As the Mob Turns

Colombo underboss Benjamin Castellazzo, also known as Benji, or “the Claw,” did what any father who happened to be a mafia underboss would do for his son.  He used his power and position to get his son a job at the Union controlled Hudson News.  He had his cronies falsify work histories to get him a job.  This is a job that should have gone to a real hard working Union member.

The guy who Benji used to set up the job took a plea deal and was given no jail time, only probation.  Benji took a plea deal for some other crimes in 2013 and was given 63 month in prison. He claimed at the time time that he was living on $868 dollars a month in Social Security and food stamps.  He had a beautiful house before he was arrested and now he lives in a trailer park.  Benji was released from prison August 14th, so he will have at least a three year parole term.  He is 77 now, so that means he will be 80 before he can make any real moves on the street.  My question is how many moves can an 80 year old make on the streets?  This is what I've talked about in my past blogs.  What kind of life is that?

I've written about the case of Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, the man who founded the Miami Subs food franchise. A real rags-to-riches success story, where he started working for a submarine sandwich shop and worked his way to partner.  When he helped build it into over 200 shops, he retired to Florida.  He started Miami Subs and again that took off and that made even more money.  He started SunCruz Casinos, a fleet of gambling boats that left Florida for international waters where the passengers could gamble.  He had some trouble because he may have bought some of the boats while he was not a citizen.  He sold SunCruz to Jack Abramoff and Adam Kidan for $147.5 million. The whole deal was shady from the beginning because Gus kept a 10% silent partnership in the deal and accepted a 20 million dollar promissory note as a down payment.  

Jack Abramoff, a Washington insider, was behind the deal. He had two former college buddies front it for him.  Adam Kidan and Ben Waldman took over SunCruz and soon things went sour with Gus.  He claimed they committed fraud and worked with organized crime.  Kidan hired Anthony Moscatiello, aka Big Anthony, a reputed Gambino crime family member, to act as a consultant and supply beverages.  Big Anthony sold wine through a company so they paid them $145,000.  They also hired Anthony Ferrari, another associate to handle security for $95,000.

Gus was threatening to take this all away from them so they decided to murder him.

Gus was leaving his office in Fort Lauderdale when he was boxed in right off Federal Highway by two cars.  Another car pulled up and another man alleged to be John Gurino opened fire on Gus.  He died a few minutes later on Federal Highway.

It took until yesterday for them to convict Big Anthony of ordering the murder.  He now faces the death penalty.  He really does not have much to fear of being put to death by the state because he is 77 years old.  It takes decades to execute anyone today with the appeals process.

Anthony Ferrari was convicted, but spared the death penalty even though he was at the scene of the murder.

Another man, James Fiorillo, aka “Pudgy” will get 6 years for staking out Gus before the murder.  The shooter, John Gurino, had already tasted justice in 2003 when he was gunned down in a Deli Boca Raton Florida.  Who says that the life does not have consequences?

SunCruz Casinos

A Greek sailor, a Washington Lobbyist, A Mattress Salesman and a few Gambino Associates.  It sounds like a crazy low budget film, but its the real life cast of characters in today’s blog.

Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis was born in a small Greek fishing village where he never made it past the 6th grade. He studied to be a mechanic and then joined the Merchant Marines. He later jumped ship in Halifax, Canada.  Gus then made his way to Toronto where he found work as a dishwasher in a sandwich shop named Mr. Submarine. Within 5 years he was a partner and was given shares when they began

to franchise. At the age of 25 he headed to Miami to retire as a millionaire.

Gus wasn’t happy sitting idle in retirement.  Soon after moving he started Miami Subs and then started

developing commercial property. He was hugely successful and in 1994 he founded SunCruz Casino in Key West Florida.  SunCruz was a floating casino or a  “Cruise Ship to Nowhere” ship.  SunCruz ships were not old rust buckets.  They were opulent cruise ships with every luxury aboard.  They would cruise into international waters and then the gambling would begin.  They were a huge success until the Anti-Gambling Florida Attorney General started an invstigation.  Gus was forced to sell because he was not yet a US Citizen when he bought some of the ships. It was an obscure maritime law, but much like what our Government does to anyone sucessful, they used a loophole to put him out of business.

Gus was forced to sell and this is where things started to go bad. Adam Kidan used to own Dial-A-Mattress and some Bagel Bakeries.  He had attended Brooklyn Law School and he was very active in Republican Politics.  One of the people he met in school was Jack Abramoff, who would go on to become a bigtime Lobbyist in Washington DC.

They decided to purchase SunCruz Casinos from Gus for 147.5 million with a 23 million dollar down payment.  They didn’t have the down payment, so Gus carried the note.  They faked a wire transfer so they could get a loan from a bank for the remainder of the balance.

Enter Big Tony Moscatiello, a man once indicted with Gene Gotti and Angelo Ruggiero for helping them with their heroin organization.  Angelo's brother Sal was living as a fugitive when the private jet he was on crashed and killed all aboard.  Angelo immediately took charge of his brothers business and started hiding assets, and Big Tony helped him.  There was a mistrial and the Feds dropped the charges against Big Tony.

Adam Kidan was threatened by Gus after Gus began to realize how shady they were being.  Adam was afraid so he sought out Big Tony because of his Gambino Connections.  Big Tony was hired as a catering consultant by SunCruz and Adam Kidan soon issued checks of more than 245,000 to a company run by Big Tony's daughter.

Big Tony lived in Howard Beach, Queens and still has a home there. John Gurino Jr was another Howard Beach associate of the Gambino's with deep ties to the Gotti's.  John's cousin Anthony Gurino owned Arc Plumbing, the firm that John Gotti Sr worked for until his incarceration.  John Gurino Jr.’s father John Gurino Sr. owns Ragtime Newsstand Dairy a popular meeting places for the Gambinos. John Gurino Sr. most recently put his Deli as collateral for John Gotti Jr.’s bail.  John Gurino Jr. shot a man named John Vulcano in front of his girlfriend’s home.  While Volcano was on the way to the hospital, he identified John Gurino Jr. as the shooter, and then died. His girlfriend also identified John Gurino Jr. as the shooter.  John Gurino Jr. retained Bruce Cutler who was yet to shoot to fame as John Gotti Sr.’s lawyer. The girlfriend of Vulcano later recanted her statements and claimed that Volcano lied about who shot him.  As a result, John Gurino Jr. was acquitted of murder.  He soon moved to Florida where he continued his gangster ways.

On February 6, 2001 Gus left his office in Florida in a BMW.  Another car pulled in front of him and on a narrow road, it stopped.  A black Mustang pulled up alongside the BMW and a shooter fired a 380 Auto into Gus.  Gus was mortally wounded and his car continued on, striking a pole. The Police immediately suspected Adam Kidan, but he was not even in town.  After they went over the financial records of SunCruz Casinos, they started seeing the checks going to Big Tony.  There was also $10,000 in casino chips given to some other men.

Adam Kidan finally told the Police that Big Tony had Gus killed and the shooter was John Gurino Jr.  The theory is that Big Tony wanted the gravy train to continue and Gus would have stopped it by taking back control of SunCruz Casinos.  So Big Tony reached out for someone to put in work, and that is where John Gurino Jr. came into the picture.  John Gurino Jr. had bragged for years that he got away with murder before and he was recommended by another Gambino drug dealer. John Gurino Jr. will never face justice because he was killed by a deli owner in Florida who he was shylocking after he threatened the man while the man was armed.  Two other men have been convicted of taking part in the murder, but Big Tony still has yet to go to trial because of a mistrial in his first trial.  The whole truth may never come out but its a hell of a story!