Tick Tock Diner manager pleads guilty in murder-for-hire plot

CLIFTON (WABC) -- The former manager of a New Jersey diner pleaded guilty Monday in what authorities say was a foiled plot to kill the co-owner of the restaurant, who is his uncle by marriage.

Georgios Spyropoulos, 46, of Clifton faces up to 10 years in state prison.

He pleaded guilty Monday afternoon to conspiracy to murder his former boss at the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton.

"Thanks to the New Jersey State Police, we have a guilty nephew going to prison, instead of an uncle in a shallow grave," Acting Attorney General Hoffman said. "Had they not intervened, this murder plot appears likely to have been carried out, because Spyropoulos did everything in his power to set it in motion, including delivering a gun and a down payment to the man he hired to kill his uncle."

Authorities have said an informant told them Spyropoulos was searching for a hitman to torture and kill his boss, Alexandros Sgourdos. They alleged that Spyropoulos believed Sgourdos was withholding profits and keeping a large amount of cash in a safe.

Spyropoulos was arrested in April 2013. He was indicted on attempted murder and other charges

Sgourdos co-owns Tick Tock Diner locations in Clifton and Manhattan.