Spyros Tsoutsoumpis Land of the Kapedani: Brigandage, Paramilitarism and Nation-building in 20 th Century Greece Giannes Koliopoulos noted in the introduction of his pivotal Brig- ands with a cause that “scholarly interest in Greek brigandage has not been equal to the importance of the phenomenon.” 1 The state of the historiography has hardly changed three decades after Koliopou- los’ study appeared. The dearth of scholarly studies is more surpris- ing if we consider both the extent of the phenomenon that forced successive governments to place entire districts under martial law and mobilize hundreds of troops against the bandit gangs and the persistent fascination of novelists, popular historians and documen- tary filmmakers in brigandage. 2 The present essay will address this gap in the existing historiography by looking at a specific episode in the history of banditry-the era of the listokrateia 3 (1914-1930) in the Epirus region. Epirus was not the only area afflicted by brigandage however, the ferocity of the local gangs, the area had one of the high- est murder rates in Europe during this period 4 and the extent of the phenomenon, with over 300 bandits and fugitives operating in the 1 John S. Koliopoulos, Brigands with a Cause: Brigandage and Irredentism in Modern. Greece 1821-1912 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987), viii. 2 ikos I. Panos, ετα– ασε τ Ηε (Fillipiada: self-published, 2014); Nikos Bakolas, σα α σα    Φτ (Athens: Kedros, 1998); Kiriakos Kassis, Ατεσαστ α στ στα  τ Εδα 1821-1871 (Athens: Ihor, 2000); Evripides Makres,  στ α τα ταδα τ στ Δ- τ α ετ Εδα 1827-1930 (Ioannina: self-published 2008); Giannes Baslis, τσ ατ,  ασττ στ (1889-1930) (Athens: Enastron 2010); Vasilis Tzanakaris,  στα. α αα τα α στφ τα στ (Athens: Metaihmio, 2016). 3 The word can be translated roughly as the ‘bandits reign.’ 4 Thomas W. Gallant, “Murder in a Mediterranean City: Homicide Trends in Athens, 1850-1936,” Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora 23 (1997): 15.