SunCruz deal began to sink-Buyers never paid owner (Abramoff, the mob)

[Robbien]

By SUSAN SCHMIDT and JAMES V. GRIMALDI

THE WASHINGTON POST

When the deal was done, Adam Kidan moved to Florida to run SunCruz, a fleet of casino ships he purchased with Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Abramoff and Kidan started paying themselves $500,000-a-year salaries. Kidan said that he found the ships were in disrepair and that there were overdue bills. He refused to make his loan payments to Boulis. Boulis was incensed. In October 2000, he wrote letters to Kidan demanding payment, threatening to tell the lenders and Abramoff that Kidan was reneging.

In the midst of the infighting with Boulis, Kidan decided to hire an old New York friend, Anthony Moscatiello, who was running a catering hall. Kidan made him a food-and-beverage consultant. Moscatiello has been described by law enforcement as an unofficial bookkeeper for New York City's Gambino crime family. He and Kidan first met about 1990 when Kidan was running a bagel business in the Hamptons. Moscatiello had been indicted on federal heroin-trafficking charges in 1983 along with Gene Gotti, brother of John Gotti, the boss of the Gambinos. Moscatiello was accused of trying to dissuade witnesses from testifying in the case. After Gotti and several others were convicted and sentenced to prison, charges against Moscatiello were dropped.

. . .

In early November 2000, Abramoff flew to Miami to meet with Boulis and Kidan "to try to mediate their differences for the good of the business," Abramoff's attorney said later. "Abramoff met alone with Boulis and his representatives. Boulis recounted Kidan's bad acts and at one point stated 'Kidan stole my company.' " Abramoff said later in court documents he learned for the first time at this meeting with Boulis that Kidan had not given Boulis the $23 million. "Abramoff was flabbergasted by this news," his attorney wrote. "He could not believe that it could be true, given Kidan's representations to Abramoff."

But Abramoff, along with Kidan, had signed sworn documents faxed to the closing in which he and Kidan attested that they had paid Boulis the $23 million. And in e-mails exchanged with Kidan and Wagner, Abramoff continued to support Kidan.

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