CRIMINAL JUSTICE
4 years later, 3 jailed in Boulis murder case
Police charged three men in the 2001 shooting death of Gus Boulis. Two have ties to the man who led the purchase of SunCruz Casinos from Boulis, police said.
BY WANDA J. DeMARZO AND JAY WEAVER
wdemarzo@herald.com
After more than four years with no arrests, the gangland-style execution of Gus Boulis was starting to look like an unsolved mystery.
But after Fort Lauderdale police believed their case was airtight, detectives arrested a trio of men who have been in their sights almost since the self-made Greek millionaire was gunned down in his BMW on a city street.
Anthony Moscatiello of New York and Anthony Ferrari of Miami Beach were arrested Monday night, while James Fiorillo was taken into custody Tuesday morning in Palm Coast. They are charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 6, 2001, slaying of Boulis, the 51-year-old magnate who founded Miami Subs and once owned SunCruz Casinos.
More arrests are expected, police said.
Two of the suspects, Moscatiello and Ferrari, have links to Adam Kidan, the New York entrepreneur who led a group that purchased SunCruz from Boulis in September 2000, just four months before his murder.
Ferrari and Moscatiello -- who has ties to the Gambino crime family in New York -- were paid $250,000 for catering and security services by Kidan from SunCruz coffers.
Although Kidan exchanged threats with Boulis over the operation of SunCruz after the sale, he has never been named as a suspect.
Repugs. I don't know if anyone left here on DU remembers...but there was "speculation" that Mafia Killed JFK and Bobby..
This is a great read ...all the way to the END OF THE ARTICLE.
From Josh Marshall's "Talking Point Memo" just in case folks think my post on this is "out to lunch."
ATTORNEY'S STATEMENT
''His position is that he had nothing to do with the homicide and that he gained nothing by the homicide,'' said Kidan's attorney, Martin Jaffe, who added his client spoke voluntarily with detectives after Boulis' murder and is willing to do so again.
Kidan's SunCruz business partner, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, is not considered connected to the murder.
Once an influential Republican lobbyist closely connected to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Abramoff was indicted last month -- along with Kidan -- in federal court, accused of defrauding lenders in their $147 million purchase of SunCruz. The company sank into bankruptcy under their ownership by June 2001.
Abramoff ''had nothing to do with the Boulis murder and has no knowledge of it,'' said his attorney, Neal Sonnett.
Both Abramoff and Kidan were out of the country at the time of the murder.
According to records in the 2001 SunCruz bankruptcy, Kidan paid $145,000 to Moscatiello, a Howard Beach caterer and reputed organized crime associate of the late Gambino boss John Gotti.
Kidan said Moscatiello, who grew up in the same Queens neighborhood as Gotti and was described by police as a Gambino family bookkeeper, was paid for food and beverage consulting.
Kidan also paid an additional $105,000 to Ferrari, who claimed to be a relative of Gotti's, for security. Ferrari, who was raised in New Jersey and New York, moved to Miami Beach in the late 1990s and owned Moon Over Miami Beach Inc.
In a 2001 interview with The Herald, Kidan confirmed the payments to Moscatiello and Ferrari and described them as legitimate business expenses.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/12758163.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
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