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<DIV><FONT size=4><EM>Washington Post</EM>: 09-28-05</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=5>3 Charged in Killing Of Fla.
Businessman<BR></FONT></STRONG>Boulis Slain After 2000 Abramoff Deal<BR>
<P><FONT size=-1>By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi<BR>Washington Post Staff
Writers<BR>Wednesday, September 28, 2005; A03<BR></FONT>
<P><NITF>
<P>Fort Lauderdale police said yesterday that they charged three men in the 2001
gangland-style slaying of a Florida businessman who was gunned down in his car
months after selling a casino cruise line to a group that included Washington
lobbyist Jack Abramoff.</P>
<P>Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis was killed on a Fort Lauderdale street on Feb. 6,
2001. Two of the three men charged had been hired as consultants by Adam Kidan,
one of Abramoff's partners in the SunCruz Casinos venture.</P>
<P>Anthony Moscatiello, 67, identified by authorities as a former bookkeeper for
the Gambino crime family, was arrested Monday night in Queens, N.Y. Anthony
Ferrari, 48, was arrested in Miami Beach. Both were charged with murder,
conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder. James Fiorillo, 28, was arrested
in Palm Coast, Fla., yesterday and charged with murder and conspiracy.</P>
<P>Boulis, millionaire founder of the Miami Subs sandwich chain, sold SunCruz to
Abramoff and Kidan in September 2000, at a time when Abramoff was one of
Washington's most powerful lobbyists. Abramoff and Kidan were indicted last
month on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy in connection with a $60 million
loan they obtained to purchase the casino company.</P>
<P>Abramoff is at the center of a federal investigation into lobbying for Indian
tribes and influence-peddling in Washington. Abramoff used contacts with GOP
Reps. Tom DeLay (Tex.) and Robert W. Ney (Ohio) and their staffs as he worked to
land the SunCruz deal, interviews and court records show.</P>
<P>The indictment in the Boulis slaying remained under seal yesterday, and
authorities declined to disclose details of the charges against the defendants.
Michael D. Becker, a Miami lawyer who has represented the men in other matters,
said yesterday that he has not spoken to them yet.</P>
<P>Attorneys for Kidan and Abramoff said their clients have no knowledge about
who killed Boulis. The two men were on a business trip abroad the night Boulis
was shot. "Adam has cooperated with police right from the beginning. He's never
been told he is a subject or a target," said Kidan's attorney, Martin Jaffe.</P>
<P>Fort Lauderdale police say they have long been interested in interviewing
Abramoff, but he has repeatedly begged off, citing scheduling difficulties.
Abramoff's attorney, Neal Sonnett, said after the fraud indictment that his
client knows nothing about the slaying but would be willing to meet with
detectives. He said he had no comment on the murder charges.</P>
<P>Abramoff and Kidan have been friends since their days as College Republicans
in Washington. Kidan, of New York, owned the Dial-a-Mattress franchise in the
District until it filed for bankruptcy in the 1990s. Their third partner in the
SunCruz deal was Reagan administration official Ben Waldman.</P>
<P>Dealings between Boulis and the Abramoff group were often tense. At key
points in the negotiations, Ney placed comments in the Congressional Record --
first sharply criticizing Boulis and later praising the new ownership under
Kidan. Ney later said he had been unaware of Kidan's background.</P>
<P>Also during the negotiations, Abramoff brought a lender he was trying to
impress to hobnob with DeLay in Abramoff's FedEx Field skybox at a
Redskins-Cowboys game. DeLay has said he does not remember meeting the
lender.</P>
<P>After the sale, the friction led to a December 2000 fistfight between Kidan
and Boulis, who had remained as a minority partner. Kidan told the South Florida
Sun-Sentinel that Boulis had said, "I'm not going to sue you, I'm going to kill
you." Kidan said that SunCruz thereafter barred Boulis from its casino
boats.</P>
<P>Homicide detectives have been investigating payments made to Moscatiello, his
daughter and Ferrari in the months before the killing. SunCruz paid $145,000 to
Moscatiello and his daughter for catering, consulting and "site inspections,"
Kidan said in a 2001 civil court deposition.</P>
<P>There is no evidence that food or drink was provided or that any consulting
documents were prepared, according to court documents. The checks to Jennifer
Moscatiello were made at Anthony Moscatiello's instruction, although his
daughter provided no services for the money, Kidan said in his deposition.</P>
<P>Moscatiello was indicted on federal heroin-trafficking charges in 1983 along
with Gene Gotti, brother of John Gotti, then head of the Gambino family. Gene
Gotti and several others were sent to prison, but the charges against
Moscatiello were later dropped.</P>
<P>Kidan met Moscatiello in 1990 while he was running New York City's Best
Bagels in the Hamptons and Moscatiello was running a catering hall. Moscatiello
provided Kidan advice on running the business. Kidan said in a deposition that
he was unaware of Moscatiello's 1983 indictment or his affiliations with the
Gottis.</P>
<P>SunCruz also paid a company called Moon Over Miami Beach Inc. $95,000 for
surveillance services in 2001. Ferrari is a principal in Moon Over Miami Beach.
Ferrari and several associates also reportedly received $10,000 in SunCruz
casino chips.</P>
<P>Kidan has denied that the SunCruz payments to Moscatiello and Ferrari had
anything to do with the slaying. In 2001, he told the Miami Herald: "If I'm
going to pay to have Gus killed, am I going to be writing checks to the killers?
I don't think so. Why would I leave a paper trail?"</P>
<P>Abramoff and Kidan were indicted last month by a federal grand jury in Fort
Lauderdale on five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy relating to
their $147.5 million SunCruz purchase. Prosecutors alleged that Abramoff and
Kidan faked a wire transfer of $23 million -- the down payment they had agreed
to put into the deal for the day-cruise casino boats.</P>
<P>In civil filings in the bankruptcy of SunCruz, Abramoff blamed Kidan for
defrauding lenders. Kidan has said the lenders were aware that the buyers were
not actually putting up the $23 million in cash for the purchase. Their trial is
scheduled for Jan. 9.</P></NITF><!-- start the copyright for the articles -->
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