A South Florida jury returned a guilty verdict Wednesday in the trial of purported mobster Anthony "Big Tony" Moscatiello, accused of ordering the 2001 slaying of a prominent businessman.
The jury had resumed talks for a third day Wednesday before finding Moscatiello guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy.
Moscatiello's wife fainted after the verdict was read.
The 77-year-old Moscatiello faces the death penalty in the killing by a mob hit man of Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis during a dispute over control of the SunCruz Casinos fleet of gambling ships. Sentencing was set for Sept. 16.
A mistrial was declared for Moscatiello in 2013 because his attorney became ill. Anthony "Little Tony" Ferrari, who handled South Florida matters for Moscatiello, was convicted previously and sentenced to life in prison.
Prosecutors said Moscatiello was a member of New York's Gambino crime family when he issued the fateful order for a hit. Moscatiello did not testify in his own defense, but his lawyers insisted Ferrari and others were to blame for the Feb. 6, 2001, slaying.
At the time, Boulis, 51, was trying to retake control of SunCruz after selling it to businessman Adam Kidan and his partner, former Washington powerhouse lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Kidan paid Moscatiello and Ferrari thousands of dollars a month to handle security and other issues _ including, prosecutors said, the use of Moscatiello's alleged mob ties for protection.
Local
"He's the person everybody answers to," Assistant State Attorney Gregg Rossman said in a closing argument. "It all leads right back to him."
Key evidence included phone calls from Ferrari to Moscatiello, who was in New York, shortly after Boulis was fatally shot by a gunman who pulled up next to his car as he left his office. Other organized crime figures and a former Ferrari associate testified that Moscatiello approached them initially about getting rid of Boulis before hiring hit man John "J.J." Gurino to do the deed.
Gurino was slain in an unrelated 2003 dispute with a Boca Raton delicatessen owner.
Moscatiello attorney Kenneth Malnik told jurors the evidence pointed more toward Kidan, who had several clashes with Boulis, and Ferrari employee James "Pudgy" Fiorillo, who admitted to conducting surveillance of Boulis and disposing of the murder weapon in Miami's Biscayne Bay.
"Who has more motive in this case? It's hands down Adam Kidan," Malnik said.
Kidan, who previously ran the Dial-A-Mattress chain, has never been charged in the Boulis case and testified in both trials. Fiorillo pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy and will likely be sentenced to the six-plus years he already served in exchange for his testimony. He has denied being the shooter.
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 and was not implicated 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.
