in 1770, he took part in the orlov revolt and the battles that followed, where both his father and two of his brothers were killed. he fought the turks across the peloponnese. in one ambush at the bridge of birbaga in katsana he managed to kill one of the most infamous leaders of the albanian irregulars, bekiaris, along with 36 of his men. at another incident, near androusa, he managed to kill another infamous albanian leader called veizos and 24 soldiers of his men. with these deeds, he managed to encourage around 5,000 greeks to go to the mountains and become klephts. on 10 june 1779 along with other greek klepht leaders and 3,000 men he participated the so-called "massacre of the albanians", in which the ottoman kapudan pasha cezayirli gazi hasan pasha destroyed 12,000 albanian irregulars and ended their depredations in the peloponnese. hasan pasha soon turned against him, and gathered ships and 14,000 men and landed at gytheio to capture him. kolokotronis and panagiotaros made their last stand at the siege of kastania, where panagiotaros was captured alive and killed. kolokotronis received an almost fatal blow from a sword. while he was dying, he was found by 7 turkish soldiers, who cut him to pieces. they threw his head in a hole and his body over a cliff.