The Abramoff scandal takes a twist for the deadly

[BurtWorm]

Remember that Abramoff has friends all over the administration and (especially the GOP side of) Congress.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/27/AR2005092700980.html?nav=rss_politics

Arrests Made in Case Connected to Abramoff

Three Men Allegedly Killed 'Gus' Boulis, Who Sold A Casino Cruise Line to the Embattled Washington Lobbyist

By James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 27, 2005; 2:18 PM

Fort Lauderdale police have arrested three men on murder and conspiracy charges in the 2001 gangland-style killing of a South Florida businessman who sold a casino cruise line to Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, authorities said today.

Police picked up Anthony Moscatiello, 67, Anthony Ferrari, 48, and James Fiorillo, 28, last night and this morning in connection with the ambush slaying of Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, who was killed in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 6, 2001.

Boulis had sold SunCruz Casinos to Abramoff and a partner, Adam Kidan, in 2000 at a time when Abramoff was one of Washington's most powerful lobbyists. Abramoff and Kidan were indicted last month on charges of wire fraud in connection with the purchase of the company. Moscatiello, known to police as a bookkeeper to New York's Gambino crime family, was brought in as consultant by Kidan when he and Abramoff took control of SunCruz. Ferrari is a business associate of Moscatiello.

...


Five years ago, Abramoff, Kidan and former Reagan administration official Ben Waldman of Springfield, purchased SunCruz from Boulis, 51, the millionaire founder of the popular Miami Subs sandwich shop chain. Abramoff and Kidan have been friends since their days together as College Republicans in Washington. Kidan, of New York City, owned the Dial-a-Mattress chain in the District until the franchise went into bankruptcy in the 1990s.

...

[raysr]

1. They killed Paul Wellstone

and Mel Carahan, probably more.

[gpandas]

15. and william casey n/t

[0007]

....and Cliff Baxter

[FeloniousMonk]

35. I agree, but...

I agree that Carnahan and Wellstone were murdered, but why do you accuse these people -- I assume you mean Fiorillo, Boulis, Kidan, Moscatiello, etc.?

[KittyWampus]

2. Burtworm, this is like a bad spy/plitical intrigue novel

[Raster]

4. We don't call it the bush* family evil empire for nothing.

[BurtWorm]

6. I always used to make fun of wingers during the Clinton era

for weaving conspiracy theories that were like bad airport newsstand novels. But this isn't a conspiracy. This is real! Whether or not Abramoff was involved with the killing may be up in the air, but this is his business partner. He's slime, and so is anyone who did him favors--apparently, half of the Republicans in DC!

[KittyWampus]

22. it's as if the Right was projecting their own corruption onto Clinton

[speedoo]

3. Worst kept secret in South Florida...

was that this was a mob hit.

No longer a secret at all, but the link to Abramoff might be a surprise to my pals down there.

[Bushwick Bill]

5. Don't forget the potential Atta tie-in

I remember reading something that Atta and a few others were on the casino boats like a week before 9/11. I'd bet my ass that Sibel Edmonds could bring a lot of this together.

[FreedomAngel82]

11. I think so too

I've always said the thing to remember is EVERYTHING has a purpose and goes back to the SAME person.

[JackBeck]

16. Here's a link you might be looking for, buddy

[bostonbabs]

26. thaaaaank you! n/t

[dutchdemocrat]

Madcow Prod. did in June already.

SNIP

Less than a week before the 9.11 attack, Atta and several other hijackers were aboard one of Abramoff’s casino boats. What no one seems able to answer is this:

What possible thrill could gambling offer men getting ready to die in less than a week? To this date, their Sept 5 visit to a gambling vessel overrun with retirees remains unexplained.

The gambling motif in the terrorist’s timeline doesn’t end there. The hijackers had no apparent reason to visit Las Vegas... so why did they?

On June 28 at Boston’s Logan Airport, Mohamed Atta boarded a United Airlines flight and flew first class nonstop to San Francisco. He bypassed the bohemian North Beach district, and didn’t take the cruise to Alcatraz…

Atta headed for Vegas.

On Aug. 10, Hani Hanjour and Nawaf Alhazmi used first-class tickets for a United flight from Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles International Airport, then on to Las Vegas. The story of the terrorists Las Vegas connection may never be known, admitted the Las Vegas FBI.

SNIP

http://www.madcowprod.com/06202005.html

[dutchdemocrat]

18. Madcow Prod. did in June already.

SNIP

Less than a week before the 9.11 attack, Atta and several other hijackers were aboard one of Abramoff’s casino boats. What no one seems able to answer is this:

What possible thrill could gambling offer men getting ready to die in less than a week? To this date, their Sept 5 visit to a gambling vessel overrun with retirees remains unexplained.

The gambling motif in the terrorist’s timeline doesn’t end there. The hijackers had no apparent reason to visit Las Vegas... so why did they?

On June 28 at Boston’s Logan Airport, Mohamed Atta boarded a United Airlines flight and flew first class nonstop to San Francisco. He bypassed the bohemian North Beach district, and didn’t take the cruise to Alcatraz…

Atta headed for Vegas.

On Aug. 10, Hani Hanjour and Nawaf Alhazmi used first-class tickets for a United flight from Dulles Airport near Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles International Airport, then on to Las Vegas. The story of the terrorists Las Vegas connection may never be known, admitted the Las Vegas FBI.

SNIP

http://www.madcowprod.com/06202005.html

[robertpaulsen]

36. Here's more on the Abramoff/Atta connection:

Thanks to seemslikeadream for showing me the link:

Abramoff and Able danger: Why Atta's face was covered before 9/11 and Able danger dismantl

snip

Abramoff: Abramoff's ties to Saudi money and possibly terror money (Al Qaeda, Hamas)
A terrorist leader on trial, Sami Al-Arian, visited White House 2 months before 9/11 (5) Guess who got Al-Arian into the WH ? Grover Norquist and Jack Abramoff. More on Al Arian:


Al Arian is a Palestinian-American computer engineer and university professor (USF) who was arrested in 2005 for his involvement in the funding of terrorists. Richard A. Clarke said the following about Al Arian in his 2003 testimony to the Senate Banking: From his home and office in Tampa Florida, Sami al-Arian, the indicted North American leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, allegedly coordinated the movement of fund(s) from the government of Iran to suicide bombers in West Bank and Gaza.... (5)

Al-Arian invited to a White House briefing given by Bush aide Karl Rove in June 2001 -- against the advice of the Secret Service -- honored with a front-row seat (5). But this isn't the only tie to terrorism that Abramoff has. In fact the ties are so numerous it makes you dizzy. I got dizzy just listing a dozen of them in my diary mentioned above (5). But this tie of Abramoff to terror money deserves highlighting, as it will be relevant later on:

THE BRAD BLOG: "Atta's Big Gamble. Plus: Jack Abramoff's Link To A Mysterious Saudi -- And Perhaps To Al Qaeda"
The Mysteries of 9/11 Run Deep

...As Kate Camborat the TPM Cafe notes, Abramoff did PR work for a Saudi billionaire named Saleh Abdullah Kamel, chairman of the General Council for Islamic Banks. Kamel sure needed a good PR person. According to a number of published accounts.. he has another good buddy -- a fellow named Osama Bin Laden... Kamel is also the chairman of Dallah al Baraka Group (DBG), which is suspected of having ties to al Qaeda and other extremist groups, and he was also the co-founder and large shareholder of Al Shamal Bank in Sudan, Osama bin Laden's bank of choice from 1983 onward. He was listed as being one of the seven "main individual sponsors of terrorism" in this report by French researcher Jean-Charles Brisard submitted to the UN Security Council in December 2002. (You might remember that Omar al-Bayoumi, who befriended and provided money to two of the 9/11 hijackers, was once an assistant to the Director of Finance for Dallah Avco, a DBG company that works with the Saudi aviation authority. And the WSJ has reported that the United States believes the Dallah al-Baraka Bank, another DBG company, was also used by al-Qaeda.)

Kamel's name also appeared in the "Golden Chain," a roster seized by Bosnian authorities in Sarajevo in March 2002 listing Saudi donors to bin Laden and his associates; and he was named as a defendant in two Sept. 11th related lawsuits.. One of Kamel's companies, Dallah Avco, made extensive payments (according to a Los Angeles Ties story) to al-Bayoumi, the Saudi who paid rent for the 9/11 hijackers lodging in San Diego


Abramoff: Is he a Republican bag man and chief money launderer of a GOP slush fund ?
This just in from Daily Kos: Josh Marshall Broke the Abramoff Scandal Code..(6):


On paper, Jack Abramoff was a lobbyist. And he made a great deal of money for himself. But if you think of Jack Abramoff as just a crooked lobbyist most of the facts coming out about what he did don't make a great deal of sense. He was a key player in a very big political machine and he was managing a slush fund.

Look at the pattern: Notice how all Abramoff's clients seemed to get 'bilked' out of large sums of money that ended up going to other conservative foundations, consulting firms, Ralph Reed, lobby shops, Grover Norquist, astroturf organizers, politicians, etc.? All of them part of Washington's Republican infrastructure?

more...

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/9/27/41028/0006

[robertpaulsen]

37. Kick

:kick:

[Dr.Phool]

7. The mob is getting sloppy

Abramoff got indicted, and he's probably singing like a canary. A few years back, if there was even a hint that a guy like Abramoff would be indicted, he'd be whacked in a heartbeat. Look for a lot more indictments to come down the pike.

[LiberalinNC]

9. I hope he sings - sings the names of dirty repugs!

:evilgrin:

[FreedomAngel82]

12. I think there is a good chance he will

These people don't go down a lone. If one goes they all will and eventually it will catch up with Bush/Cheney and the rest of the administration. I'm sure they want their revenge on Bush.

[angryxyouth]

28. What about the Presidential pardon wildcard.

2 years in prison for a boatload of money and a pardon? I'm not holding my breath for much singing

[MADem]

31. I think he has already done his warmups, his scales, and is

...getting ready to burst into full song, if he hasn't already.

Step back, Pavarotti, Jackie is in the HOUSE....

[BurtWorm]

10. I hadn't thought of that angle.

I still have the Ashcroft connection (reported in the Times fresh in my head, and your theory and that connection don't work. I was assuming Abramoff and Kidan are corrupt in various degrees. Abramoff likes courting the powerful and getting them to pull strings for him, while Kidan seems like a common sort of thug. But this is based only on the news that has gotten filtered down to me through the media.

[Burried News]

8. Fear rules Washington. The only question is how far back does

it go. My view is 1968 - the Robert Kennedy assassination.

[FreedomAngel82]

13. Or even with his brother

I think it goes with John personally. He was definitley a threat to them too. They both were.

[MADem]

33. Or even further????

http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/George_H.W._Bush_JFK_assassination_letter

The document
At 1:45 p.m. Mr. George H.W. Bush, President of the Zapata Off-shore Drilling Company, Houston, Texas, residence 5525 Briar, Houston, (a "reputable businessman") telephonically furnished the following information to writer by long distance telephone call from Tyler, Texas.(which is only about an hour's drive from Dallas, TX)

BUSH stated that he wanted to be kept confidential but wanted to furnish hearsay that he recalled hearing in recent weeks, the day and source unknown. He stated that one JAMES PARROTT has been talking of killing the President when he comes to Houston.

BUSH stated that PARROTT is possibly a student at the University of Houston and is active in political matters in the area. He stated that he felt Mrs. FAWLEY, telephone number SU 2-5239, or ARLENE SMITH, telephone number JA 9-9194 of the Harris County Republican Party Headquarters would be able to furnish additional information regarding the identity of PARROTT.

BUSH stated that he was proceeding to Dallas, Texas, would remain in the Sheraton-Dallas Hotel and return to his residence on 11-23-63. His office telephone number is CA 2-0395.

[myrna minx]

14. Good gravy, I don't even know how to wrap my mind

around all of this crime.

[starroute]

17. Here are some more details on the murder

This first article is from a couple of years ago, while Abramoff was still riding high:

http://www.bizforward.com/wdc/issues/2002-11/government/abramoff

For all his recent success, Abramoff has also suffered high-profile setbacks. Chief among them was involvement with troubled SunCruz Casinos, which operates riverboat casinos in Florida.

Abramoff and Adam Kidan, a longtime acquaintance and former owner of Washington’s Dial-A-Mattress, joined with Ben Waldman, a White House aide for former President Reagan, to buy a 90 percent stake in SunCruz from Konstantinos “Gus” Boulis for $147.5 million in September 2000. Ninety million dollars of that would come from Boulis, a Greek immigrant who was being forced by the federal government to sell his share because he was not a U.S. citizen. Foreigners are not allowed to own majority stakes in U.S. commercial ships. Abramoff was responsible for 40 percent of the purchase.

SunCruz operates 11 cruise boats working out of Florida and South Carolina that offer gambling for day-trippers. Abramoff and his two partners hoped to make a fortune by building up SunCruz and taking the company public. In the meantime, he was earning $500,000 annually as a director of the firm and SunCruz had hired Greenberg Traurig to do lobbying on its behalf. But the SunCruz deal quickly soured. Kidan and Boulis had a falling out, and the two filed a number of lawsuits against one another over alleged violations of the sale agreement. Kidan charged that Boulis threatened to have him killed.

But on February 6, 2001, as Boulis was driving home from his office in Ft. Lauderdale, his car was forced off the road and he was shot four times. His killers have never been found. In June 2001, SunCruz declared bankruptcy. Questions have been raised about Kidan’s ties to reputed organized crime figures, and he was disbarred in New York in 2000. Abramoff, who was out of the country with Kidan when Boulis was murdered, says he walked away from the SunCruz deal making money, although he is still cautious about talking about the experience due to ongoing litigation.

What's left out of this account is the extent to which the entire deal was fraudulent from the start:

http://www.huntingtonnews.net/state/050812-kinchen-abramoff.html

According to court records, this is how the SunCruz loan went awry:

The two lenders agreed to put up $60 million in financing, as long as the business partners guaranteed the loans and invested $23 million of their own money. Also, Boulis agreed to accept promissory notes from Kidan and Abramoff the balance of the sale and keep a 10 percent interest in SunCruz. But at the September 2000 closing in New York, the lenders allege that Kidan and Abramoff -- as well as SunCruz representatives -- hoodwinked them into believing that the partners had transferred their $23 million to Boulis.

When the lenders demanded proof, both Kidan and SunCruz partner Ben Waldman each sent a Foothill executive faxed copies of a "wire transfer" record that purportedly documented the $23 million transfer on the last day of the closing. The notification, dated Sept. 22, 2000, stated that $23 million had been sent "by order of Adam Kidan: from his Chevy Chase Savings Bank to Boulis' Ocean Bank.

Foothill alleged the document was a fraud -- that Kidan's account had already been closed before the purported transfer. Abramoff, in a counter claim, said Kidan had lied to him about the transfer and that he wasn't not present at the closing. In the separate civil suit, Foothill and Citadel dropped Abramoff as a defendant in the suit in June. Waldman agreed to pay $450,000 to settle. The lenders are still seeking to recover millions of dollars from Kidan.

[kimpossible]

19. At last!

I've been waiting for this since August.

If Abramoff wasn't singing about DeLay before, this will sure put the pressure on him.

[connecticut yankee]

20. I'll bet

he'll get off, as they all do.

This administration and its cronies is full of crooks and liars, and nothing seems to stick to them.

[Dr.Phool]

21. Shrub will get writers cramp

From signing all the pardons for people who can rat him out.

[ClintonTyree]

27. And I wonder how much media coverage.........

all of those pardons will get? Remember the hue and cry about some of Clinton's pardons? We never heard much about Poppy's pardons either, did we? All of Poppy's hit-men and henchmen, pardoned and not too much ink about it either. Wonder why? :shrug:

[demo dutch]

23. Florida knew it was a Mafia connection

[DoYouEverWonder]

24. Some of Abramoff's 'friends'

Nice looking bunch of crooks.

[demo dutch]

25. Mafia tie in with Goti

[SOS]

29. Well-paid friends!

"Within months of the killing of Mr. Boulis, who was known as Gus, Mr. Kidan publicly acknowledged having made payments of almost $250,000 to Mr. Moscatiello and Mr. Ferrari, saying they were legitimate business expenses."

NYT - 9/28/05

[1932]

30. NPR was all over Lula and the Brazilian Worker's Party this morning.

You'd think they might want to remove that log in the eye they have looking at the US.

[norml]

32. Jeb Bush - Shocking 'Coin Gate' Crimes and Murder

Jeb Bush - Shocking 'Coin Gate' Crimes and Murder
Published on 02 July 2005 | Source: TNC Staff Reporter FL

Florida Investigator Who Got Too Close to Florida "Coin Gate" Silenced by Jeb Bush's Gangsters

Story Unfolding

Room 132 at the Knight's Inn in Valdosta, Georgia. Florida Department of Transportation Investigator Ray Lemme had the goods on the Bushes. He paid with his life.



Lemme was anxious to meet his contact, driving a beeline direct route from Tallahassee using I-10, Rt. 221, and US 85, to Exit 16 intersection of I-75 and US 85 (Knights Inn, 2110 West Hill Ave., Valdosta, Georgia). The Knights Inn is fairly remote from I-75, surrounded by empty lots and woods with few potential witnesses in the vicinity.

Wayne Madsen

FLORIDA PANHANDLE, June 10, 2005 -- Experienced federal investigators, acting independently, have discovered a covert funding channel used by the 2000 and 2004 Bush-Cheney campaigns and the administrations of Jeb Bush in Florida and Bob Taft in Ohio to illegally funnel foreign and other questionable money into Republican coffers.

Ever since the brutal death of Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) investigator Ray Lemme in July 2003, the focus of investigators in Florida and Georgia has been on the political scandal Lemme was uncovering. After his official investigation of contract fraud, money laundering, illegal immigration, and election fraud was shut down on orders of Jeb Bush, Lemme continued to investigate the use of FDOT to launder cash for the Bush Brothers and their allies. Lemme's focus was on the use of the Florida turnpike system to launder cash for the Jeb and George W. Bush campaigns. It was an investigation that would ultimately lead to Lemme's body being discovered in a motel room bathtub in Valdosta, Georgia. A two-state police cover up of Lemme's death, threats directed at Florida and Georgia investigators, and a virtual media blackout indicates that the GOP administrations of Jeb Bush and Georgia's Sonny Perdue wanted the Lemme story to go away -- and fast.

The reason for the cover-up of Lemme's reported "suicide" is simple. Investigators have now discovered that foreign cash, including Chinese, Saudi, and Nigerian money, was laundered via the biggest state-run cash cow in Florida -- the Florida Turnpike system. Because most of the transactions involving Florida's toll roads involve cash and huge amounts of it, it was easy for foreign and other questionable money to be laundered via FDOT.


snip


http://www.newcriminologist.co.uk/news.asp?id=1185989364

[CornField]

34. Still waiting for Ralph Reed ...

Along with everyone else getting their just rewards, I can think of no person who better deserves a swift kick in the buttocks and a drag through self-inflicted mud. The way he has used good Christian people for his own gain (monetary and political) is obscene.