A member of the family that owns the landmark Tick Tock Diner in New Jersey has been arrested for allegedly plotting to have a co-owner of the restaurant "tortured, robbed and murdered," authorities said Wednesday.
Georgios Spyropoulos, 45, was arrested at the diner while seating patrons for the lunch rush on Tuesday.
Officials said he had hired two men to carry out the plot against his uncle. His orders were to have his uncle killed and cash stolen from a safe, and specified that the body had to disappear to make it look like a missing person case, officials said.
Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa announced the arrest at a news conference in Totowa on Wednesday.
The diner is a well-known New Jersey institution, and has been featured on the Food Network program "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives."
When Spyropoulos' home and car were searched, police found two semi-automatic guns, one shotgun and one assault rifle, along with six cell phones.
He is in jail on $1 million bail. Information on his attorney was not immediately available, but Joseph Pojanowski, the lawyer for the family, said they were "in shock and disbelief."
