and Kate Osborne. From iHeart executive producers are

530
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:50,439
Speaker 1: Katrina Norvell and Nikki or Our partners at The Greek

531
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:55,640
Speaker 1: Podcast Project. Our executive producer Daphne Carnesis, field producers Christina

532
00:35:55,680 --> 00:36:00,560
Speaker 1: Bilioni and George Miadis, and sound designer Nico Skloviniki, who's

533
00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:04,400
Speaker 1: also the voice of Costa Samanas. Mary Philip Sandy is

534
00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:08,200
Speaker 1: our supervising producer. Shane McKeon is our producer. The show

535
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:11,480
Speaker 1: is written in research by Lucas Ryman, fact checking by

536
00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:16,600
Speaker 1: Donia Suleman, sound design and final mix by Pran Banny.

537
00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:21,799
Speaker 1: This episode featured the voices of Yorgos, Carramijos and Thanasis Pilionis.

538
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,600
Speaker 1: Our theme song is by Imaan Baldi with additional music

539
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:30,480
Speaker 1: by Botany. Finally, thanks to Will Pearson Connell Byrne, Bob

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00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:32,680
Speaker 1: Pittman and John Marynapolis