Restaurateurs Threaten Torture to Get $250k in Rent Relief

An excerpt from a Post article titled "The Rents Are Torture":

"...two Greenwich Village restaurateurs allegedly set the stage for extortion this past January -- kidnapping their landlord's agent, taking him to a nearby apartment, and showing him some hardware decidedly not meant for a home-improvement project...'They showed him a chair, placed on top of a tarp with a table holding pliers, a hammer, a screwdriver, and a candle'...one of the suspects, Vasileios Giamagas, 35, bragged he was a former mercenary and an accomplished killer who'd slain his own brother."

The landlord rep immediately agreed to forgive the $250,000 they owed in back rent for a their restaurant and nightclub that never opened, Restaulounge De'Vill (sound on, svp), on West 3rd Street, before turning them in to the police. For a little more color on De'Vill, check out the crazed plywood signage that adorned their space last year.
· The Rents Are Torture [NYP]
[photo credit]