Thomas Kapatos (January 1, 1915 – January 22, 1977), nicknamed as "Tommy the Greek", was a Greek-American gangster who was associated with the Irish mob in New York City. A convicted armed robber, Kapatos was an enforcer for Hell's Kitchen crime boss Mickey Spillane during his war against Jimmy Coonan in the 1970s. He was murdered in 1977 as a result of a conflict between Spillane's gang and the Genovese crime family. Early life Born in New Jersey on January 1, 1915, to Florence (née Kalais) and Gregory Kapatos, Greek immigrants from Karpathos, his surname derived from the Dodecanese island. Kapatos, who was also known as Thomas Russo, lived in Fort Lee, Union City and West New York in New Jersey and was employed as a shoreman on the West Side of Manhattan, New York. He was described by New York Daily News writer Joseph McNamara as a muscular man standing five feet, nine inches tall with an "explosive temper". Criminal career Murder conviction and exoneration On October 6, 1937, Kapatos was arrested in possession of two handguns – a .32 caliber revolver and a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson police revolver – shortly after the fatal shooting of Albert DiLlulio on 48th Street in Manhattan. The .38 calibre revolver contained four discharged cartridges, and boxes containing .32 calibre cartridges and .38 calibre cartridges were subsequently found during a search of Kapatos' home. He claimed to have unwittingly picked up the guns after finding them on a stoop as he made his way to the elevated train after finishing work at the 48th Street pier. Discovering DiLlulio's body nearby, he became frightened that he might be framed as the killer and started running away from the scene when he was apprahended by police. Kapatos was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of DiLlulio and sentenced to twenty-years-to-life in prison on November 29, 1938. He was paroled in 1954 but was returned to prison for violating parole. Years after his murder conviction, Kapatos learned that there had been a witness, Michael Danise, who had seen two individuals fleeing from the scene of DiLlulio's killing immediately after the gunshots were fired, and that Danise had stated that Kapatos was not one of these two individuals. Danise had also said that after the two persons fled the scene, he had then seen Kapatos walk upon the scene of the crime. This statement