Greenwich Village bar flop leads to kidnap indictment

Three men were indicted yesterday on allegations that they kidnapped a landlord’s representative and stole nearly $300,000 from the landlord following a failed attempt to open a Greenwich Village restaurant, the office of the Manhattan District Attorney said.

Two of the men, Vasileios Giamagas, 35, and Ekkehart Schwarz, 70, were principals in G&S Restaurants, a company formed to open a restaurant and club at 68 West 3rd Street to be called Restaulounge-Bar De’Vill, prosecutors said.

But the partners ran into financial troubles and construction delays after signing a lease in August 2007, and the business never opened.

To stop the landlord from trying to collect rent, Giamagas allegedly menaced the representative with a fake pistol and threats of torture while a third man, Kakhaber Gogoladze, 37, kidnapped him.

Prosecutors said the stolen property included $267,000 in back rent and $25,000 obtained from a stolen check, all from the landlord.

All three were indicted on counts of kidnapping, robbery and grand larceny, prosecutors said. The kidnapping charge carries a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.