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.