John Macris’ final moments before he was gunned down in Greece

HE was executed outside his luxurious Greek villa, where he lived with his reality TV star wife and two young kids. This is the glitzy life of former Aussie gangster John Macris. SEE THE PHOTOS

FORMER Aussie gangster John Macris was on his way to a party for the launch of his new high-profile security business in Athens when he was gunned down outside his home.

The celebration was meant to mark the culmination of the sumptuous lifestyle the ex Sydney underworld figure built for himself, his reality TV star wife and two young children in their seaside suburb of the Greek capital, News Corp can reveal.

But the gunmen, who were waiting for their victim in a getaway car and who police are still hunting, brought the 46-year-old’s dreams to a sudden and bloody end.

“I was watching television when I heard shots. I went out three or four minutes later and saw a body lying on the ground,” said a neighbour, who declined to give his name.

“Another neighbour called to me from a balcony to say he had called the police … I was scared. I didn’t know who it was until later. I knew him (Macris) because I have a dog and they do too and we would say hello,” he said.

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The front of John Macris’ luxury home in Greece. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

Bloodstains where John Macris was killed. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

The spot where John Macris house was killed in his car near his home in Greece. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

Overnight, police said they had found the casings of six 9mm bullets on the ground where Macris was shot, first as he sat in his Smart car and then as he struggled out of the vehicle and tried to escape. They did not state how many gunmen were involved, but it could be as many as three. No arrests have been made.

A neighbour yesterday placed a red rose at the roadside crime scene, where blood still stains the footpath, as a memorial to Macris.

The view from where John Macris lived. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

Macris, a Greek-Australian, has been moving between Sydney and Greece for much of the past decade but around two years ago settled in the plush suburb of Voula, part of what holiday guides refer to as the Athens Riviera.

In Australia he left behind a relationship with Sydney socialite Roxy Jacenko, a 2003 conviction and jail sentence for commercial drug supply, and a bitter feud with the Ibrahim family, owners of Sydney nightclubs.

John Macris, who lived a grand life in Athens, Greece. Picture: News Corp Australia

Roses left at the spot where John Macris where killed. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

There is no suggestion the Ibrahims were involved in Macris’s assassination.

The glittering new life he led in Athens came after he claimed in remarks to Australian media in 2009 that he “no longer (has) any underworld affiliation at all.”

He bought a partly built hillside villa around two years and oversaw its completion, turning it into a four-level home complete with swimming pool and stunning views over the bay and the ferries from the port of Piraeus that take holiday-makers to the Greek islands.

A view of John Macris’ house in Greece. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

The back of John Macris’ house in Greece. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

Neighbours said Macris kept a low-profile and seemed a model family man.

“I saw maybe six times a day. He would drive off on his white Vespa in a T-shirt and no helmet,” said Barbara Crespi, a New Zealander who lives with her Greek husband a couple of doors away from her murdered neighbour.

John Macris’ Vespa at his house in Greece. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

The Vespa still stood parked on the footpath outside Macris’s house a day after his death.

“He created no problems. He was a wonderful father, devoted to his children and his wife,” said Crespi.

Another neighbour walking his two Pug dogs said both he and his wife frequently met the Macris couple.

“They have a black Pug called Richie. He is friends with my Pugs,” he said, declining to give his name.

A neighbour of John Macris who didn’t want to be identified. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

He said he would also bump into the Macris working out at the Mega Gym in the nearby Glyfada area, and would chat to them when they met them at the Barbounaki fish restaurant, where waiters told News Corp that Macris dined there several times a month with his family.

“He was a cool guy. He laughed a lot and he was always very kind.

“I knew he was working with a partner to set up a security company. They had invested a lot of money in buying cars and motorbikes. The plan was to provide security for celebrities and politicians and high society type of people,” said the Pug-owning neighbour.

A wider view of the location of John Macris’ house. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

Where the money came from to finance the company is unclear, but there seems to have been plenty of it.

Neighbours said one of the two large garages that front his villa contained a Lamborghini sports car.

His young daughter and son attend Geitonas Costeas private school, one of the most prestigious in the country, to which they travel every day in a school minibus that picks them up from their front door.

Reports said the children were staying with friends when their father was gunned down.

His wife, Viktoria Karida, a star of the popular Greek reality TV show “My Style Rocks” and a former Playboy model, had been appearing at a Greek Fashion Week event.

Viktoria Karidi, John Macris’ wife, arrives at their home. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

Viktoria Karidi, John Macris’ wife. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

But there were signs that all might not be well for the power couple.

Their house had three security cameras covering the road outside and several more inside.

Neighbours said a guard patrolled the property at night but that security had been stepped up over the past month, with another security team driving by in a car several times a day.

Greek model Viktoria Karida and John Macris in Greece in 2013. Picture: Supplied

Then came the fateful night when Macris’s past appears to have caught up with him.

Barbara Crespi, the New Zealander neighbour, said she and her husband were watching the news on Wednesday night when they heard the fatal shots.

“I immediately said to my husband: ‘Don’t go out.’ I can read the Australian press,” she said, implying that she knew about Macris’s murky past and had a good idea of what was going on outside her home.

It was unclear if Macris was to be buried in Greece or whether his family planned to bring his remains back to Australia.

John Macris’ father (right) arrives at John Macris’ house. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

John Macris’ father at John Macris’ house in Greece. Picture: Angelos Christofilopoulos

A man believed to be his 82-year-old father Stelios also made several trips back and forward to the family home on Thursday but said only “Sorry, no” when asked for comment by News Corp.

John Macris’s wife Viktoria also declined to talk when she arrived at her home with two friends.

Originally published as John Macris’ final moments before he was gunned down in Greece