The 17 remaining suspects in the Crete mafia case are appearing at the Chania courthouse today as it’s the final day of testimonies for the criminal organization members. It’s noted that the second round of testimonies includes two brothers who allegedly held leadership roles. Of the 17 arrested individuals, five people have already been remanded in custody while two were released, according to ERT.
Read: Kammenos on Crete mafia: “I was joking” – His response to new conversations recorded by police
As a reminder, 17 individuals were brought before the investigating magistrate on Thursday, with 16 giving testimony. Of these, six were remanded in custody, 10 were released with restrictive conditions, while one defendant was given an extension and is testifying today, according to neakriti.gr.
Crete mafia case: What the charges include
The charges are serious and include:
- drug and weapons trafficking,
- loan sharking,
- money laundering,
- and infiltration of public services to serve the organization’s interests.
The Crete mafia’s code system to avoid detection
Members of the Cretan mafia used specific coded language to avoid detection by police, especially in case their conversations were recorded. According to the case file, the coding and passwords – the criminal organization’s “dictionary” – were accepted by all members who used specific words in their communications.
Police have decoded the codewords based on their repetition and the transactions that demonstrably followed. Thus, when they referred to “dwarfs” they meant Kalashnikovs without stocks, when they spoke of “honey” they meant cocaine, “invitations” or “wedding favors” or “nails” or “screws” were bullets – with direct reference to social events after weddings or baptisms and the gunshots that accompany them in Crete. They used two codes for police, which were either “shit” or “fake.”
See the Cretan mafia’s dictionary as decoded by police:
