Four arrested in gambling case

TARPON SPRINGS -- As they have for generations, Greek men gather daily in coffee shops near the Sponge Docks to play backgammon and cards and discuss the problems of the world.

Playing cards is okay, except when money changes hands, as three Tarpon Springs men found out Tuesday.

Around 11:15 a.m., Tarpon Springs police Officer Romando Black, who was on bike patrol, happened into Lazaros Coffee Shop at 501 Athens St. and spotted the three sitting at a small round table in the back of the room playing cards.

In the middle of the table was $32.

When Black walked in, the players quickly reached to take the money off the table in an effort to try to hide it from the officer, said Sgt. Jeff Young, spokesman for the Tarpon Springs Police Department.

Black said one of the men, Dimidrios Karanikolas, 45, told him, "We were only gambling to see who was going to buy lunch."

Young said police have gotten complaints from people in the area about gambling in some coffee shops.

All three men, as well as the manager of the coffee shop, were taken to the police station. The three men playing cards -- Karanikolas, Georgios Tirkios, 45, and Panagiotis Korfiatis, 66 -- were charged with gambling, a misdemeanor, and were given notices to appear in court. The charge, a second-degree misdemeanor, carries a maximum penalty of 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

The manager of the coffee shop, Antonios Zoanos, 68, of Tarpon Springs was charged with keeping a gambling house. Young said the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office will look into that charge in more depth.

"We were playing cards; that's all," Korfiatis said Wednesday.

Korfiatis said it was just a social game of gin with only a few dollars passing hands.

"If somebody wins 10 or 15 dollars, we go across the street and buy breakfast," he said. "It's not a big deal.

"It's not gambling," he said. "If I am going to gamble, I am going to go to the horses or the boat. It was only fun with three friends."

Tirkios and Karanikolas could not be reached for comments. A man who said he was Antonios Zoanos at the coffee shop declined to speak with a reporter.

Sponge merchant George Billiris said card playing among Greek men in coffeehouses is a tradition and a way to pass time.

"You could go to the Elks Club or the Moose Lodge and see the same thing," Billiris said. "It's a way of life down here."

-- Robert Farley can be reached at (727) 445-4185 or farley@sptimes.com.

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