FDLE culls thick file on slain millionaire

For at least 12 years, Gus Boulis has been investigated by various local and state police agencies.

By THOMAS C. TOBIN and LUCY MORGAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2001

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Before detectives can determine who plotted the mob-style killing of Gus Boulis, they must sort through the unconventional and contentious business dealings that so often put the South Florida millionaire in headlines.

Fortunately for their investigation, Boulis is not a new subject.

The founder of SunCruz Casinos and Miami Subs restaurants, ambushed by a hit man on a Fort Lauderdale street Tuesday night, had been under the scrutiny of state and local police for at least a dozen years, according to an investigative file released Thursday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Investigators fielded complaints that Boulis was involved in bid-rigging on a big development in Hollywood, Fla., allowed illegal gambling in state waters aboard one of his casino boats, and threatened a woman who sold him a restaurant in 1988.

The FDLE files say Boulis was investigated by the Metro-Dade Police Department, the Hollywood Police Department and the FDLE. Broward County's organized crime unit collected information about Boulis as part of its review of the "cruise to nowhere" industry.

But none of the investigations led to criminal charges.

"A review of Boulis' background indicates that at the present time he has questionable business practices and has committed civil violations; however, no criminal activity was found," one report says.

FDLE investigators in 1997 researched the campaign contributions by Boulis -- dubbed "Mr. Miami Subs" in one document. Among the donations: $5,000 to the state Republican Party from a Boulis corporation. They also found some 16 active liens against Boulis, who made millions off the gambling ships and the Miami Subs chain.

The records released Thursday add yet another chapter to Boulis' tangles with law enforcement in recent years.

In 1998, Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth raided SunCruz operations over allegations that betting aboard the company's ships occurred illegally, while still in state waters.

A year later, the U.S. attorney forced Boulis to pay $1.5-million in fines, fully divest himself of SunCruz and never again participate in the "cruise to nowhere" gambling business that brought him so much notoriety and wealth.

In the latter case, Boulis is accused of flouting his settlement agreement with the U.S. attorney by retaining an interest in SunCruz after he sold the business last September.

So incensed was Assistant U.S. Attorney Teresa J. Davenport that she wrote in a Jan. 19 briefing: "The history of this case reflects that (Boulis') behavior has been blatant, deceptive and haughty."

In neighboring Hollywood, where Boulis had a deal to help develop the waterfront, city officials became nervous and recently began to back away from Boulis after revelations in the federal case and accusations that Boulis had attacked a business associate.

The FDLE documents were released to the St. Petersburg Times on the day that Fort Lauderdale police met with other law enforcement agencies, including FDLE and the U.S. Attorney's Office, to compare notes and coordinate the investigation.

"The only thing (the shooting) proves is that unregulated gambling brings in an element that is not necessarily consistent with law and order," said Myron H. Burnstein, special counsel to Butterworth in the attorney general's Fort Lauderdale office.

Reflecting on the state's efforts to clamp down on Boulis, Burnstein said the cruise to nowhere gambling concept "literally becomes a nuisance" with zoning problems, the use of state waters, the promise of easy money and the relatively lenient attitude of some local officials.

"The whole element . . . it's the same thing you had in the '20s during Prohibition," Burnstein said. "We (the state) feel like we're sort of a voice in the wilderness here."

No strangers to drug related murders and high-profile murders, South Floridians have nevertheless been struck by Boulis killing and the brazen manner in which it was carried out.

Shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday, as he drove his BMW home from work, he was hemmed in on a road near his office by a car traveling in front of him. A second car driving in the opposite direction stopped and fired into Boulis' car.

Boulis managed to drive several blocks before ramming into an oak tree near a Miami Subs restaurant.

His death ended a phenomenal success story for a Greek immigrant, born of a poor fishing family, who made an international name for himself in the restaurant, hotel and gambling businesses.

Dozens of people have phoned in tips that are being sorted by six detectives, said Fort Lauderdale Detective Michael Reed.

"A good case a lot of times is just a phone call away," he said. "It's just a matter of finding that one phone call that's going to break this open."

With so many potential leads and so many Boulis enemies, "it's a wide open investigation at this time."

Meanwhile Thursday, a crowd of roughly 400 people paid tribute to Boulis at a memorial service at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Hollywood.

The somber group included scores of hotel, casino and Miami Subs employees, some in their restaurant uniforms.

After the ceremony, the mother of Boulis' two youngest sons held 6-year-old Alexander up to the casket so the boy could kiss his father goodbye. Boulis' sister, Mersina, wept uncontrollably.

Boulis will be buried in his hometown of Kavala, a city in northern Greece on Sunday or Monday.

- Information from the Miami Herald was included in this report.

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