A defense lawyer denounced prosecutors’ bid to re-jail an alleged top operative indicted in an alleged Northwest Indiana gambling ring, arguing the evidence was “cherry-picked.”
Dean Gialamas, 62, of Naperville, has a bond hearing Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Hammond.
The 87-page indictment detailing the alleged gambling and extortion activity between January 2021 and April 2026 names James “Jimmy the Greek” Gerodemos, 62, of Schererville, and Gialamas as leaders of Gerodemos Gambling Organization — that allegedly ran an illegal gambling ring out of two longtime Northwest Indiana restaurants, Gino’s Steakhouse in Merrillville and Paragon in Hobart. All 22 defendants pleaded not guilty to federal charges last month.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson argued in a brief filed May 22 that Gialamas’ role was “at least as egregious” as Gerodemos by “recruiting and financing” extortion efforts.
In response, defense lawyer Jonathan Bont wrote in a 23-page filing late Friday that federal prosecutors were trying to “confuse the issue by pointing to other defendants” and what they allegedly did.
The case against Gialamas, he argued, was “cherry-picked” and “stale.”
U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Morgan Swistek declined comment.
Furthermore, Bont called Victim 1 a “criminal” convicted for “illegal gambling” and “fraudulent taxes.” The Post-Tribune is not naming the man.
He and another man, Collector 1, Gialamas’ ex-friend, “stole $385,000 that Dean gave to them, which they lied about and said they provided to a third-party (but instead pocketed for themselves),” the lawyer alleged.
Prosecutors’ “tortured attempt to fashion evidence to support some sort of a debt extortion narrative with Dean’s co-defendant is disingenuous,” he wrote.
Victim 1 went to the FBI in 2023, the lawyer wrote.
Gialamas was not accused of violence or personally extorting anyone, Bont wrote. His client was accused only of “operating a gambling business and money laundering — nothing more.”
Prosecutors had “no evidence” Gialamas tried to stop anyone who threatened to go to police, he wrote.
He was released on a $50,000 unsecured bond and has cooperated with his pre-trial conditions, Bont stated. Only Gerodemos, and co-defendants Basam Ibrahim and Ehab Mustafa remain jailed, the lawyer noted.
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Bont wrote that Gialamas has since been fired from a longtime corporate job, alleging partly since prosecutors named the company in a prior filing. The U.S. also froze several of Gialamas’ bank accounts.
He was not a dual citizen of Greece and not a flight risk and already surrendered his passport, the lawyer wrote.