Man guilty in robberies that left business owner dead
A federal jury on Thursday convicted the mastermind of a series of brazen robberies that netted more than $300,000 and left a Southeast Baltimore business owner zip-tied and duct-taped to a chair, the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Nikolaos Mamalis, 53, of Edgewood, faces at least 57 years in federal prison and could get up to life when he is sentenced in U.S. District Court in Baltimore in May. Four other conspirators pleaded guilty in the case and are to be sentenced over the next three months.
The guilty finding after a seven day trial brings to a close a complicated and violent scheme that led investigators from a city warehouse to a hotel in Atlantic City. The 54-year-old Southeast Baltimore vending machine owner, Constantine “Dino” Frank, died shortly after the robbery at his shop.
Federal prosecutors said Mamalis knew Frank and other victims and used his knowledge of their shops, homes and money they stored in them to plan the attacks. Police arrested them after learning through a wiretap that they planned to commit a home invasion in New Jersey.
Frank, who owned Precision Vending in Canton and pool halls in Parkville and Dundalk, was found July 29, 2009, bound by zip ties inside the Canton shop. Police said at least $10,000 was missing.
Prosecutors said Mamalis knew Frank socially and from prior business dealings and recruited the other suspects to plan and carry out the robbery. Once inside, they held Frank captive at gunpoint, bound him and then left, knowing, prosecutors said, “that he was sweating profusely and in obvious discomfort.”
One of the suspects called one of Frank’s business partners and told him, “Your boss is in his office and is not doing too good.” Prosecutors said Frank suffered a stroke but was conscious and unable to speak when police found him. He died at a hospital two weeks later. His death was ruled a homicide.
Prosecutors said that after the Canton robbery, the suspects robbed the owner of a pharmacy in Havre de Grace, who Mamalis also knew. On Sept. 2, two of the conspirators gained access to the victim’s gated community by pretending to be a police officer.
Once inside, they took out a gun from a briefcase, pointed at the business owner and his wife and ordered them to lie on the floor. Three women who worked for a private maid service came in during the robbery and were restrained, prosecutors said. Cash and jewelry were taken.
Prosecutors said that on Sept. 29, Mamalis and others in the group robbed the owner of a restaurant on North Point Boulevard in Baltimore County. Authorities they again attacked the man in his home, gaining entry by pretending to be law enforcement.
They handcuffed the owner to a chair and took $140,000 from a safe. Prosecutors said the owner gave up the combination after one of the suspect’s threatened to cut off his fingers.
Mamalis was convicted of seven counts, including conspiracy, firearms and robbery charges.
Categories: Breaking news, Confronting crime, Courts and the justice system, Southeast Baltimore
