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Politics : Bush Administration's Media Manipulation--MediaGate? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Dierks who wrote (5294)	9/28/2005 12:34:17 PM
From: Skywatcher	Respond to of 9838

GETTING CLOSER TO BUSH ALL THE TIME...and Tommy the Texan Three charged in hit on Florida millionaire By Jim Loney Tue Sep 27, 3:37 PM ET MIAMI (Reuters) - Police said on Tuesday they had arrested three men charged with the 2001 gangland-style murder of SunCruz Casino founder Gus Boulis, whose sale of the gambling ships led to the indictment last month of prominent Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The arrests came nearly seven weeks after Abramoff, a central figure in investigations involving House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and businessman Adam Kidan, were charged with fraud in the $147 million purchase of SunCruz from Boulis. Abramoff's lawyer said at a court hearing last month that his client knew nothing about Boulis' murder. Boulis, a multimillionaire Greek immigrant who founded the Miami Subs restaurant chain as well as SunCruz Casino, was shot to death in an ambush on a Fort Lauderdale street in February 2001, when his BMW was boxed in by two cars and a gunman pumped bullets from a semi-automatic weapon into the vehicle. Anthony Moscatiello, 67, Anthony Ferrari, 48, and James Fiorillo, 28, were charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, police said. Moscatiello and Ferrari were also charged with solicitation to commit murder. Moscatiello, who has been described in published reports as an associate of the Gambino crime family and mob boss John Gotti, was arrested on Monday at his home in Howard Beach, New York, police said. Ferrari was arrested in Miami Beach on Monday and Fiorillo in Palm Coast, Florida, on Tuesday. Authorities said Boulis made plenty of enemies as he built his Florida business empire, taking over a faltering string of taco shops and turning it into the Miami Subs chain. He also founded the SunCruz gambling business, a "cruise-to-nowhere" that took gamblers from Florida ports into international waters where the state's anti-gambling laws did not apply. The state tried unsuccessfully to shut down the gambling ships. Boulis was ultimately forced to sell the company. He reached a $147.5 million deal with Abramoff and Kidan in 2000, months before his murder. The deal soured and Boulis was embroiled in legal disputes with the new owners. Kidan once paid Moscatiello for SunCruz consulting work, according to published reports. Abramoff and Kidan were indicted by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale on August 11. The indictment alleges they defrauded specialty lenders Foothill Capital and Citadel Equity Fund Ltd. by pledging to invest $23 million in SunCruz in return for a $60 million loan. The charges said the two offered a fake wire transfer document as proof they had invested the money. Abramoff's legal troubles attracted attention because of his links to DeLay, the Texas Republican who has faced questions about his ties to lobbyists, foreign trips funded by outside groups, and the use of campaign funds.