ATHENS – An alleged contract killer gang headed by Albanian inmates at Greece’s alleged high-security Korydallos Prison involved two Greek lawyers who were taken into custody after being caught by wire taps, law enforcement officials said.

A 65-year-old man and 45-year-old female attorney who weren’t named were apprehended, officials said, and put into pretrial detention after the country’s intelligence service reportedly caught them talking on the phone to the alleged ringleader.

The lawyer was said to have testified for 12 hours to a magistrate on April 1, hours after a female colleague had already been remanded.

According to investigators, the two lawyers maintained frequent contact over the past four years with an inmate at the prison believed to head the assassin ring that hired killers, including those linked to the murder of  Athens lawyer Michalis Zafeiropoulos in 2017.

The gang allegedly runs what officials call the “prison ring” at the prison that also houses anarchists and terrorists believed behind a continued spate of violence in the capital.

That came as a graphic video was leaked showing the January murder of an inmate by another two prisoners amid press reports that Korydallos is being run by the inmates.

The video, aired by the Vima.gr website affiliated with the weekly Vima shows Albanian national Albert Bako stabbed to death by two prisoners, one his cellmate, while trying to escape through the corridors.

He was murdered days before he was to face a trial for the assassination of a prominent Athens defense attorney, accused as being the moral instigator behind the contract killing.

The gruesome footage follows another video, last week, showing high-profile inmates at the Athens-area Korydallos prison holding a party in a well-furnished jailhouse “suite”without explanation why that was allowed by prison officials..

Greek lawmaker Makis Voridis from New Democracy, a defense attorney, is reportedly a prime target of the alleged ringleader of the same mob-like gang, an Albanian man with a lengthy criminal record.

According to a report on the Athens-area Open television station, Voridis was a target because he was representing the family of Zafeiropoulos. The suspect allegedly aimed to stab Voridis in a court.

The ruling Radical Left SYRIZA, accused of condoning violence, said investigations are ongoing about what’s happening inside the prison and that only the Leftists are daring to probe problems in an “issue that no one dared to touch for years”.

The main opposition New Democracy (ND) party wondered whether “in SYRIZA’s Greece is was normal for inmates to kill off each other … if it was normal in SYRIZA’s Greece for inmates to organize parties …?”at the prison.