Tue, Aug 28, 2001 page19

• US immigrant businessman gunned down

  • AP
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  When Gus Boulis stowed away on a Greek freighter to Canada more than 30 years ago, he had no money, spoke almost no English and knew no one in North America.

  Before he was shot dead by apparent hit men near his Fort Lauderdale office last month, Boulis had founded a fast-food chain, owned a string of floating casinos and built a South Florida business empire that included restaurants, hotels and real estate.

  The benefactor of Greek charities in Florida, he was known for helping out friends by supplying jobs, money and even fast-food franchises, which he would sell with no down payment. Hundreds attended his funeral.

  "He was one of the few who have lived the true American dream," said Dimitris Karavokiris, a Fort Lauderdale gas station owner and longtime friend. "He started with nothing and through hard work and an eye for business, he became a success. But he had the same friends he had 25 years ago when he had nothing. He was an excellent human being."

  The hard-nosed businessman also had many enemies. Several lawsuits claimed he bullied opponents, and a former partner accusing him of assault and threats. Another said Boulis conspired to steal his share of the casino boat company.

  There were nasty court fights with his estranged wife and his former girlfriend, both of whom were seeking a portion of his empire.

  On Feb. 6, a car blocked Boulis' BMW as he drove home on an isolated road, and a gunman shot Boulis, 51, several times. Fort Lauderdale police say the killing looks like a professional hit.

  "This wasn't road rage. This wasn't an attempted carjacking. This was about shooting Boulis," Detective Mike Reed said. "Somebody wanted Mr Boulis dead."

  To determine who that was, Florida and federal investigators are examining the life Boulis built since arriving in South Florida in 1979.

  "His life was the kind they make movies out of," said Bruce Zimet, one of his attorneys. "His story was truly rags to riches."

  Born Konstantinos Boulis in Kavala, Greece, in 1949, he dreamed of North America. He joined the merchant marine at 16, and in 1968 bolted when a ship he'd hidden aboard docked in Nova Scotia, Canada.

  He headed to Toronto, where he got a job at a Mr Submarine sandwich shop even though the only English words he knew were "yesterday" and "I love you."

  While other workers goofed off, Boulis memorized the menu and mastered every task. Impressed by his hard work, Mr Submarine's owners soon gave Boulis his own store to run.

  He helped expand the company to 180 stores and was given 27 percent of the corporation.

  "His whole life he worked 22 hours a day," Karavokiris said. "I would ask him when he would sleep. He said he didn't need sleep."

  In 1971 Boulis married Frances, a Canadian of Greek heritage, and they had two sons. In 1977, Mr Submarine was sold and Boulis took his money and family back to Greece.

  But a year later, Boulis left his family in Greece and headed to the Florida Keys, where the weather reminded him of the Mediterranean. He told friends that he left Greece because of grief over his brother's death in a work accident.

  In the early 1980s, he opened a Mr Submarine in Key West in Florida. He also met Margaret Hren, who became his girlfriend and, according to her attorney, his business partner. The lawyer said the two lived together from 1980 until 1995 and Hren bore him two sons, but they never wed -- Boulis was still married to his first wife.

  "He was a 31-year-old man in love with an 18-year-old girl," said Peter Ticktin, Hren's attorney. He said Hren became the day-to-day manager of Boulis' businesses, while Boulis was the innovator and salesman.

  "She's as responsible for the growth, the business, maybe more," Ticktin said.

  In 1990, Boulis began a new company called Miami Subs, which became famous for brightly painted stores and a menu including Greek food and champagne. When he sold the chain in 1998, it had grown to 192 restaurants in 16 states. He got US$4.2 million for his share.

  He began the floating casino company SunCruz in 1994 after taking some business associates on a casino boat. SunCruz eventually grew to 12 boats, including one in South Carolina, and employed 1,200 workers.

  These "cruises to nowhere" head to international waters, where gamblers can play games illegal in Florida -- including black jack, roulette and craps.

  But the cruises brought controversy, too. People who lived near SunCruz docks complained about rowdy crowds. They also said Boulis' crews were careless, banging their ships into others docked nearby and not reporting the accidents.

  Despite his business empire, Boulis kept a relatively low profile. He could often be found at a Miami Subs restaurant at 3am helping the night crew clean up or on one of his boats pounding in a loose nail. He attended business meetings in khaki pants, wrinkled shirts and shoes with no socks.

  But some of the things Boulis did caught the attention of Florida and federal law enforcement.

  In 1998, Florida investigators raided Boulis' boats and seized his gambling equipment, saying employees had taken bets before reaching international waters. Three days later, a judge overturned the seizure order, and Boulis complained he'd been the victim of politics.

  Investigators kept looking into Boulis' activities, however, and in 1999 the federal government charged him with falsely claiming US citizenship on a Coast Guard permit for his SunCruz boats. As part of a settlement, he paid US$2 million in fines and, secretly, agreed to sell SunCruz.

  That secrecy led some to speculate Boulis was a government informant against others in the gambling industry, leading to his slaying. But his attorney, Bruce Zimet, said the secrecy was necessary so Boulis could get a fair price for SunCruz, and court documents support that view.

  "There are some people who are gung-ho to be a government informant -- Gus was not that kind of a person," Zimet said.

  Last September, Boulis sold 90 percent of SunCruz for US$147.5 million to a partnership headed by Adam Kidan, a Washington, DC, lawyer and businessman. But the deal quickly went sour, and Boulis accused Kidan of bouncing US$5 million in checks and defaulting on US$20 million in promissory notes.

  Kidan, in turn, obtained a restraining order against Boulis, claiming Boulis beat, kicked and threatened to kill him. It was at least the second time Boulis had been slapped with a restraining order -- Hren got one after their breakup, saying he beat, stalked and threatened her.

  DeWayne Williams, who owned part of South Carolina-based SunCruz ship, also sued Boulis last year, claiming Williams did not get his share when SunCruz was sold to Kidan.

  At the time of his death, Boulis was in court battling his wife and his ex-girlfriend. Frances Boulis was suing for divorce and a portion of his empire; Hren wanted what she considers her rightful share of Boulis' fortune.

  Ticktin, Hren's lawyer, expects it will take between 18 months and seven years to resolve the Boulis estate and said some have joked that the case will employ so many attorneys that it should be called the "Lawyers' Relief Fund."
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