Federal prosecutors indicted 22 people earlier this month in a wide-ranging gambling and extortion ring operating out of Gino’s Steakhouse in Merrillville, Indiana, and Paragon in Hobart, Indiana.

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 earlier in the day.

An FBI spokeswoman described a multi-state operation.

The 87-page indictment from January 2021 to April 2026 was unsealed Wednesday and included colorful names, including “Jimmy the Greek,” “Alex Gyros,” and “Jim Macedonian.”

James “Jimmy the Greek” Gerodemos and Dean “Dean Gem” Gialamas were named the leaders of Gerodemos Gambling Organization, according to the indictment.

The other people listed in the indictment are: Chris Gerodemos, Basam “Donny Brasco” Ibrahim, Sanad “Sanad Taka” Ibrahim, Peter “Pete Goodys” Pavlopoulos, Flippo “Gigi” Rovito, Michael “Michael Way Out” Campbell, Ehab “Eddie” Mustafa, Steve Armenta, Samuel Nuzzo, Alexander “Alex Gyros” Gagianas, Gus “Deans Runner” Kaporis, Rami “Rami Straight Flush” Mansour, Nenad “Butch Hunkee” Radoja, Marcus “Vladimir Ganz” Ganz, Paul “Paulie Scarf” Franze, Athena Gerodemos, Elias Gerodemos, James “Jim Macedonian” Strezovski, Andrew “Caesars Andrew” Nguyen and Giuseppe “Joe Polozzo”’ Manzi.

All defendants appeared in federal court Wednesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson, with co-counsel Kevin Wolff, said in court the feds had “substantial” evidence.

Detention hearings are expected Monday.

The Gerodemos Gambling Organization used websites, phone numbers and text messaging to have people place sports bets, which were placed in the Northern District of Indiana and throughout the country, according to the indictment.

The organization would set up bettors with an account number and password. The bettors were given a line of credit by the organization and didn’t have to put up their own money to place bets, according to the indictment.

“Instead, the Gerodemos Gambling Organization provided gamblers lines of credit allowing the bettors to begin their betting almost immediately through the illegal gambling websites, or over the telephone, without needing any actual cash to do so,” according to the indictment.

The organization’s members used money from losing bettors to pay the winners and the leaders of the Gerodemos Gambling Organization. If a payment couldn’t be made to a winner, the Gerodemos Gambling Organization would cover the payment, according to the indictment.

Members of the gambling operation communicated regularly about how much money a bettor owed (M or minus) and how much it owed to a bettor (P or plus). They also met with their agents, bookies and some bettors in person, inside public buildings or in parking lots, to collect or deliver payments for the sports bets, according to the indictment.

The indictment said the gambling operation used Gino’s Steakhouse and Paragon restaurant to collect gambling proceeds, pay off winning bettors and transfer gambling proceeds between James and Chris Gerodemos. Employees of Gino’s and Paragon also facilitated the operation through collection and distribution of revenue with agents, bookies and bettors, ranging from hundreds of dollars to nearly $50,000.

In the second count, the indictment details the lengths the gambling organization went to threaten multiple victims and their relatives with violence if their accrued gambling debts weren’t paid up.

According to documents, there were repeated attempts by James Gerodemos, Ibrahimm, Pavlopoulos and Mustafa to extort “Victim 1” from September 2024 to October 2025 for money he owed.

“Send me those 2 clowns’ address (victim 1 and another person), so I can have someone deliver the gyros to them,” James Gerodemos told Pavlopoulos.

Pavlopoulos was frustrated that the man was ignoring his calls and texts.

“He’s a scumbag,” he wrote.

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 his college-age daughter.

“Do the right thing, or I’m heading to Valparaiso University…n’ get ahold of the Greek,” it read.

Mustafa spoke directly to victim 1 outside his Texas home.

“You know who Dominic is..(He) sent me over here to come talk to you, see if you could give him a call, ‘cause there’s a balance due,” Mustafa says on the video, of sports betting.

“I don’t know Dominic, man,” victim 1 responds. It’s “not even the right balance.”

“I’m like the middle guy,” Mustafa tells him.

“When, tell him to get the balance right and we’ll work it out,” the man said, adding he didn’t know it “off the top of my head.”

In 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.”

The charges also detail attempts by members of the Gerodemos Gambling Organization, from August 2023 to June 2025, to track down victim 2, reportedly living in Florida, to collect $30,000. The efforts included repeated texts, phone calls and alleged threats, including trying to find victim 2 at a Florida casino.

On Sept. 19, 2024, according to the charges, James Gerodemos texts Christ Gerodemos, who is in Florida, as they track down victim 2. James Gerodemos tells Chris Gerodemos via text that victim 2 plays high-limit baccarat. “He’s always there…. Scumbag.”

Chris Gerodemos asks what James Gerodemos wants him to tell victim 2.

“See if u see him in there the high limit, tell him call jimmy,” James Gerodemos replies.

Athena Gerodemos faces conspiracy to commit laundering when she participated in 200 financial transactions between victim 1 and her father, James Gerodemos, from February 2023 through October 2025.

For example, on Sept. 29, 2023, victim 1 sent $1,600 to Athena Gerodemos and then Athena Gerodemos sent $1,600 to an account controlled by her father later the same day.

On Dec. 6, 2023, bettor B texted James Gerodemos, “Send me daughter information for Zelle” and “Send 555.” The same day, bettor B sent Athena Gerodemos $555, and later that day, she sent $500 to an account controlled by her father.

The indictment also accused Campbell of tailing undercover agents on April 9 to see what they were doing. At one point, he drove “erratically” in and out of traffic, topping 100 miles per hour on I-65 down to Lafayette. They noted “several calls” between him and James Gerodemos.

Prosecutors are asking for permission to potentially seize assets, including both restaurants, cars and bank accounts, plus various homes in Schererville, St. John, Naperville, Illinois, Chicago, and Palm Harbor, Florida.

Multiple FBI agents raided Gino’s Steakhouse and the Paragon early Wednesday.

An agency spokesperson declined to comment if there is a bigger target of the investigation.

“This is an FBI-led, multi-agency operation, and court-authorized law enforcement activity is occurring at multiple locations in Northern Indiana and other states,” FBI spokeswoman Chris Bavender said in a release. “There is no known threat to the public connected to this. As this is an active investigation, we are not able to provide further details at this time.”

Both restaurants are owned by the Gerodemos family, according to state records.

No one was immediately available at Paragon Wednesday morning. A call did not go through to Gino’s. Neither Chris nor James Gerodemos could be immediately reached for comment.

Newspaper archives show James Gerodemos got six months in federal prison in 2014 after he pleaded guilty in an illegal fireworks case.

According to archives, he was found with enough fireworks, some of which were illegal to sell even with a license at the time, to equal 4,000 pounds of TNT, which is about the amount that was used in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, that killed 168 people and injured 850. That amount of fireworks is supposed to be stored about 75 yards away from any inhabited building, but Gerodemos stored the fireworks in a metal container just outside his store.

The judge noted that when an undercover officer bought fireworks from Gerodemos last summer, he never asked him what he intended to do with the fireworks. Instead, the only question was if he was a cop.

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