STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – Police are asking for the public’s help in locating John Kambakakis, a 63-year-old resident of Dongan Hills in Staten Island who was reported missing
Kambakakis appeared coherent and calm when he was having breakfast in Mike Hinsh’s diner at 8518 5th Ave. in Brooklyn.
The Staten Island Advance learned that “investigators are looking into whether his disappearance is connected to Super Bowl box pools he ran and may have been carrying a large sum of money when he disappeared.
Lee Moudatsos, who owns the diner with his father, was the last known person to see Kambakakis. He told silive.com, “He came in and asked the waitress if he could be seated at a booth in the back so that he could watch TV.” He said of Moudatsos’ father, “Tell Mikey I said hello,” and then walked out of the diner.
“He didn’t seem disoriented or like anything was bothering him – just like his normal self,” Moudatsos said.
Many Greeks live in the area around the dinner and older Greek men frequent the nearby Dunkin’ Donuts. Moudatsos asked some of the men in the area if they had seen Kambakakis, but nobody had.
Moudatsos’ relatives told the New York Post he ran several traditional football pools each year with spaces from $10 to $50 and his daughter Maria said they may have been wearing him down.
“Usually he would have to buy the remaining ones that didn’t get filled, and people would not pay or they would pay last-minute…I saw it was kind of stressing him out a little bit,” she said.
Moudatsos’ father and Kambakakis “used to work on the ships together back in Greece years ago, like around the time my dad was in the military — that’s how long they’ve known each other,” Moudatos said.