A man has pleaded guilty to obstructing the investigation into an arson investigation involving fires believed to have been set by his brother at multiple Boston-area Jewish institutions five years ago, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Alexander Giannakakis, formerly of Quincy, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to three charges for helping cover for his younger brother, whom federal authorities say set fires at four locations in 2019 before ending up in a coma and dying the next year.
Giannakakis, 37, lived in Sweden, but was extradited back to the United States earlier this year. He's due to be sentenced in March and faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Massachusetts.
"This defendant obstructed justice about hate crimes directed at Jewish people living in greater Boston. These attempted arsons at Jewish houses of worship and senior living facilities sent ripples of fear throughout the region. We must be vigilant in holding accountable every single person who engages in or facilitates acts of hate like this," acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said in a statement.
It was in February 2020 when Giannakakis' brother, whose name authorities haven't shared, became the prime suspect in four fires set in May 2019 at a Chabad center in Arlington, another Chabad center in Needham and a Jewish-affiliated business in Chelsea, prosecutors said. By then, he was in a coma, and he died later in 2020.
Giannakakis took "electronics (cellphone, laptop, etc.), sketches, writings, and mail" of his brothers' back to Sweden with him soon after the brother was identified as a suspect, according to the indictment. When he returned a month later, made false and misleading statements to investigators, and later destroyed evidence shortly before fleeing back to Sweden.
He was arrested there in February 2022.
"Fire is a dangerous and indiscriminate weapon – one that we believe Alexander Giannakakis' brother used to express his hatred for Jewish people four times," Boston's top FBI agent, Jodi Cohen, said in a statement. "By lying to our investigators and trying to obstruct our investigation into his brother, Mr. Giannakakis only made matters worse. If people think there's no downside to deceiving FBI agents, critical lines of investigation will be compromised, and our justice system stalled. Our Joint Terrorism Task Force can't afford to be deterred in this way."
Fire damage at the Needham Chabad center was still visible earlier this year.
"It's hard to put into words. It was traumatic," said Rabbi Mendy Krinsky told NBC10 Boston at the time.
