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Hit man is dead, says Abramoff partner

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published June 10, 2006

FORT LAUDERDALE - A now-dead associate of John Gotti was the man who fatally shot SunCruz Casinos founder Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis in 2001, a partner in the fraudulent purchase of the gambling boat company told investigators.

Adam Kidan, who bought SunCruz from Boulis with lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2000, told authorities in a taped interview May 1 that John Gurino shot Boulis, said Art Carbo, an investigator with the Broward County State Attorney's Office.

Boulis was leaving his Fort Lauderdale office on Feb. 6, 2001, when a car pulled in front of his BMW and forced him to stop. A second car headed the opposite direction stopped beside his, and the driver shot Boulis several times.

Kidan "came up with all of this information," Carbo told the Associated Press on Friday. "That name had never come up before that."

Earlier this year, Kidan and Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from the SunCruz purchase.

Kidan's attorney, Joseph R. Conway, would not discuss the interview, noting only that Kidan's plea agreement in the fraud case requires him to cooperate with investigators.

Abramoff's attorney in Miami, Neal Sonnett, said in an e-mail Friday that "Mr. Abramoff has never had knowledge of any facts related to the Boulis case."

Kidan and Abramoff were sentenced in March to nearly six years in prison after pleading guilty to concocting a fake wire transfer to get bank funding for the purchase. Abramoff also pleaded guilty in a federal bribery investigation that is examining his dealings with members of Congress.

Three men are already charged with first-degree murder in the Boulis case. Anthony "Big Tony" Moscatiello, 68; Anthony "Little Tony" Ferrari, 49; and James "Pudgy" Fiorillo, 28, have all pleaded not guilty.

Kidan told investigators he learned the details of the killing from Moscatiello and Ferrari but was not told the triggerman's name, Carbo said. Kidan said Moscatiello told him in 2004 the man was dead, and he figured out who it was after learning the man was killed in a Florida deli by his business partner in 2003.

After Moscatiello confided in him, Kidan told authorities, Ferrari said, "This happened. We have no choice it happened and now you're involved in it. If it ever comes down to it, I'm going to say you paid us."

Moscatiello has denied being involved in Boulis' slaying, telling police after his arrest in September that his co-defendants may have done it on Kidan's orders.

Boca Raton deli owner Ralph Liotta killed Gurino, 48, saying it was in self-defense. Liotta was convicted last year of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Moscatiello's and Ferrari's attorneys did not return phone messages seeking comment Friday.

[Last modified June 10, 2006, 07:32:03]