Spyredon "Spiros" Velentzas
The group originated from the Kourakos clan, a Maniot-Greek family led by Peter "Pete The Greek" Kourakos. It became a dominant group in the 1980s under Spyredon "Spiros" Velentzas, a Greek mobster who worked with and was aided by the Lucchese crime family. The Velentzas family mainly operated in the Greek-American neighborhood of Astoria, Queens. With over 30 members, the group gained power in other Queens and Brooklyn neighborhoods in the 1980s and the 1990s by setting up and taking over illegal gambling rackets that included dice games and horse-racing parlors.
Read more about this topic: Velentzas Crime Family