Dad tells of impact of John Macris murder as accused killer’s defence revealed
The father of Sydney underworld figure John Macris, who was gunned down in Athens, has told of his pain as the alleged hitman’s defence has been revealed.
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Exclusive: The father of slain Sydney underworld figure John Macris says he is too heartbroken to ever return to Greece where his son was brutally murdered.
Stelios Macris has opened up on his pain, as Greek police drag their heels on the court case against two men accused of gunning him down outside his Athens home.
“We are very sick, we don’t know what’s going on, we are lost,” Mr Macris said in his first major interview on the case.
“We don’t know anything yet, what’s going on, we’ve got no idea. Everything is left to his wife.
From Sydney we can’t do anything about it.
“What’s happened has happened, we can’t bring him back.”
Macris was survived by his wife, Viktoria Karida, a former model, and the couple’s two primary school aged children who have remained in Greece since his murder in October 2018.
Greek authorities have had Yuliyanov J Raychev Serafim and his brother in custody for almost a year but no court date has been set.
“That’s how it happens in Greece, they are just taking their time, it’s not up to us, there’s nothing we can do from Sydney, completely nothing,” Mr Macris, who is in his 80s, said.
“Things are different in Greece, there’s nothing we can do, everything is done.
“No, I haven’t been back, I can’t go back there. It upsets me, I don’t think I will ever go back, I’m not young.”
Macris was jailed in 2005 for drug trafficking and left Australia in 2009 for a new life in Greece.
However, Australian police claimed after his death he remained a major drug dealer with links in Spain, Dubai, Greece and Sydney.
Ms Karida, a former Playboy model who is not accused of any wrongdoing, declined to be interviewed for this story but has previously said that Macris did not tell her that he had any enemies.
A News Corp Australia investigation can also reveal the Bulgarian brothers charged with Macris’ murder will claim that they cannot be responsible because a professional killer would not be so careless after the crime.
Yuliyanov J Raychev Serafim was arrested in April 2019, with police at the time claiming it was a professional hit and they believed he had planned another job when he had returned to Greece.
Police had claimed that Serafim and his brother had tailed Macris before the deadly attack.
Serafim’s brother Milen Raychev was arrested in July 2019, after a Bulgarian court agreed to turn him over to Greek police.
However, the brothers’ lawyer has rejected the claims, saying they were innocent.
“A professional criminal does not travel with his passport, does not book a hotel using his passport,” Alexandros Lykourezos, lawyer for Yuliyanov J Raychev Serafim and his brother, said in a translated interview.
“If someone had committed a crime in Greece he would not have come back to the country with his real documents, he would not have gone to the same hotel or rent a car with his passport.”
Serafim even reported to police that documents had been stolen from his car, which Mr Lykourezos claimed was further proof of his innocence.
There has been no motive revealed for the crime.
Greek police did not answer questions about the car bombing of another Australian, former Comanchero boss Jay Malkoun, five months after Macris was murdered.
Photographs taken at the time of the bombing on March 1, 2019, show that the vehicle was completely destroyed.
Malkoun, then 56, was taken to hospital but checked himself out just a few days later because he feared being a target.
News Corp Australia visited his former address in Athens last year but the person who answered a phone number provided by a neighbour said he had moved but that he may have further information.
Within 10 minutes, five police officers on motorbikes had arrived at the property where our vehicle was checked and bags were searched.
Malkoun has not been seen since he miraculously survived the blast, despite some reports he may be in the Middle East.
Sources have also claimed he may have moved to another Greek island.
Macris and Malkoun both attended the Mega Gym in Athens, where Malkoun’s car was attacked last year.
Staff at the gym had said they had seen Malkoun regularly at the gym before the blast when News Corp Australia visited last year.
However, they were not able to provide any CCTV footage of the explosion, which happened in the gym’s car park, which is on a busy Athens road.
There have been reports in the Greek media that the men had been seen arguing but News Corp Australia is not suggesting Malkoun was in any way involved in the murder.
Macris had also been in contact with Albanian criminals, according to Greek media reports.
He had given an Albanian called “Takis” 10,000 Euros to find a luxury SUV that had been stolen and return the vehicle.
The car had sentimental value because it contained family photographs.
Macris had properties in Athens, Arahova, and Voula when he died, along with a burgeoning security and cleaning business.
He had travelled to Mykonos, a Greek Island where he married Ms Karida, in the months leading up to his death for a business deal.
However, he pulled out of the agreement, according to an associate.
“We wanted to expand our business in Mykonos but because we heard a lot about outlaw activities we didn’t want to get involved in anything illegal. John didn’t want to get involved with Mykonos at all,” the business associate, 53, said.
Charalambos Lykoudis, who is acting for Ms Karida, dismissed the accused killers’ defence.
“Following a thorough police interrogation, dozens of security cameras were investigated, telephone connections were removed, too many witnesses were investigated and the superhuman effort was carried out by the Greek Police, two brothers were identified and arrested as perpetrators of the crime,” he said.