Herald.com | 08/18/2005 | SunCruz case big portal for homicide cops

BY FRED GRIMM

fgrimm@herald.com


As federal prosecutors hack their way through the tangle of lies, fraudulent documents, phantom finances and double-dealing shenanigans around the purchase of the SunCruz gambling empire, homicide cops are just a few steps behind.

Jack Abramoff and Adam Kidan were indicted by the feds in Fort Lauderdale last week on charges they faked a $23 million cash down payment in 2000 when they bought the Florida-based SunCruz casino fleet from Gus Boulis. And that they deceived the lenders in the $147.5 million deal with lies and fake documents and a wad of flash money to wow the bankers.

Not that Boulis was an unwitting victim in the transaction. More likely Gus never really intended to relinquish control of his 11-boat gambling empire but was intent on a little deception of his own.

The federal government was forcing Boulis to get out of the gambling fleet business. But poor Gus seemed to be having trouble letting go of his $30 million-a-year baby.

SEPTEMBER 2000 DEAL

The deal went down on Sept. 26, 2000. Boulis never got the $23 million cash specified in the loan documents. What Gus was supposed to get, instead of all that money, has never been quite clear.

Too bad the feds can't ask him. Just 133 days after the sale was closed, Boulis was permanently removed from SunCruz affairs.

On Feb. 6, 2001, as Boulis was driving away from his Fort Lauderdale office, he was murdered. Gus, at the wheel of his BMW, took three hollow-point bullets in the chest. It looked like a mob hit. But the identity of the killer and his clients have been among the details lost in the murk around SunCruz.

But the indictments of Abramoff and Kidan get federal prosecutors inside. The threat of prison terms and huge fines give them a vise to squeeze information out of the SunCruz.

FEDERAL TASK FORCE

Meanwhile, in Washington, another federal task force figure the pressure from the SunCruz indictments will yield evidence into an alleged influence-peddling scheme that may also implicate Abramoff and could even taint some powerful members of Congress.

The millions in this particular operation allegedly came from defrauding Indian tribes and their gambling operations.

Back in South Florida, the SunCruz case also has given Fort Lauderdale homicide detectives, still trying to solve the Boulis murder, a needed portal into the SunCruz deal. In the past, Abramoff, once one of the most influential lobbyists in Washington and was a close friend of power-broker U.S. Rep. Tom Delay, repeatedly brushed off detectives. Detective Mark Shotwell told The Herald's Wanda DeMarzo, ``We'd be all ready to meet with him on a particular day, and then something would come up . . .''

A SUDDEN CHANGE

After last week's indictment, Abramoff has suddenly indicated he might find time in his busy schedule to meet with the homicide cops. The big squeeze is on.

Right behind the federal investigators and the homicide cops, yet another entity needs to get a good look at the dealings of Florida's biggest casino boat operation. State legislators passed legislation enabling casino cruises to operate here utterly unfettered by background checks or financial qualifications. They need a good look at the mess they've allowed to fester here.

Casino boat operators have set up shop in Florida after getting chased out of other states by gambling regulators. We've welcomed operators who couldn't set foot inside a Vegas casino.

With a sensible state oversight, the SunCruz deal described in last week's federal indictment would never have happened. Kidan, with some shady connections, would have been kept out of Florida. Abramoff would have had to make do with ripping off Indian casinos.

Maybe Gus Boulis would still be alive.