Does anyone know the depth of the Gambino or other LCN families presence in South Florida. I came across this article today, I apologize if it has already been posted I'm new on here.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/october-retrial-big-tony-boulis-killing-22264550

J Coppola

The Gambinos seem to have the most presence there. At least they have had the most cases there in recent years. All 5 NY families operate there to some extent.

But none of them make a move without checking in with Louie B first. Right, Ivy?

Well it is his territory, after all.

One down and one to go. I found it interesting that Jack Abramoff was involved. You guys hear anything new about the Gambinos involvement with that infamous strip club on Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale?

Anthony 'Little Tony' Ferrari Guilty Of Murder In Florida Slaying

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Anthony "Little Tony" Ferrari was convicted Friday of first-degree murder and murder conspiracy in the 2001 gangland-style slaying of a well-known South Florida businessman in a case that featured professional hit men, a bitter fight over lucrative casino gambling ships and a corrupt Washington lobbyist.

The jury returned the verdict after just over seven hours of deliberation in the death penalty case. They had been sequestered since testimony began Sept. 30.

Ferrari, 56, was accused along with Anthony "Big Tony" Moscatiello of orchestrating the slaying of former SunCruz Casinos owner Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis. Trial testimony showed that Boulis, 51, was fatally shot by a mob hit man Feb. 6, 2001, after the car he was driving was blocked in by another vehicle on a Fort Lauderdale street.

Jurors will return Dec. 16 for the penalty phase of the trial. Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes is not bound by the jury's recommendation on the death penalty but must give it great legal weight.

Ferrari showed no reaction when the verdict was read. Some members of the Boulis family broke down in tears as the long-running case neared its end.

The murder occurred during an increasingly acrimonious dispute over SunCruz, which Boulis had sold a few months earlier to businessman Adam Kidan and his partner, once-powerhouse lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Boulis had kept a 10 percent stake in the lucrative 11-ship fleet and wanted to regain control.

Kidan testified he contacted Moscatiello, whom he said was a member of New York's Gambino crime family, for protection and for his mob connections. Ferrari, witnesses said, was Moscatiello's main operative in South Florida and even claimed to be related to the infamous Gambino "Teflon Don," John Gotti.

Both Ferrari and Moscatiello had well-paying SunCruz contracts with Kidan in charge, arrangements that Assistant State Attorney Brian Cavanagh said they were willing to kill Boulis to keep.

"This is a case about greed. Muscling in to get their piece of the pie," Cavanagh said in a closing argument. "It's also about no regard for human life."

Moscatiello, 75, is also charged with murder but got a mistrial when his attorney became ill. Prosecutors said they will retry Moscatiello at a later date. A third defendant, James "Pudgy" Fiorillo, pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy charges and testified against both Ferrari and Moscatiello. He will likely be sentenced to the six years he has already spent in jail.

The cast of witnesses included convicted felons, admitted mob enforcers and professional killers. One of them, Peter "Bud" Zuccaro, is in the witness protection program after turning on his Gambino confederates; he testified under the false name "Nick DiMaggio." Zuccaro said he had committed numerous violent acts over a long mob career and that Moscatiello had offered him $100,000 to kill Boulis, which he refused.

The actual Boulis hit man, John "J.J." Gurino, was later shot and killed in a dispute with a Boca Raton deli owner. Before that, witnesses said he had bragged about being the "SunCruz Kid" and that he had gotten "the work" from Moscatiello.

Ferrari's attorney, Christopher Grillo, urged jurors to consider the checkered pasts of many witnesses and what they had to gain by testifying for the state, such as reduced prison terms.

"The state wants you to believe a bunch of drug dealers, killers and thieves," Grillo told jurors.

But Cavanagh had a ready reply: "Plots hatched in hell don't have angels for witnesses."

Ferrari testified in his own defense — against Grillo's advice — and claimed that Fiorillo had confessed to Boulis' murder and that Kidan was the one behind the plot. Fiorillo testified that his main role was surveillance and getting rid of the murder weapon, and Kidan said Ferrari and Moscatiello confessed the plot to him.

Kidan and Abramoff both did federal prison time after pleading guilty to fraud in the $147.5 million purchase of SunCruz from Boulis. Abramoff, who did not testify in the Boulis case, was the main figure in a separate Washington influence-peddling case that resulted in charges against 21 people on corruption charges.

SunCruz went bankrupt in the wake of the slaying of Boulis, a Greek immigrant who worked his way up from dishwasher to founding the successful Miami Subs restaurant chain.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/25/anthony-little-tony-ferrari_n_4164803.html

This is from last year. Ferrari got life instead of the death penalty.

Moscatiello retrial is going to be in october, odds are he will also wind up getting a life sentence.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/28/oct...la-businessman/

Thanks PB and Dellacroce.

Gurino is the guy the two Tony's hired to take out the casino owner. Interesting that he was also involved in another hit that brought Cutler into the picture.

Boca Victim Had Ties To Mob, Gotti


October 30, 2003|By Robert Eckhart Staff Writer and Staff Writer Neil Santaniello and Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report


The man shot and killed in a deli west of Boca Raton on Tuesday was acquitted in the murder trial that launched mob defense attorney Bruce Cutler's career, and once led a riot at a Brooklyn federal courthouse in support of mafia boss John Gotti.

Detectives won't say whether they suspect organized crime was a factor in the Tuesday morning shooting of John Gurino, 48. He was killed at Corner Deli about 10:15 a.m., before the deli had opened for business. Without providing details, investigators say the shooter, deli owner Ralph Liotta, fired in self-defense.


Gurino was charged with murder in a 1984 mob killing in Queens, N.Y., according to a 1998 New York Times article. His father owned a Howard Beach deli frequented by Gotti's crew, the Times story said.

Gurino's acquittal helped persuade Gotti, longtime head of the Gambino crime family, to make Cutler his top lawyer, the Times said.

Case records were sealed after the acquittal, said the district attorney's office. Sheriff's spokeswoman Diane Carhart confirmed that Gurino had been charged with murder.

The day Gotti was sentenced to life in prison, June 23, 1992, Gurino was one of three men who led a crowd of 1,000 Gotti supporters in a riot at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn.

The crowd tore apart police barricades and threw pieces at the police, egged on by Gotti associates who used bullhorns, according to Newsday reporters who witnessed the riot.

People spilled out of tour buses that pulled up to the courthouse, carrying American flags and chanting, "Justice for John."

Seven people were arrested. Gurino was one of three charged with felonies for leading the crowd.

Witnesses said Gurino shouted, "Let's free John. Let's get John outta here," as members of the crowd attempted to storm the courthouse. Also arrested on felony rioting charges that day was Gotti's nephew, Joseph Gotti. He was acquitted, the prosecutor in the case said Wednesday.

Gurino pleaded guilty to a felony riot charge and was sentenced to probation, the Queens district attorney's office said.

Five years later, Gurino's father used the $2.6 million Howard Beach deli as collateral to help pay the bail for Gotti's son, according to an October 1998 New York Times article. More than 30 people chipped in to pay a $10 million bail bond so the younger Gotti could be home with his family while he was on trial, the Times said. The elder Gotti died of cancer in a federal prison medical facility in June 2002.

Gurino, who split time between Howard Beach and Boca Raton for several years, settled in a gated subdivision west of Boca Raton in 2000.

He filed for bankruptcy in 2002, claiming he had lost $29,000 in one year of gambling and was paying his bills with "assistance" from his father and brother, about $3,600 a month, court records show. Debtors claimed he owed them a total of $146,000.

Sheriff's detectives wouldn't describe Liotta's business relationship with Gurino. Liotta was ordered by a Broward County judge to pay $710,000 after a restaurant deal folded last year, court records show. Liotta, who lives west of Delray Beach, was sued by TGI Friday, according to records.


Gurino and Liotta met at the deli at 7158 Beracasa Way about 10 a.m. Tuesday, investigators said. Three other men were in the deli during the meeting but fled after the shooting, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Liotta feared for his life and pulled a gun, shooting Gurino several times, said sheriff's spokeswoman Diane Carhart, who would not release information about specific threats. Gurino died in the deli's doorway, his body lying amid chunks of broken glass.

Detectives questioned Liotta Tuesday for several hours, then let him go. The Sheriff's Office says there is evidence to back up Liotta's claim that the shooting was self-defense, but the investigation continues.

Several of Gurino's family members declined to comment, as did Liotta's attorney.

"I am stunned by this whole thing," said Paul Hugo, one of Liotta's former business partners. "He's the nicest guy in the world, Ralph. He has a great personality. Electric. He's a funny guy. He's kind of liked by everybody.

Deli owner who shot suspected mob hit man to remain in jail


Bid to reduce Ralph Liotta's sentence hits snag, judge abruptly cuts short hearing


November 26, 2013|By Brett Clarkson, Sun Sentinel


WEST PALM BEACH – Family and friends of a West Boca deli owner who killed a suspected mob hit man and then testified last month in a high-profile murder trial, gathered Tuesday afternoon to see if he would be coming home from prison after 10 years.

Ralph Liotta, 56, wasn't going to be a free man just yet.

After a judge stopped just short of blasting the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office for not taking a position on whether Liotta's sentence should be reduced, she said the hearing had no basis to continue. She then dismissed everyone, sending Liotta's loved ones home amid tears and confusion.


Outside court, attorneys said they didn't yet know what their next move will be. Family members didn't want to talk.

Since Liotta shot and killed John Gurino on Oct. 28, 2003, the plot in the case has substantially thickened.

When Liotta came face to face with Gurino at Liotta's West Boca deli that day, Gurino was "trying to shake down Liotta" through extortion, Broward County prosecutor Brian Cavanagh testified Tuesday before the hearing was cut short.

But Gurino wouldn't make it out the deli's door. Liotta shot him dead and was convicted of manslaughter in 2005, despite a claim of self-defense.

In 2006, Cavanagh said, investigators got word that Gurino was more than just a suspected John Gotti associate who happened to die at the West Boca deli. They were hearing that Gurino had been the hired hit man in the notorious 2001 gangland slaying of Miami Subs founder Konstantinos 'Gus' Boulis, he said.

This was part of the evidence heard in last month's trial, which resulted in the conviction of one of three men charged in Boulis' murder, Cavanagh said.

Liotta testified as a state witness in the case, Cavanagh said.

It was this help that Liotta's attorney Douglas Duncan cited in his motion calling for the court to reduce Liotta's 12-year sentence to time served.

Under Florida law, state attorneys can ask for convicts' sentences to be reduced if they help in the arrest or conviction of criminal suspects.

But while the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office also filed its own motion asking the court to hold an evidentiary hearing on the matter, it said it neither supported nor opposed a sentence reduction. Assistant State Attorney Andrew Slater said he was only in favor of an evidentiary hearing.

This is where the whole effort hit a snag with Judge Sandra McSorley, who said the State Attorney's Office needed to take a clear stance on the request to shave time off Liotta's sentence.

"For the State Attorney's Office, the chief law enforcement officer of this county, (to) come in here and ask the court to make a determination when the assistant state attorney refuses to take a position is really a reflection of a lack — frankly I'm going to withdraw what I was about to say," McSorley said.

If he spends the entirety of his remaining sentence in jail, Liotta will be out in just over a year, Duncan said.

Staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.