Lyggeridis murder in Rentis: The dialogues of the hooligans, the “big ones” and the “wage earners”

An organized plan to attack the MAT platoon outside the closed gym “Melina Merkouri” in Rentis, and indeed with homicidal intent, is described in the 3,000-page file by the officers of the Sub-Directorate for Combating Violence in Sports Venues.

This document clearly describes the meeting point of the leadership group of the hooligans, their preparatory actions, the transportation of the materials they used, the orders of the leadership group to attack the MAT squad, but also their intention to kill a police officer.

Characteristic is the dialogue he held shortly after the death of Giorgos Lyggeridis (he died on December 27, 2023 from the wound he had suffered in the thigh from a naval flare), a member of the criminal organization, with a friend of his:

FRIEND: And a straight shot huh? Bam.

ACCUSED: Yes.

FRIEND: And whoever the favor takes.

ACCUSED: 10 people went there and emptied everything. Here you motherfuckers had 40 AK dynamite. It wasn’t just nautical, there were many things that day. Do you know what it’s like to eat forty dynamite now?

FRIEND: Did they go for death? They went to kill.

ACCUSED: Yes, they went to check the MAT and there were few MAT.

According to the police investigation, the members of the leadership group had pre-decided to attack the MAT, in the closed gym of Rentis, as the area there is not covered by security cameras and they believed that this way they would avoid being identified.

The 34 members of the organization gathered outside the “G. Karaiskakis” stadium at 6.30 in the afternoon. There the leading members instructed two people to go to a petrol station to get petrol and a third to bring dynamite from his house.

They made some Molotov bombs there and others outside “Melina Merkouri”, but they loaded all the supplies into four passenger cars and with the escort of two-wheelers, like a motorcade, went to the closed Rentis. One of the defendants even reportedly said: “Let’s go with the cops.”

While they had initially decided to launch the attack, after the end of the Olympiacos-Panathinaikos volleyball match, the alleged captain nicknamed “Kontos” gave the order to do so during the match. In fact, in the videos, members of the leading group are seen giving directions to the rest of the hooligans, who followed them faithfully.

Hooligans are divided into “young” and “adults”: The first are 16-24 years old, they follow orders in exchange for free or low-priced tickets and sometimes small amounts of money. The “big ones” are the leading core, who sell tickets, make money from them, while forcing the owners of canteens outside the stadiums to give them a “living wage”. Otherwise, they cause damage and harm the owners, who do not comply.

The members of the leadership group – according to the case file – have accreditations and can move freely in the stadiums, work either in Olympiakos businesses or in the municipality of Piraeus, with the Security officials citing characteristics in their document to the judicial authorities: “However from the detailed examination and assessment of the gathered evidence, it follows that, apart from the obvious leadership, it cannot be ruled out that the criminal organization is directed, covertly and at the highest level, by members of the administration or executives of PAE OLYMPIAKOS (football team) and the sports association with the name “OLYMPIC ASSOCIATION OF PHILATHLON PIRAEUS” (O.S.F.P.), without whose participation and “high protection” the leading members of the criminal organization would not have the universal and unquestioning acceptance and obedience of the lower members and consequently the criminal organization would not exist otherwise it would have a very limited scope and action”.