In Death--as in Life--Tycoon a Complicated Man

Alive, Gus Boulis seemed bigger than life. Driven to succeed, the onetime dishwasher from Greece grew rich while weaving a web of business and personal relationships that was often explosively complex.

Dead, the story of the controversial tycoon seems even more complicated. “The nature of his personality means that we’ve got to look into every scenario possible--business, love and money,” said Fort Lauderdale police Det. Michael Reed. “You either loved or hated him; there was no middle of the road with this guy.”

Boulis was killed, police say, in a gangland-style ambush. The millionaire developer had just left his office after a nighttime meeting Feb. 6 and apparently was heading toward his Hollywood home when a car slowed in front of his BMW sedan.

As Boulis came to a stop on a two-lane side street, a black Mustang heading in the opposite direction pulled up, and the driver opened fire with an automatic weapon. Boulis, 51, was hit at least four times in the upper torso, police said, and he died minutes after being rushed to a hospital.

A reward of $100,000--put up by his family, police said--was posted immediately for information leading to the arrest of his killer.

His friends expressed shock. But those who knew Boulis best also acknowledged that his aggressive manner did not endear him to all.

“In a hectic business world, it is easy to create enemies out of jealousy,” said Greg Karan, a Boulis friend of 30 years. “There was jealousy of Gus’ rapid growth and expansion.”

Nearly four weeks after the killing, police say they are still sifting through scores of telephone tips and tracking down dozens of leads. “We have no suspects but a lot of theories,” Reed said.

Those theories encompass Boulis’ business and private dealings. Under scrutiny for years by state and federal regulators, Boulis last year sold all but 10% of SunCruz Casinos to Washington, D.C., businessman Adam Kidan for $147 million.

In December, Kidan asked for a restraining order against Boulis, saying he feared for his life after Boulis allegedly attacked him with a pen during a meeting. “He’s truly trying to have me killed,” Kidan told the Miami Herald just four days before Boulis was gunned down.

In addition to being named in a welter of lawsuits over business deals, Boulis was embroiled in litigation with his estranged wife and his former mistress. Efrosini “Frances” Boulis, the mother of Boulis’ two older sons, in 1997 obtained a restraining order against him after he tried to evict her from her home in Kavala, Greece.

Margaret Hren, with whom Boulis has two sons here, got a restraining order in 1998 after she said that Boulis stalked and threatened her, according to police.

Both women, along with the holding firm controlled by Boulis, are now fighting over his estate.

Born in Kavala, Konstantinos “Gus” Boulis was a 19-year-old merchant marine when he jumped ship in Nova Scotia in 1968 and got a job as a dishwasher and sandwich maker at a Toronto sub shop. By the time he was in his early 20s, he had married Frances, whom he met in Canada, and had become a partner in the company that owned the sub shop.

With Boulis’ energetic leadership, the sub shop grew into a 200-outlet chain, according to Karan, also a Greek immigrant to Canada whom Boulis hired.

When Boulis cashed out of the sub chain in the mid-’70s, he was 25 and a millionaire. He moved to Key West, telling friends that he intended to retire. But he was not the retiring kind. He opened the prototype of what became Miami Subs in 1983, and the company went public in 1990.

When Boulis sold that chain in 1998 to Nathan’s Famous Inc. for $4.2 million, Miami Subs Corp. operated 150 restaurants in 12 states and three foreign countries.

By then, Boulis was busy in other fields: hotels, marinas, and most famously, SunCruz Casinos. Beginning in 1994 with one boat that operated from Key Largo, Boulis took the “cruise to nowhere” concept--taking gamblers out past the 3-mile limit where casino regulations did not apply--and expanded it. He soon had gambling boats leaving from Hollywood, Daytona Beach and Tampa.

The rapid growth of the largely unregulated business attracted attention, however, especially from prosecutors, who accused the company of flouting the law. After years of investigations and lawsuits, Boulis was charged with lying on his SunCruz license application, and later trying to hide his ownership of the company.

Last year, he agreed to pay $2 million in fines and sell his SunCruz interests.

At least two people witnessed Boulis’ slaying, and they have given police a partial description of the shooter, according to Reed. But the black Mustang has not been found.

“This man was involved with thousands of people in his past, and there is just so much information coming in,” Reed said. “We are looking at hundreds of people. But we have no prime suspects.”

Boulis never expressed fear for his life, his friends said. “Gus was fearless. He never sought protection or used bodyguards,” said Karan, who remains a SunCruz vice president. “He enjoyed life. He was always on the go, every day, full of enthusiasm. We’re all still asking, ‘Why? How could something like this happen?’ ”