According to the local historical tradition of the Evrytania Prefecture, he was a Sarakatsanos klepht leader born in the village of Marathos [el], in Agrafa.

In 1802 he abandoned his life as a shepherd and began participating in raids by klephts; it was then that he acquired the nickname kaçak ("fugitive" in Turkish).

In the summer of 1809 Katsantonis is said to have been struck down by a serious illness identified as smallpox, so he appointed his brother Kostas Lepeniotis (Greek: Κώστας Λεπενιώτης or Kostas from Lepenou) to take over from him as leader of the Agrafa's klephts; according to tradition, when Ali Pasha heard this news, he sent an Ottoman army officer called Mühürdar to arrest Katsantonis in the cave where he was staying and being treated by a doctor called Thanasis Doufekias (Greek: Θανάσης Ντουφεκιάς); eventually, Katsantonis and his second brother, Yorgos Chasiotis (Greek: Γιώργος Χασιώτης or Yorgos from Chasia) were captured and were taken to the Pasha, who had them tortured to death.

The same tradition states that in 1823 Markos Botsaris avenged the death of Katsantonis by killing Mühürdar at the Battle of Kefalovryso, in Karpenisi.

The distinguished poet Aristotelis Valaoritis (1824–1879), member of the literary Heptanese School, wrote a poem called "Ο Κατσαντώνης (άρρωστος)" inspired by the klepht's sickness and death (published in the third quarter of the 19th century).