Nikos Pelekasis VICE Interview – A Greek True Detective is an interview with Greek private investigator Nikos Pelekasis, originally published by VICE. The following English translation presents the original interview for international readers.
His office is located in one of those 1970s Athenian apartment buildings with an absurdly small elevator. “Don’t worry. Even if you get stuck in there, I know how to get you out,” he told me later.
On the door of his office, there is simply a sign that reads “Detectives” — a term which, as he explains, is not officially used for private investigators. Judging by the typeface on the sign, I can tell it has been there for quite some time.
After all, Nikos Pelekasis has been in the profession for more than 30 years, following a successful career with the Greek National Intelligence Service.
The walls of his office are white and the room seems almost empty. On the few shelves are mysterious miniature detection devices, next to a promotional calendar bearing the name “Pelekasis” in large letters.
“We don’t keep records of cases once they have been closed,” he explains. The shredder, a large black box with plastic teeth, noisily swallows every trace of information collected during an investigation, as he demonstrates by destroying a CD-R within seconds.
He is wearing a pink shirt, has blue eyes and is polite. However, I get the impression that he may have looked up information about me before we met. Within the first five minutes of our conversation, I challenge him to guess my exact age and — unusually — he gets it right. He then proceeds to describe my personality with surprising accuracy while casually drawing little squares on a sheet of paper in front of him. I find the whole thing slightly strange, but I begin to think that this man probably has a genuine talent for his profession.
“Gathering information is an art. It requires training. When we are looking for someone and trying to obtain information about them — from their neighbours, for example — we may need to speak to them more than four times before they open up to us and we can establish enough trust to obtain the information we need,” he says.
Talkative people, then, are probably among the most useful sources of information. Usually without realising it, of course, since most private investigators do not reveal their identity and may use different forms of disguise to facilitate their work. They sometimes even choose to dress as priests. I am told that the cassock can make a complete stranger appear trustworthy and, as a result, can be particularly effective for a detective’s work.
I ask him whether he uses a magnifying glass in his investigations, like Sherlock Holmes.
Some still do, he says, but technology has advanced considerably. He shows me a camera the size of a pin, as well as a small flashlight-like device designed to detect hidden cameras in a room.
“Sometimes hotels ask us to check whether someone has illegally installed cameras in their rooms,” he explains — something which, as I learn, is not as unlikely as one might think. Such devices can also be found relatively easily on the commercial market, he points out.
Mr Pelekasis’ agency has handled hundreds of cases over the years. Spouses who suspect their partners of infidelity, businesspeople searching for debtors who have disappeared, and parents asking him to investigate what their children are doing are among the most common types of clients.
The latter, however, has become less common over the years. Parents worried about “what their child has got involved in” approach him less frequently, he says, because it seems that “they don’t care as much about their children as they used to.”
Cases involving marital infidelity remain common, however, as people increasingly distrust their partners, and the economic crisis has contributed to this.
Such cases often arise within couples because of unemployment, he says. For example, when a man loses his job and the woman’s salary becomes the family’s only source of income, the couple’s trust can begin to break down.
“Many times, I end up becoming something like a psychologist for my clients,” Mr Pelekasis says.
Recently, however, an increasing number of unemployed people have been knocking on his door with what may be the most difficult assignment of all: asking him to find them a job.
The most tragic cases, however, involve people asking him to help them sell a kidney. The emails sent by prospective sellers are shocking — and they are not rare. One has the subject line “Urgent”; in another, a prospective client says that they are “offering” a kidney, or alternatively bone marrow, in order to make ends meet.
Most are unemployed and have children.
“We explain to them that there is nothing we can do,” Mr Pelekasis makes clear.
As I leave the office and walk down the stairs, I find myself thinking that nobody can ever know how many extraordinary stories may be hidden behind closed doors.
Except, perhaps, Mr Pelekasis.
Anastasia Moumtzaki
About the Nikos Pelekasis VICE Interview
This interview is an English translation of an earlier Greek-language publication and reflects investigative practices, technologies and professional conditions at the time it was originally published.
The legal and technological framework governing private investigations, personal data protection, communications privacy and cybersecurity has evolved significantly since then. As a result, certain practices or investigative methods referred to in the original publication may no longer be used today or may now be subject to different legal restrictions.
The current services provided by Nikos Pelekasis & Associates are conducted in accordance with the applicable legal and regulatory framework.
