The Murder of Greek Strongman Gus Lessis

THE MURDER OF GREEK STRONGMAN GUST LESSIS

by Steve Frangos

published in The National Herald

March 21, 2020

The National Herald has given HellenicGenealogyGeek.com permission to post articles that are of interest to our group.

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Few Greek strongmen have had as eventful a career in North America as Gust Lessis. For at least 13 years, as vaudevillian strongman, wrestler, boxer, and circus midway strongman Lessis successfully crisscrossed the United States. Unfortunately, newspaper accounts vary so markedly in their content on the facts of Lessis' life and professional career, that it is often difficult to clearly see this man's life even in broad detail, let alone agreed-upon documented fact. Nonetheless, such a disciplined athlete whose public performances served a host of charitable causes as much as they did his personal career deserves more attention than simply the inclusion of his name in some mere listing of the truly great strongmen of his age. 

Gust Lessis was without question a dedicated athlete. Depending on the local situation and his mood. Lessis, as part of his act, broke railroad spikes in two with his teeth, wrapped iron bands around his arms, and supported an 800-pound slab of concrete while it was broken by the pounding of a sledge-hammer. No one says that Gust Lessis, in full view of the general public, did not perform these feats of strength.

In point of fact, Lessis' fame has never disappeared. I chose to write about this man's life, at length, because American bodybuilders across the country have rediscovered this young Greek athlete and have placed photographs and films of his acts of strength all across the Internet and elsewhere (www.oldtimestrongman.com; https://spotmebro.com›lifestyle›old-schoolstrongmen; YouTube videos such as 'Strongmen, costauds, fakirs 1922-1931' and/or the newsreel (http://mirc.sc.edu›islandora›object› usc:4665). 

By the 1890s, the exact manner in which dedicated athletes could perform seemingly impossible acts of superhuman strength had been deduced by careful observers. While physical strength and special training were mandatory, it was well understood they performed such feats as the bending of iron nails, the twisting of bars of steel about one's body, the driving of nails into wooden planks, and the rolling of cars over the strongman's chest. 

As one writer noted, “[T]hey are based on theories and principles as old as the Greeks, and Samson's wonderful performances are all predicated on the employment of the properties of the mechanical powers,” (The Osage City Free Press (KS) January 1, 1891). 

By 1927, Jack Curley (i.e. Jacques Armand Schuel, 1876- 1937) one of America's foremost sport's managers/promoters, represented Lessis (Atlanta Constitution (GA) May 8, 1927). Curley was a national figure who over the course of his career managed Jim Londos among many other notable wrestlers. Make no mistake about it, Lessis was a head-liner in public entertainment. As we hear: “Gust Lessis, 'world's strongest man,' a big-time vaudeville star who played 16 weeks on the Keith circuit including two weeks at the New York Hippodrome and Palace.” (Amarillo Morning News (TX) December 7, 1927). 

Regrettably, sustained fame affected young Lessis. On June 12, 1926, Lessis, when confronted by police for disorderly conduct in a New York City Greek restaurant...brazenly “told Patrolman Sullivan 'to get out' telling the officer that he and fellow Greek strongman James Allis 'make $12,000 a week and don't care for the law,” (Port Arthur News (TX) June 13, 1926). Lessis, Allis and 20 other Greeks were all fined $10 each due to their disorderly conduct. 

By the very early 1930s, Lessis found himself competing as a professional wrestler in the southwest, gradually drifting through Georgia into Florida, ultimately spending considerable time in and around Tarpon Springs, Florida. At this very same moment in history Tarpon Springs had evolved into a hub for Greek music in the United States. Aside from the local Greek sponge fishermen and their families, waves of tourists (inclusive of more and more Greek-Americas) began wintering over in Tarpon Springs. Dockside restaurants with traditional Greek musicians serving as entertainment for the local Greeks soon became filled not just with Greeks but tourists as well.

In early 1932, among these traditional musicians was a zither player known by a series of names such as Toni Karris, Tony Bergas, Antonio Kyriatos, Tom Cappas, and Tony Kappas (Tampa Times May 2, 1932). Initial published accounts also vary in their citation of this man's nationality as Armenian as well as Greek (Tampa Tribune May 7, 1932). We will use 'Kappas' as the spelling of this musician's name and note that later news accounts credit his nationality as an ethnic Greek. Karris was a slippery character by any measure. 

Along with later charges directly involving Lessis, Karris had already been arrested once by chief of Police W. W. Carter of Tarpon Springs since he had previously “jumped bond while awaiting trial on the smuggling charge,” (Pensacola News Journal May 8, 1932). 

Consequently, since we receive virtually all initial information about what happened, along the sponge docks, in the very early morning hours of May 2, 1932 from Tom Kappas, we must proceed carefully. 

According to Karris, on May 2, 1932, Lessis sought him out in a sponge dock coffee shop to tell him to stay away from Lucile Mead, a local woman (Tampa Bay Times August 12, 1943). Again as told by Karris, Lessis “threatened to twist my arm so I couldn't play the zither,” (Nevada State Journal (Reno) July 25, 1943). At this point, approximately 3 AM, Karris walked out of the coffee shop. Lessis followed Kappas outside. Then, according to Kappas, he turned, pulled out his revolver, and fired three shots into Gust Lessis' chest killing him instantly. 

“Kappas, 31, sought in connection with the slaying, is believed by authorities to have fled north by automobile on the Dixie highway,” (Tampa Times May 2, 1932). 

Not long after the Pinellas county grand jury “returned a first degree murder indictment against Tom Kappas, Tampa musician, for the slaying of Gus Lessis, Tarpon Springs wrestler, last Monday. Kappas has evaded arrest thus far,” (Orlando Evening Star May 7, 1932).

What was the general response to his murder? What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others. 

“Lucile Mead, 27, an attractive brunette from Kentucky, who is said to have been the sweetheart of Gust Lessis, Greek who was murdered several weeks ago by Tom Kappas in Tarpon Springs, was being held in the county jail today for her own protection. The young woman was picked up by Tarpon Springs police early Friday morning in a swamp east of that city. They reported to the sheriff's office that the woman had run from her house Thursday night after tearing up things around the place. She was only partly clothed and spent the night in a swamp. She was brought to the jail this morning by Deputy R.L. Browne. Miss Meads is under the impression, it is said, that she has been shot full of buckshot. She says she was shot in the side with a full load of buckshot but her body shows no wounds except from briers caused by her night flight through the woods. Belief was expressed that her mind was affected by the shooting of Lessis. She will be held in the jail for several days for observation, officers said. Officers said that Lessis was killed in an argument over the young woman,” (Tampa Bay Times May 21, 1932).

The overall regard in Tarpon Springs that Greeks held for Gus Lessis can be gathered from this short news account. “While Pinellas and Hernando county police were searching today for Tom Kappas, accused of killing Gus Lessis, Tampa strong man and wrestler, funeral services were held for Lessis from the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox church. Father Karaphillas officiated and the body was borne three blocks through the main streets by his fellow countrymen. As the procession passed through the streets business places were closed. Burial was in Cycadia cemetery,” (Tampa Tribune may 4, 1932). Lessis's grave is still there marked by a concrete cross with his full name upon it. 

And Tom Kappas? It was not until he was arrested in Los Angeles in 1943, for selling liquor to minors, that the police found out about the warrant in Florida for the killing of Gust Lessis. And then, once in Florida “[I]n a surprise action yesterday, Thomas Kappas, charged with first degree murder in the death of Gus Lessis, Greek strong man, in Tarpon Springs, May 2, 1932, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced by Circuit Judge John U. Bird to pay a fine of $1,000 and court costs or serve five years in prison...Within 10 minutes after being sentenced, Kappas, through the help of friends in Tarpon Springs gave the sheriff 10 $100 bills,” (Tampa Bay Times August 12, 1943).

In all of this was justice served? I can't say. Published accounts vary so much between 1932 and those of 1945 one cannot help but wonder about the motives of the individuals involved. It is clear that Gust Lessis was an individual who was generous in spirit but met his fate in clouded circumstances. As with so many moments in Greek-American history, more systematic research needs to be conducted.