Abramoff Cohort Says SunCruz Killer Is Dead

Abramoff Cohort Says SunCruz Killer Is Dead

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...901635_pf.html

Associated Press
Saturday, June 10, 2006; A11

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 9 -- A man who bought a gambling-boat operation with lobbyist Jack Abramoff in 2000 says he knows who gunned down the company's founder the following year, authorities said.

Adam Kidan told authorities last month that SunCruz Casinos founder Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis was killed by John Gurino, a man with mob connections who was later shot to death by a business partner, said Art Carbo, an investigator with the Broward County State Attorney's office.

Carbo said Gurino -- a supporter of late mob boss John Gotti -- had not been part of the investigation before Kidan's May 1 interview. "He came up with all of this information," Carbo said Friday.

Kidan and Abramoff had previously insisted, through their attorneys, that they knew nothing about Boulis's killing. Three other men are charged with murder in the case.

Kidan's attorney, Joseph Conway, confirmed that Kidan met with authorities but would not discuss what was said. He noted that Kidan's plea agreement to fraud charges stemming from the SunCruz purchase requires him to cooperate in state and federal investigations.

Abramoff's attorney in Miami, Neal Sonnett, said in an e-mail Friday that he had no comment "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's statement came during a detailed 2 1/2 -hour interview with police detectives and the lead prosecutor in the Boulis murder case, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, which first reported on the statement Friday.

Prosecutors said they would release the taped interview next week after it is edited to remove certain names and details.

Kidan and Abramoff were sentenced in March to nearly six years in prison for concocting a fake wire transfer to get funding for the purchase. Abramoff also pleaded guilty in a federal bribery investigation.