Jersey diner boss hired hit man to 86 owner

The former manager  of a landmark New Jersey diner pleaded guilty Monday to attempting to hire a hit man to murder his uncle who owned the restaurant.

Georgios Spyropoulos, 46, who once ran the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton, admitted that he provided a revolver and a $3,000 down payment to the hit man, who in reality was an undercover New Jersey state trooper.

Spyropoulos, who was a nephew of the intended victim by marriage, also admitted to ordering the hit man to torture the uncle to reveal information he needed to steal a large sum of money he believed the uncle possessed.

Investigators said Spyropoulos resented the wealth and power wielded by the uncle, Alexandro Sgourdos, who owned both the Clifton diner and another restaurant in Manhattan, NY, said Peter Aseltine, a spokesman for the New Jersey Attorney General's office.

The scheme unraveled as Spyropoulos was seeking an assassin. He unknowingly approached an informant for the State Police and laid out his plan to kill Sgourdos. The informant recorded the conversation and tipped off the police.

Spyropoulis agreed to pay the hit man $20,000 to torture and kill the uncle and dispose of the body.

"Spyropoulos wanted the hit man to make sure the victim's body was not found because he believed there would be less of an investigation if law enforcement viewed it as a missing person case rather than a murder," Aseltine said.

The informant, hit man and Spyropoulos met on Apr. 2, 2013, in the parking lot of a Home Depot where Spyropoulos gave the undercover detective a handgun to use in the killing, the down payment, two photos of the uncle, and a map showing the location of the uncle's house, Aseltine said.

Seven days later, Spyropoulos was behind bars on $1 million bail.

On Monday, he pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. According to the plea agreement, Spyropoulos will be sentenced to 10 years in prison and must serve 85 percent of the time without possibility of parole. He is also forbidden from ever having contact with the intended victim, the victim's family or any of the family's businesses. Superior Court Judge Donald J. Volkert Jr. scheduled sentencing for Sept. 19.