\n<\/p>\n
Gerodemos, 63, of Schererville, Indiana, is one of 22 people arrested in an alleged illegal gambling case. Investigators say he ran an underground book and threatened people who owed money \u2014 including with death.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors say Gerodemos filmed lit candles in churches and sent the clips to debtors. In one video cited in court, a voice says: \u201cI just lit some candles for your family\u2026 I say for them to die.\u201d Officials describe the campaign as a \u201choly war\u201d meant to scare gamblers into paying.<\/p>\n
His lawyer, Beau Brindley, says the voice has not been proven to be Gerodemos\u2019s and that the clip came from a burner phone. Even if it were him, Brindley told reporters, \u201cthese are not actual threats of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ron Safer, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago, disagreed. \u201cIt is a not-subtle threat that if the bettor doesn\u2019t pay up, there are going to be deaths in his family,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors also say Gerodemos should stay jailed because his case looks weak at trial and he might try to leave the United States. They have argued Greece does not extradite its own citizens to the U.S.<\/p>\n
His daughter has declined to sign a bond or house him, prosecutors say, and has said she would not be responsible for getting him to court.<\/p>\n
A judge has not yet ruled on whether he remains detained until trial. All allegations are unproven unless admitted or found at trial.<\/p>\n