Grand jury indictments were issued against Nickolas G. Spanos in December 1998 and April 1999 for 13 counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Henrico County Commonwealth attorney Howard "Toby" Vick had stated in numerous media statements that Spanos was the hub of organization that distributed more than 600 kilos in the Richmond, Virginia area. Toby Vick alleged that Spanos customers were middle to upper-class businessmen, lawyers, doctors and other professionals, Spanos had operated the drug syndicate for over 10 years. Vick stated that Spanos fled to Greece before the indictments were issued and that the USA DEA has an office in Athens, Greece; Spanos will stand trial in Henrico county for the Grand Jury indictments, a bold statement by Henrico county C.A. Howard "Toby" Vick.
Spanos responded back to Richmond Times Dispatch reporter Bill Wasson, "that Vick is going on a witch hunt", yes people were partying but not what it has been made out to be. Spanos challenged Vick by stating "I an just a bean in a bag of beans, a regular guy blending in the streets", basically telling Vick that there was no way he would bring him back. RTD reporter Bill Wasson asked if Spanos had dual citizenship, which Spanos replied yes and he would be going to the islands shortly. Also stating was that Vick's case was based on testimonies alone and that the main witness was his disgruntled jealous ex-gf that was lying and exaggerating for revenge, and that a brutal custody case led to all this.
From a non-biased view, certain questions rise, If Spanos was such a major cocaine dealer in the Richmond area for over 10 years, why couldn't the Henrico Police department catch him? Would there not be a money trail? 600 kilos of cocaine has a street value of over $18,000,000. (18 million USD.)
Toby Vick had brought in many members of his family for questioning, in which they had no idea of the alleged cocaine distribution, one sister asked Vick "where did all the money go?" Vick replied " he was buying a lot of drinks for people in the bars"
The Henrico narcotics police served 2 search warrants, one at Spanos home in Hanover county and another one at his mothers home in Henrico county, their main witness had given the information that was the location of drugs and money. No drugs or money was found but they did find Spanos's mothers stash of Greek coffee wrapped in aluminium foils sealed with plastic in the freezer.
A non-biased view would say that the Henrico C.A. main witness has led them on a wild story since she was the disgruntled, jealous ex that was in a hard custody battle with a good chance of losing custody. The Henrico C.A. Toby Vick probably did not mention in the multi-jurisdictional grand jury hearings that the ex had a history of mental illness and that she attempted suicide on Christmas day, leading to confinement at a psychiatric ward for a 48 hour suicide watch.
In the statements C.A. Toby Vick made to the media, no mention of the confiscation of drugs or money was mentioned, only that there were witnesses that testified that they bought cocaine from Spanos.
Henrico County C.A. Toby Vick had a Federal warrant of arrest for Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution issued on December 14, 1998, 1 week after the Multi-jurisdictional Grand Jury issued the 13 indictments against Spanos (18 days after Spanos left for Greece)
Despite having the Federal warrant issued, no request to the DOJ Office of International Affairs to have an Interpol Red Notice issued for Spanos and begin extradition procedures, which would have alerted the International law enforcement community to arrest Spanos.
C.A. Toby Vick did not even inform the U.S. State Department in order to cancel Spanos's USA passport, this would have made him "undocumented" and his deportation would have even been easier than an Extradition request.
The question might come up that Vick was an inexperienced prosecutor that did not know the procedures when a suspect becomes an "international fugitive", lets take a look at Henrico C.A. Howard Vick's resume:
Commonwealth's Attorney, Henrico County, Virginia;
Head of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia’s Organized Crime-Drug Enforcement Task Force;
Head of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida’s (Miami) Organized Crime-Drug Enforcement Task Force;
Member of the DOJ’s Organized Crime Strike Force in New Orleans;
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney in Arlington, Virginia
Assistant Attorney General, Commonwealth of Virginia (Richmond),
With a resume like this, Toby Vick could easily extradite someone like Spanos who was on limited funds in a foreign country with only a USA passport that would only give him 60 days visa in Greece.
The case against Spanos became stronger as three of his associates pleaded guilty to lesser charges and testified against Spanos as part of their plea bargains in April 1999.
Again no attempt was made by C.A. Toby Vick to have Spanos extradited from Greece, Europe or any other destination he might attempt to travel to.
The non-biased view might ask if Spanos was the "hub of a drug syndicate that distributed over 600 kilos of cocaine" , why Henrico C.A. Toby Vick not even make an attempt to take any legal action to extradite Spanos?
To go through a Multi-jurisdictional Grand Jury bringing in more that 15 witnesses to testify, also presenting evidence to a jury, thousands of police hours to investigate and interview witnesses, issuing subpoenas and other legal instruments is no small task. Toby Vick would have just had to cross the hall from his office, go to the Henrico county clerks office, have a capias issued and signed by a judge. Then send it to various agencies to have the necessary action taken to bring Spanos back, either by extradition or deportation, pretty simple maybe 1 hours worth of work?
The surprising point is that on July 06, 2001, the December 14, 1998 Federal warrant for Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution was dismissed based on a government motion.
Coincidently, Henrico county CA Toby Vick resigned from his position with the Henrico County CA office on June 09, 2000 and joined the McGuire-Woods law firm, which was the law firm handling Spanos's late father’s estate, which Spanos was co-trustee with his mother. Toby Vick’s decision to join McGuire-Woods law firm did not happen overnight, he had planned this for quite a while, possibly before the 1998-99 grand jury hearings.
http://www.richmond.com/city-life/news/article_511631a5-9b51-5583-b112-6b944498564b.html
The position will reunite him with former Virginia Attorney General Richard Cullen, who now heads up that team for the firm. Vick worked for Cullen before he was appointed Henrico Commonwealth's attorney when Cullen was U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
- Would there be some sort of conflict of interest if Spanos was to be returned and stand trial for the 13 Grand Jury indictments for drug charges?
- Could it have shut the door on Toby Vick’s partnership with McGuire-Woods law firm?
Howard Vick's partnership with McGuire Woods LLP. was his golden ticket. McGuire Woods LLP. is a U.S. law firm with more than 1,000 attorneys in 23 offices across the United States, Asia and Europe. The firm's largest offices are in Richmond, VA, Charlotte, NC, and Chicago, IL.. Very suspicious?
On September 10, 2006, Nickolas Spanos walks into the U.S. Embassy Athens and applies to renew his USA passport, 4 days later, he picks up his brand new USA Passport with no questions asked. His previous USA passport expired on June 14, 2003.
A non-biased view might ask, why isn't the most powerful embassy of the civilized world not putting out a wanted notice if this "international fugitive" might happen to visit the most secured embassy in the world?
On February 20, 2007, a Federal warrant was issued for Spanos arrest, the charge is Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution warrant which is a request by the state for federal assistance in apprehending someone who is charged with a felony and has crossed state lines or fled the country.
Again, Henrico County Commonwealths Attorney Wade Kizer makes no attempt to have Spanos extradited or even cancel his newly acquired USA passport which is less than 7 months old and would expire 10 years later in 2016. In the February 20, 2007 Affidavit signed by Christopher Doering, Special Agent, FBI, he states the exact location of Spanos, as listed on his passport application, Messologion 21, Athens, Greece. January 12, 2007, Henrico Police Investigator E.S. Brown requests from the FBI in locating Spanos.
A non-biased view would continue to ask the same questions, why wasn't one single attempt made to bring Spanos to justice? What was the Henrico C.A. office and now the federal law enforcement agencies waiting for? What or who was the Henrico C.A. office protecting?
Another five years pass and a situation which was brought in detail in our previous article,
U.S. Embassy legal attaches tied to extortion and human trafficking., in which Spanos was arrested in the Philippines On October 18, 2012 and detained for 19 months, USA DOJ, U.S.Embassy Manila legal attaches (FBI) and more importantly Henrico County C.A. Shannon Taylor never processed an extradition request. They kept the arrest hidden from the media until the Richmond Times Dispatch received a tip that a relative of Spanos had requested authenticated copies of the 1998-99 Multi-jurisdictional Grand Jury on February 28, 2013.
A Richmond Times Dispatch news article on March 01, 2013 published that Nickolas Spanos was found in the Philippines and detained by Philippine Immigration.
http://www.richmond.com/news/alleged-coke-dealer-located-in-philippines-after-years-on-the/article_6e331ad0-599d-5d2b-b6c8-310144479dc1.html
Henrico County authorities and the FBI confirmed Thursday that Nickolas George Spanos, 48, is in the custody of Philippine authorities on separate, unresolved charges there, Henrico C.A. Shannon Taylor states "that it is not clear when the former seafood dealer could be returned to this country"
"Henrico County authorities and the FBI confirmed Thursday that Nickolas George Spanos, 48, is in the custody of Philippine authorities on separate, unresolved charges there."
"Vick said in an email Thursday that he was aware that Spanos had been arrested; he had predicted in 1999 that it would happen. “I'm fully confident that Nick Spanos will stand trial in Henrico Circuit Court,” Vick said then."
The fact is that Spanos's arrest by Philippine authorities was based on the request of Henrico County CA office and the U.S.Embassy Manila legal attaches, there was no other pending charges against Spanos.
On September 10, 2013, 11 months after Spanos arrest in the Philippines, the Henrico county Circuit court issues an arrest warrant for Spanos for the 1998-99 Grand jury indictments.
A non-biased view would question the delay in issuing a September 10, 2013 arrest warrant, 11 months after Spanos arrest in the Philippines. Why did C.A. Shannon Taylor hide the fact of Spanos arrest in the Philippines?
The Philippine DOJ made several requests to Henrico County CA office to send them authenticated copies of the 1998-99 Grand jury indictments and other important documents. Henrico county CA Shannon Taylor refused their request.
Despite numerous letters from the U.S. FBI to Philippines Immigration officials demanding Spanos's deportation to the USA, he was deported to Greece on June 01, 2014.
Upon Spanos's arrival in Athens, Greece on June 02, 2014, he was greeted by Greek national security officials, in which they presented an Interpol Red notice asking for his provisional arrest in order for the U.S. DOJ could process the request for extradition.
Nickolas Spanos aka Nikolaos Spanoudis was brought before a Greek DOJ Prosecutor and was presented with the attached documents to the Interpol Red notice, a Capias from Henrico county Circuit court showing a September 13, 2013 certified date, 15 years after the multi-jurisdictional grand jury had issued the 13 indictments.
Greek DOJ Prosecutor held Spanos under the 60 day provisional arrest article listed in most USA Extradition treaties. The USA DOJ Office of international Affairs has to submit the required documents as stipulated in the USA-Greece Extradition treaty. On July 30, 2014, the U.S. Embassy Athens submitted all the required documents to the Greek DOJ Prosecutor, Spanos was ordered to be detained until the September 23 2014 Extradition hearing. To view: USA DOJ Extradition request with supporting documents
During his Extradition detention, Greek justice authorities charged Spanos with the 1998-99 Grand Jury indictments that the USA DOJ submitted. Under the USA-Greece Extradition treaty, Greece may prosecute a Greek national under Greek law if the Extradition is refused.
On September 24, 2014, a Greek Tribunal denied the USA Extradition request. No USA embassy official attended the trial nor did the USA embassy retain an attorney to present evidence on their behalf.
The Greek DOJ Prosecutors office informed the USA DOJ OIA and the USA Embassy Athens of the Greek tribunals decision and also of the Greek DOJ obligation to prosecute Spanos under Greek law, the Greek DOJ requested that any evidence that Henrico county C.A wanted to present, that they should to forward it to Greek Prosecutors. No evidence was ever sent or a reply by Henrico county C.A.
On March 27, 2015, A Greek Tribunal dismissed all 13 indictments against Spanos and ordered his release. The Greek DOJ notified the USA Embassy Athens and the USA DOJ OIA of the decision, the USA DOJ refused to file an appeal to the decision.
Below are the short decision of the Greek tribunal.
The main issue is why did Henrico county CA Shannon Taylor not attempt to process an extradition request in the Philippines, where she had the best chance to bring Spanos back to the USA to face the 13 indictments?
Why did Shannon Taylor attempt an Extradition request from Greece, where she knew that Greece was Spanos's safe haven and that Greece does not extradite its own nationals?
