The Greek Robin Hood Who Kidnapped Billionaires and Escaped Prison in a Helicopter

In the mountains of Thessaly, Greece, lived the Clefts, Greek mountain bandits who retreated to the peak in the 15th century to avoid Ottoman rule. And they were thieves. They robbed merchants, farmers, and travelers. They stole livestock and raided villages. They survived by taking what they needed from whoever had it. Here's what makes their story complicated. They also robbed tax collectors and Ottoman officials, symbols of a foreign empire that controlled Greece for four centuries. So, after the Greek War of Independence in 1821, when Greece was trying to build a national identity, historians looked back at these bandits and decided to tell a different story. They turned the Clefts into heroes. Freedom fighters. Part of the Greek Resistance. Today's story is about a man who grew up in those same mountains, hearing those stories, who decided to become a Cleft himself. Who escaped from Greece's maxim security prison twice. The question isn't whether he's a criminal or a hero. It's whether you can be both at the same time. I'm Harvey Guillen, and this is Killer Stories. We're here to tell you a story. All the Rich get richer. So when a guy robs those same banks and shares the money with farmers who can't feed their kids, people kind of look the other way. But the police don't. Around 1989, Nikos can no longer ghost the police. He gets arrested while committing a solo robbery. One thing you should know about Costas and Vasilis is that they love movies. Now, before you say anything, yes, I know, you want to get back to Nikos. He just got arrested. What a cliffhanger. Stay with me here, okay? I promise this is relevant. So when they're not out robbing banks, Costas and Vasilis are watching movies. Vasilis grew up so poor and isolated that electricity is pretty new to him, even in his early 20s. So just like he taught Vasilis to be a criminal, Costas teaches Vasilis, to be a cinephile. The kind of guy who has a letterbox account. They watch the classics, like Shawshank Redemption and Escape from Alcatraz. And if you notice something in common between those movies, you're not alone. They both involve prison escapes. And Vasilis notices too. The artist Costas sketches the plans. Vasilis grabs the guns, and in April 1990, like a scene from a movie, they decide their plan is to drive a stolen truck straight into the wall of the prison. But the escape doesn't happen, because on the day of the breakout, Vasilis makes a rookie mistake. He heads out alone to check on their getaway car, a vehicle they've stolen, packed with guns and left parked on the outskirts of a small Greek village. A tight-knit village, where people notice everything. An unfamiliar car parked on the street, well, that's not normal. So, the locals get curious. They look inside, and when they see all the weapons, they don't call the police right away. No, they deflate one of the tires, get a couple of cops, and lay a trap. Hours later, Vasilis shows up to check on the car. A group of villagers is hiding in a cafe across the street, watching. They see him approach the car, then veer off into the woods. He has to pee. That's when they grab him. They literally catch him with his pants down. Suddenly, this 20-something with no criminal record is sitting in the back of a police cruiser, handcuffed, and it's about to get worse. At the station, the police don't just charge him with the failed prison break, they decide to pin him for dozens of other robberies, too. All the jobs, the whole crew, pulled over the past few years, those are Vasilis' crimes now, even the ones he didn't do. But, if there's one thing Costas taught him, is that prison walls are just suggestions. In January 1991, Vasilis escapes from jail using knotted bedsheets. Classic. He climbs over the wall and disappears into the night. He's free. Nikos escapes, too, in a mass prison breakout. And by 1991, the three of them are back together. The ghost, the artist, and Robin Hood. They're as thick as thieves. had to. They're professionals now. They've learned from their mistakes. They've held up jewelry stores and banks. They've escaped from jail. They're pretty much the dream team of bank robbers. Which means, they're unstoppable. And they're about to try to pull off the biggest heist, in Greek history. ♪ ♪ There's a part of me that everyone sees. I'm Howie Mandel, the comedian. Apparently, I know what funny is. Funny bought me a house. But I also know what isn't funny. OCD. I've lived with OCD my entire life, and people throw the term around like it's no big deal. But OCD is severe, often debilitating. It's a mental health condition that involves unrelented, unwanted thoughts that can make you question your character, your beliefs, even your safety. General therapy can help with some things, but for OCD, it can actually make things worse. That's why I want to tell you about NoCD. 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Takayatri is an online psychiatry practice with licensed psychiatrists who can evaluate, diagnose, and provide ongoing medication management when appropriate. They accept major insurers, can treat anxiety, ADHD, depression, and more. You can schedule your first visit in days, not months. Go to takayatri.com/killers and get matched in minutes. That's T-A-L-K-I-A-T-R-Y dot com slash killers. Takayatri dot com slash killers. In June 1992, the town of Kalabaka sits on the base of a mountain where ancient monasteries perch on rocky peaks like they're defying gravity. It's a small place, the kind where everyone knows everyone. And the bank is about 500 yards from the police station. Which makes it a really weird choice for a bank robbery. At the national bank on the town's main square, three men in suits and sunglasses walk through the door. One of them shouts, "Listya!" Which is Greek for "Stick up!" The men are holding automatic weapons. The teller presses the emergency button, but it doesn't matter. These guys are professionals. Outside their lookout has already blocked the road with a stolen truck. Inside the men are stuffing duffel bags with cash. Then the sirens start. The three men grab their bags and run for their getaway car. As they peel away from the bank, Vasily starts tossing handfuls of cash out the window. Then the three men get out of the car and run for their getaway car. It's chaos. People shudder through the air like confetti. People on the street freeze. Then scramble. It's chaos. In three minutes, they've stolen 125 million drachmas. That's about 800,000 American dollars. It's the biggest bank robbery in Greek history. And then they vanish into the mountains. People in Kalimbaka still remember that day. Not just because of the robbery itself, but because of what happened next. It's chaos. It's chaos. In 1967, when he was just a year old, a dictator seized power in a coup. For the next seven years, Greece was ruled by a dictatorship. You couldn't listen to the Beatles, women couldn't wear miniskirts, and men couldn't grow a beard. The secret police arrested thousands of people. Torture was common. The dictatorship finally fell in 1974. But the scars didn't heal overnight. The government that came after was riddled with corruption. The banks were controlled by politicians and oligarchs. Regular people got poorer while the rich got richer. Vassilis watched all of this happen. He saw the inequality, the injustice. And he started asking the question that would define the rest of his life. And look, I'm not excusing everything Vassilis does. He's still a criminal, but it's worth understanding how he got there. It didn't get easier when the family moved to a nearby town when Vassilis was 13. His father got a job selling lottery tickets, and Vassilis got a job at a cheese factory, standing on a production line for two years. Through the factory window, he watched the Greek economy swell. He watched rich people. get richer. And one day, he walked out and never came back. Just a few years later, he and Nikos met Kostas. In 1993, after Vassilis' backpacking trip, things start to sour in the band of thieves. They stop working together. Kostas walks away, and he hasn't seen either brother since. The money from Kalambaka eventually runs out. And Vassilis starts thinking about a new kind of score. Something bigger. Something that could allow him to retire at the ripe old age of 28. He decides to kidnap a billionaire. His name is Alexander Haithoglou, and he runs a food processing company famous across Greece for their halva, a sweet sesame dessert you find in shiny copper tins at every grocery store. If you're a fan of halva, you've probably seen the packaging. Alexander is also a. He's also a major donor to conservative political causes. And a billionaire. In Vassilis' mind, that makes him a legitimate target. On December 15, 1995, Vassilis and Nikos intercept Alexander on the outskirts of Greece as he's driving to his factory. They pull him from his car, put him in a stolen vehicle, and disappear into the mountains. For the next 80 hours, they live together in that car. Driving the icy roads of central Greece, while Nikos negotiates with Alexander's brother. The kidnappers originally demand nearly 800 million drachmas. They settle for 260 million, just over a million U.S. dollars. And here's the strange part. Alexander doesn't seem to mind. He chats with his captors about business, gives them a crash course in retail economics. He's charming, confident. He treats the whole thing like. An adventure he'll tell his grandkids about someday. Years later, he tells reporters, It was a well-thought-out kidnapping. My kidnapper's behavior was. Not bad at all. When they release him at a bus station, Alexander reportedly jokes, Guys, if it wasn't so expensive, I'd love to do this again with you. I mean, class act. I mean, also, I've had worse dates. You know who you are. And no, I won't split the bill. And that's the thing about. He treated people well, even when he was committing crimes against them. Which doesn't make the crimes okay, but it does make them complicated. The press has a field day. One headline screams, The police put a bounty of 250 million drachmas on Vasily's head. But Vasily's is already gone. Back into the mountains. Handing off portions of the ransom to local farmers and homeless families. For three years, he lives as a fugitive. Then, in December 1999, his luck runs out. He's driving through the mountains when he crashes his car. The locals who come to help don't recognize him at first, but when he regains consciousness, still days from the impact, he blurts out his real name. The emergency call center tells the cops "Uh, we got a man here who must have a head injury. He thinks he's the most wanted man in Greece." Imagine the police's surprise when they figure out he's not confused at all. He really is Greece's most famous fugitive. Vasily's is convicted in 2000 and sentenced to 25 years in prison for kidnapping, bank robberies, and weapons possession. First, they send him to Corfu, a bleak stone prison perched on a cliff above the sea. Even there, he can't stop being Robin Hood. He convinces a visiting preacher to help him find hundreds of pairs of shoes for inmates who don't have any. But he's also planning. Always planning. In May 2003, guards find detailed escape blueprints in his cell. They transfer him to a maximum security prison outside Athens. For most people, that would be the end of the story. You go to prison, you serve your time, you get old. But Vasily's is in most people. This episode is brought to you by SoFi, the all-in-one finance app. The sooner you start investing, the more potential you have to build your money. 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And if you need a loan, Sally has options for different programs. Different families and different situations. College is only worth it if you do it right. So don't just help your kid go. Help them go smarter. Sally.com slash go parents. So it's June 4th, 2006. Three years after Vassilis gets transferred to the maximum security prison. He's seven years into his sentence in Greece's toughest prison. And then guards hear a sound overhead. It's a hell of a sound. It's a helicopter circling low over the prison yard. Now, this isn't that unusual. Helicopters fly over Athens all the time. But this one is getting closer. And it's descending fast. The helicopter drops into the prison yard, hovering just a few feet off the ground. A rope ladder unfurls from the side. And before the guards can figure out what's happening, Vassilis and another prisoner named Al-Kitrisai sprint across the yard, grappling with the prison yard. They grab the ladder and start climbing. The guards open fire and bullets ping off the helicopter's metal skin. But the pilot doesn't flinch. He pulls upward, gaining altitude fast. And the helicopter rises out of the prison yard with Vassilis and his new friend hanging on to the ladder. They fly across Athens, land in a field outside the city, and disappear before the police can scramble a response. And here's the kicker. The whole thing was masterminded by Nikos. He hadn't been caught after the kidnapping. He and an accomplice chartered a sightseeing helicopter, hijacked it mid-flight with a grenade and a gun, and forced the terrified pilot to fly into the prison yard. Nikos was in the helicopter, holding a weapon to the pilot's head the entire time. Brothers looking out for each other. It's the first helicopter prison escape in Greek history, and it makes international headlines. And I need you to understand how absolutely bananas this is. This man literally flew out of a maximum-security prison on a rope ladder like he was in a Mission: Impossible movie. The government is humiliated. They fire officials. officials, install anti-aircraft measures, up nets and sensors and promise it will never happen again. Nikos is captured three months later, after a car chase on Mount Olympus ends with his vehicle flipping over. Alkit is caught around the same time. But Vasilis, gone. And in June 2008, while still on the run, he strikes again. His new target is Yorgos Milonas, the chairman of the Federation of Northern Greek Industries. Yorgos is exactly the kind of man Vasilis has built his career around robbing. Wealthy, powerful, and politically connected, he's also recently made himself unpopular with ordinary Greeks by declaring that workers need to tighten their belts. Really sir. On the night of June 9th, 2008, Nikos and Vasilis are on the run. Nikos was caught in a car chase on Mount Olympus and his vehicle flipping over. Nikos is caught in a car chase on Mount Olympus and his vehicle flipping over. On the night of June 9th, just before midnight, Yorgos is driving home to an upscale suburb with his wife. Three hooded gunmen stop the car outside his house. They force his wife out and drive off with Yorgos. The kidnappers demand 30 million euros. It's an astronomical sum, even for a man as wealthy as Yorgos. The ransom note is found in the glove compartment of his abandoned car, along with his cell phone and watch. The negotiations drag on. The family scrambles to raise the money. Eventually, they settle on somewhere between 10 and 12 million euros. On June 23rd, Yorgos is released. Vasilis sends him home in a stolen BMW. Later, Yorgos tells reporters the same thing Alexander said years before. They were polite, and they treated me well. Now, I need you to understand something. At this point, Vasilis is the most wanted man in Greece. His face is on every news channel. There's a massive bounty on his head. The entire country is looking for him. And what does he do? He kidnaps another billionaire. The audacity is kind of breathtaking. But this time, the police are closer than Vasilis realizes. They trace the ransom money. They track his movements. And on August 2nd, 2008, they find him. Vasilis is at a safe house, pouring himself a glass of moonshine and settling down to watch a DVD. When the SWAT team smashes through the door, police find his movie collection, including Heat, the Al Pacino film about two veteran bank robbers evading the cops, of course. He's been on the run for 791 days. When they arrest him, he reportedly tells them "I played and lost. "You are victorious. "And now it's over." Or so everyone thinks. Vasilis is sent back to the same maximum security prison. The government has learned nothing. Despite his previous helicopter escape, despite the international embarrassment, despite all the promises to improve security, they put him right back in the dark. In the same prison. They even let him take his daily exercise walks in the yard with Al-Ked, who's been recaptured, too. Yep, the guy. The guy who he already escaped with once. They're back together. I just. The confidence. He already escaped by helicopter once, but surely he won't do it again. I mean, I think you know where this is going. On February 22nd, 2009, the day before Vasilis is scheduled to appear in court for his first helicopter escape, another helicopter appears over the prison. This time, the operation is organized by Al-Ked's girlfriend, a glamorous woman named Sula. Weeks earlier, at a court hearing, she'd thrown her arms around Al-Ked in a dramatic embrace, very theatrical. What no one noticed was she slipped a watch into his pocket. Not just any watch, a cell phone disguised as a timepiece. At 3:00 p.m., Sula calls the watch. It's time. She and a male accomplice have chartered a helicopter, posing as a couple who want to fly to Athens. They've chartered helicopters from the same company several times in previous weeks, building a trust. This time, once they're airborne, Sula pulls an airplane, an AK-47 rifle, and a grenade from her bag. She tells the pilot to take them to the prison, or you die. The helicopter descends into the prison yard for the second time in three years. A rope ladder drops. Vasilis and Al-Ked grab and start climbing, but this time, the guards are ready. They open fire immediately. Unloading 30 rounds into the helicopter, bullets tear through the fuselage and puncture the fuel tank. Aviation fuel sprays everywhere, soaking the cockpit, filling the air with fumes. One spark, and everyone could die. Sula fires back with the AK-47, providing cover as the helicopter struggles to gain altitude. The pilot, fuel in his eyes, bullets flying past his head somehow keeps the aircraft in the air. It clears the prison walls, clears the city, and keeps flying until it runs out of fuel and makes an emergency landing in a field north of Athens. An elderly couple find the helicopter abandoned near a highway, the fuel tank leaking from bullet holes. The pilot is inside, bound and gagged, a hood over his head. Vasilis and Al-Ked? Are gone. The government responds by firing three justice ministry officials and arresting three prison guards. Within hours, dozens of Facebook fan clubs spring up celebrating the escape. At a court hearing related to the case, young women invade the courtroom, behaving like groupies at an Elvis show. I'm not making this up. He escapes from prison in a bullet-riddled helicopter, and people are treating him like a rock star. Al-Ked is recaptured in November 2009. He's sentenced to life in prison. Nikos was sentenced to 197 years in prison, but is released when his health begins severely declining, and he dies in April 2025. But Vasilis? He's still out there. Wait, hold on. Let me say that one more time. Vasilis is never recaptured. That's right. Two helicopter escapes, dozens of robberies, and two kidnapped billionaires, tons of stories about his generosity, and Vasilis is still a free man. February 22, 2009 is the last time any authority figure saw him. Since then, nothing. No confirmed sighting. No arrests, no solid leads. The Greek police have combed the mountains. Interpol has plastered his face on wanted posters across Europe. Intelligence agencies have chased rumors from Albania to Argentina. Vasilis is gone, but he still wants the last word. Even while on the run, he has the boldness to publish an autobiography called, "A Normal Life." The book becomes an instant bestseller in Greece and was translated into English in 2021. It's part memoir, part manifesto, explaining his motivations and his code of ethics. He talks about hostage selection, about never targeting women or children. He talks about prison escape planning, about the obstacle of living outside the law. The book launch was held without him, obviously, and he couldn't attend because he was still on the run. The publisher joked that they weren't going to livestream the event, just in case he showed up. Supporters say the book is an act of resistance, a middle finger to the Greek state. Others say he should turn himself in and answer for his crimes. The officer who's been hunting him for decades says he'll never be found. He has too many people helping him. Some people say Vassilis has had plastic surgery and is living under a new identity. Others say he's holed up as a monk in a mountain monastery. There are reports of a girlfriend, a newborn baby, a quiet life on some remote island. Everyone has a theory. Nobody has proof. The Kleps who lived in those mountains centuries ago were thieves. But after Greece won its independence, historians turned them into freedom fighters. Is Vassilis a criminal or a hero? Well, depends who's telling the story depends when they're telling it. The Kleps taught us that much. And Vassilis? Somewhere. Waiting to see which version wins. Thanks for tuning in to Killer Stories, a Spotify podcast. New episodes release on Mondays. If you liked today's story and want to learn more, we've dropped some of our favorite sources in the episode description. Until next time, I'm Harvey Pien. Stay safe out there. We'll see you next time. A limited time offer, new members only. BJ's, home of the save. This episode is brought to you by TXU Energy. For the first time ever, Texans have an energy plan that combines free nights all year with daytime summer savings. It's called Free Nights in Cool Summer. 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