Some of the 22 people indicted in a wide-ranging gambling and extortion ring operating out of restaurants in Merrillville and Hobart are in the process of being released on bond while others are still being held.
Those indicted by the grand jury include members of the Gerodemos family — who are longtime owners of the Paragon restaurant in Hobart and Gino’s Steakhouse in Merrillville. Both restaurants, which were used in gambling operations, were raided by the FBI Wednesday.
The 87-page indictment, which spans from January 2021 to April 2026, was unsealed Wednesday and named James “Jimmy the Greek” Gerodemos and Dean “Dean Gem” Gialamas as leaders of Gerodemos Gambling Organization.
Feds want tips in ‘Greek’-led gambling ring in Northwest Indiana
James Gerodemos is in custody with a hearing set for May 4, according to court records. Court records for Dean Gialamas haven’t been updated since Thursday.
Chris Gerodemos was placed on an unsecured $1 million bond and was placed on monitoring with an arraignment hearing set for May 14, according to court records.
During his detention hearing April 30, prosecutors argued Chris Geodemos was a flight risk and danger to the community. In a motion for detention filed by U.S. Attorney Adam Mildred and Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson, it noted that Paragon, which Chris Gerodemos runs, was the location used by former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich’s bagman and co-defendant William Szarmach, of C.S.A. Towing, for the bribe payments and has been a location of illegal gaming activities for decades. In 2004, James Gerodemos held the commissary contract with the Lake County Sheriff’s Department through his friendship with Buncich, according to an FBI 302 report, and he sold cigarettes at the jail.
Buncich was convicted on bribery charges in 2018; He was released from a federal prison in Springfield, Missouri and moved to a halfway house in Chicago last June.
The motion also argued that Chris Gerodemos was a present danger to extortion Victim #2 and his entire family, if released, and a substantial risk to threaten, injure, or intimidate a prospective witness.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Rodovich ruled the prosecutors did not meet the burden of proof that Chris Gerodemos was a flight risk or a danger, according to court records.
Chris Gerodemos’ attorney J. Michael Woods described the hearing as “contested” in an email.
“That hearing was a positive first step in demonstrating the allegations against Mr. Gerodemos are ill-founded,” Woods said.
Basam “Donny Brasco” Ibrahim; Sanad “Sanad Taka” Ibrahim; Peter “Pete Goodys” Pavlopoulos; Michael “Michael Way Out” Campbell; and Marcus “Vladimir Ganz” Ganz are all held in custody with a hearing set for May 4.
Sanad Ibrahim’s attorney Damon Cheronis said in an email that his client expects to be released following his Monday hearing where he “will enter a plea of not guilty.”
Lawyer Russell Brown argued in a court filing that Ganz wasn’t a flight risk.
Samuel Nuzzo and Gus “Deans Runner” Kaporis were released on unsecured $20,000 bond and have a hearing scheduled for May 6. Steve Armenta was released with an arraignment set for May 14, according to court records.
Rami “Rami Straight Flush” Mansour; Nenad “Butch Hunkee” Radoja; Athena Gerodemos; Paul “Paulie Scarf” Franze; and Elias Gerodemos each were released on unsecured a $20,000 bond with an arraignment hearing set for May 14.
Elias Gerodemos’ attorney Jennifer Fisher commented via email that her client was released on unsecured bond and “looks forward to his day in court to prove his innocence and clear his name.”
Attorney Matthew Fech, who is representing Radoja, said he had no comment.
Ehab “Eddie” Mustafa; Flippo “Gigi” Rovito; Alexander “Alex Gyros” Gagianas; James “Jim Macedonian” Strezovski; Andrew “Caesars Andrew” Nguyen; and Giuseppe “Joe Polozzo” Manzi don’t have court records listed beyond Thursday.
Benson wrote Friday that Gagianas was a “bookie” who “offered to assist” extorting Victim 2 for the money he owned. If released, he would extort the man’s “entire family.”
Gagianas also made mob references in texts, such as “painting” and “carpentry work.”
“Your buddy,” he wrote to James Gerodemos, “never called me yesterday so I can give him the bid to paint his house.”
Even if Gagianas gave up his passport, Benson alluded to ways defendants with dual citizenship could go to Greece through a third country to avoid extradition. Federal prosecutors obtained a picture James Gerodemos took “approximately one month ago” with Frank Kollintzas, Benson wrote. Kollintzas fled to Greece in 2005 to avoid a federal prison in the Sidewalk Six scandal.
Some of the defendants have lawyers, while others are still in the process of hiring lawyers.
Court filings detail the lengths the gambling organization went to threaten multiple victims and their relatives with violence if their accrued gambling debts weren’t paid up.
In one incident, Mustafa, an ex-Gino’s cook, traveled to Texas in June 2025 and left a Papa John’s pizza box with roses and a note threatening a man called Victim 1’s college-age daughter.
“Do the right thing, or I’m heading to Valparaiso University…n’ get ahold of the Greek,” it read.
By October 2025, James Gerodemos left a message for Victim 1 asking him to give him a call or he was going to go to Valparaiso and “(expletive) your daughter.”
Multiple police agencies made arrests in Chicago, Boston, New York, Sarasota, Florida, California, Mesa, Arizona, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Agents executed at least seven search warrants at homes and businesses, FBI Special Agent Tim O’Malley said Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney Adam Mildred said in a Thursday press conference that federal authorities want tips from the public on anyone who participated in an illegal multi-state gambling and extortion ring based out of two northwest Indiana restaurants.
“We are coming after you,” he said, of potential co-defendants.
Anyone with information on the gambling ring can call 1-800-CALL-FBI. You can be anonymous.
Meredith Colias-Pete contributed.
