Orlando Sentinel (Florida)


June 10, 2006 Saturday
FINAL


SECTION: LOCAL & STATE; FINAL; Pg. B5

LENGTH: 341 words

HEADLINE: Casino-case shooter now dead, man says

BYLINE: Jon Burstein and Sean Gardiner, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

BODY:


FORT LAUDERDALE -- A man killed three years ago in a Boca Raton deli was the shooter in the gangland-style hit of SunCruz Casino founder Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, a Boulis business rival told authorities.

In a taped interview, Adam Kidan changed his previous testimony and named John Gurino as the man who sprayed Boulis' BMW with bullets on Feb. 6, 2001, shortly after the self-made millionaire left his Fort Lauderdale office. Kidan said the plot to kill Boulis was orchestrated by two of the three men now awaiting trial for the murder.

Kidan made a statement May 1 to Fort Lauderdale homicide detectives and the lead prosecutor in the Boulis murder case. Anthony "Big Tony" Moscatiello, 68; Anthony "Little Tony" Ferrari, 49; and James "Pudgy" Fiorillo, 28, are charged with first-degree murder.

Kidan is cooperating with authorities after pleading guilty to bank fraud charges tied to the purchase of SunCruz from Boulis. Kidan and his former business partner, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, were sentenced in March to 70 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $21.7 million in restitution.

Abramoff's attorney in Miami, Neal Sonnett, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Friday that he had no comment on Kidan's statement "other than to repeat what I've said publicly before: that Mr. Abramoff has never had knowledge of any facts related to the Boulis case."

Kidan, a Long Island businessman, said he had no role in the murder plot, only learning details after the killing when Moscatiello, an alleged associate of late mob boss John Gotti, and Ferrari confided they were responsible for it.

At the time of Boulis' slaying, Kidan had been locked in a contentious fight with Boulis over the Dania Beach-based gambling ship fleet.

It's unclear how Kidan will figure in the high-profile murder case, or whether prosecutors will call him as a witness.

Kidan previously had denied knowing anything about Boulis' slaying when police interviewed him a month after the slaying.



CONTACT: The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is a Tribune Publishing newspaper

LOAD-DATE: June 10, 2006