A 21-year-old Cretan vendetta seems to be behind the murder in Athens yesterday of a man who police say served a jail sentence for being an accomplice to a three-person murder in Crete back in 1984.

Spyros Vomvolakis, 60, was shot eight times in the back a little after 7 a.m. yesterday as he was leaving his home in Keratsini, near Piraeus. Police said that no witnesses have come forward in connection with the incident.

Records show that Vomvolakis was jailed for seven years in 1982 for attempted homicide. However, he managed to escape from prison six months later only to be arrested again in 1984 for his involvement in the murder of three members of the Sartzetakis family in Crete.

He was then sentenced to three life terms after being found guilty of masterminding the attacks. The killings were conducted by another person.

In 1994, Vomvolakis was conditionally released from prison for health reasons and never returned to Crete, but police believe that somebody on Greece’s largest island had not forgot him.