{{refimprove|biography|date=April 2026}} {{Short description|American author and journalist (born 1939)}} {{for|the actor|Nicolas Cage}} {{for|the professional wrestler|Nick Gage}} {{Use American English|date=February 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} '''Nicholas Gage''' (born '''Nikolaos Gatzoyiannis'''; {{langx|el|Νικόλαος Γκατζογιάννης}}; July 23, 1939) is a Greek-born American author and investigative journalist.
==Early life== Nicholas Gage (original name, Nikos Gatzoyiannis) was born in 1939 in Lia, a village in Thesprotia, northwestern Greece. Gage spent his early years with his mother, Eleni, and four older sisters. His father, Christos, had left to find work in the United States. After World War II, Eleni and her children found themselves caught in the Greek Civil War between the communists and the Royalists. In 1947, Communist fighters gained control of Lia. When the communists began to retreat in the spring of 1948, they took some children with them. Fearing that her children would be sent to communist countries, Eleni made arrangements for her family to flee. Gage and three of his sisters escaped, but his mother and one of his sisters were left behind. The Communists arrested Eleni, who was put on trial and executed. Eventually, Gage and his sisters joined their father in the United States.
==Career== {{refimprove|section|date=April 2026}} He is most known for two books of autobiographical memoirs, the best-selling ''Eleni'' (1983) and ''A Place for Us'' (1989). ''Eleni'' describes the life of his family in Greece during the Second World War and Greek Civil War. Gage's mother, Eleni, was executed for arranging the escape of her children from their Communist-occupied village. Decades later, as an adult, Gage sought out those responsible for her death.{{cn|date=April 2026}}
''A Place for Us'' relates the Gage family's experiences as immigrants in 1950s America in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1964, Gage earned a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.<ref name=WWProject>[http://users.wpi.edu/~cityofwords/gage.html Nicholas Gage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707185824/http://users.wpi.edu/~cityofwords/gage.html |date=2015-07-07 }}. A City of Words. The Worcester Writers Project. Retrieved February 4, 2013.</ref>
In 1985, ''Eleni'' was made into a feature film starring John Malkovich as Gage. In 1987, ''Eleni'' was cited by Ronald Reagan as an inspiration for his summit meetings to end the arms race with the Soviet Union.{{cn|date=April 2026}}
Gage first achieved fame as an investigative reporter for ''The Wall Street Journal'' and ''The New York Times''. His acclaimed coverage of the Mafia led to two best-selling books: ''The Mafia Is Not An Equal Opportunity Employer'' and ''Mafia, U.S.A.''{{cn|date=April 2026}}
He was also instrumental in exposing corruption in the past of Vice President Spiro Agnew, which led to Agnew's resignation. During the Watergate scandal, Gage was the first reporter to hear any of the Nixon tapes. His experiences as a reporter were the basis for the 1977 CBS television show ''The Andros Targets''. In 1985, the company had inked an overall production deal with Paramount Pictures, whereas Gage would develop offices for Paramount's New York headquarters.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1985-06-12|title=Paramount Signs Gage to Overall Prod. Deal|page=31|work=Variety}}</ref>
Gage was an Executive Producer of ''The Godfather Part III'', co-writing an early draft of the script with Mario Puzo. The movie was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards and seven Academy Awards.
His book ''Eleni'', which has been translated into 32 languages, was awarded first prize by the Royal Society of Literature of Great Britain and was nominated in the category of best biography by the National Book Critics Circle.<ref name="hcs"/>
His most recent book is ''Greek Fire: The Story of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis'', an account of the relationship between Aristotle Onassis and opera singer Maria Callas, which was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2000.
Gage is the honorary president of the World of Epirotes and a recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence. He continues to speak throughout the world and writes for such publications as ''The New York Times'' and ''Vanity Fair''.{{cn|date=April 2026}}
== Litigation == On January 5, 2024, Gage and Nicholas A. Basbanes, nonfiction book author and journalist, sued Microsoft and OpenAI in a proposed class action complaint filed in the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.<ref>{{Cite court|litigants=Nicholas A. Basbanes and Nicholas Ngagoyeanes v. Microsoft Corporation, OpenAI, Inc., OpenAI GP, L.L.C., OpenAI Holdings, LLC, OAI Corporation, LLC, OpenAI Global, LLC, OpenAI, L.L.C. and OpenAI OpCo, LLC|opinion=1:24-cv-84|court=U.S. District Court|date=5 Jan 2024|url=https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/klvydkdklpg/OPENAI%20COPYRIGHT%20LAWSUIT%20basbanescomplaint.pdf}}</ref> The lawsuit alleges that the defendants “stole” writers’ copyrighted works to help build AI chatbot ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence system they say is worth billions of dollars. The class is defined as all nonfiction writers in the United States, many of them trained as journalists, “who are authors or legal beneficial owners” of copyrights that have or are being used by the defendants to “train their large language models” and it estimates the class to include tens of thousands of people. It seeks damages of up to $150,000 for each work infringed. This lawsuit follows several other suits and letters of complaint filed alleging copyright infringement not only by these defendants, but also by Meta Platforms, Alphabet and IBM.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brittain |first=Blake |date=8 Jan 2024 |title=Microsoft, OpenAI hit with new lawsuit by authors over AI training |url=https://www.reuters.com/legal/microsoft-openai-hit-with-new-lawsuit-by-authors-over-ai-training-2024-01-05/ |website=Reuters}}</ref> These suits by authors and performers, and actions by The Authors Guild, The Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild are seeking protection for creators over AI use.<ref>{{cite web |last=Schoonover |first=Nika |date=29 November 2023 |title=Authors Guild to add Microsoft in its lawsuit against OpenAI |url=https://www.courthousenews.com/authors-guild-to-add-microsoft-in-its-lawsuit-against-openai/}}</ref>
Open AI has issued a statement saying, “We respect the rights of content creators and owners and are committed to working with them to ensure they benefit from AI technology and new revenue models."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mangan |first=Dan |date=2024-01-05 |title=Microsoft and OpenAI sued for copyright infringement by nonfiction book authors in class action claim |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/microsoft-openai-sued-copyright-infringement-non-fiction-book-authors-rcna132570 |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref>
==Personal life== Gage and his wife, Joan, live in North Grafton, Massachusetts. He is the father of three children: Christos, Eleni, and Marina.<ref name="hcs">[http://www.helleniccomserve.com/gagebio.html "Nicholas Gage"]. Hellenic Communication Service, LLC. Retrieved June 8, 2014.</ref>
== List of published works == === Books === * ''Eleni'' – {{ISBN|978-0-345-41043-6}}; * ''A Place for Us'' – {{ISBN|978-1-886284-73-9}}; * ''The Bourlotas fortune'' – {{ISBN|978-0-552-10473-9}}; * ''Hellas: A Portrait of Greece'' – {{ISBN|978-0-00-272278-0}}; * ''Greece: Land of Light'' – {{ISBN|978-0-8212-2524-0}}; * ''Greek Fire: The Story of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis'' – {{ISBN|978-0-446-61076-6}}. * ''The Teacher Who Changed My Life''
=== Magazine articles === * "The Last Onassis", ''Vanity Fair'', May 2005 (about Athina Onassis de Miranda, granddaughter of Aristotle Onassis)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gage |first=Nicholas |date=30 April 2008 |title=The Last Onassis |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2005/05/athina200505 |website=Vanity Fair}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== Further reading == * Ronald Reagan, December 10, 1987, Address to the Nation on the Soviet-United States Summit Meeting * Arthur Gelb. "''City Room''." Berkeley Publishing Group, 2003. {{ISBN|0-425-19831-6}}
== External links == * [http://users.wpi.edu/~cityofwords/gage.html Biography and an Interview at the Worcester Writers' Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707185824/http://users.wpi.edu/~cityofwords/gage.html |date=2015-07-07 }}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gage, Nicholas}} Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:People from Filiates Category:American investigative journalists Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Category:Greek emigrants to the United States Category:Writers from Worcester, Massachusetts Category:American writers of Greek descent