Now the boats have been wired with conventional land telephone lines.Īnd his captains no longer have to worry about whether the Southern Star's faux smokestacks will tilt sideways at the press of a button-a maneuver formerly used to slip the big boat underneath low bridges.

No more do the boats pile up $50,000 monthly cellular telephone charges. No longer does he have to watch the Weather Channel religiously. Gone are the tense calls from captains negotiating the river in howling storms. In some ways, dockside gambling has made Willits' life easier. We're trying to make the best of a bad situation.'

'To sit on a boat that doesn't go anywhere? I've done funner things. The City Council ultimately voted to repeal it.'I'm a boat guy,' Willits said. The ordinance allowed commercial operators to run games all week, overriding restrictions from county law. In 2003, the family was at the center of a fierce debate in Port Richey over a bingo ordinance, which cropped up after the Kolokithases opened a bingo hall. They fought over their right to use the SunCruz name in court with the company's new owners while at the same time breaking off the business relationship. The Kolokithases, who had leased SunCruz boats in exchange for sharing dock space in Tampa Bay with Boulis - ultimately splitting the profits - continued in the offshore gambling business undeterred. PANIC: Survivor recalls what happened when casino boat shuttle caught fire The sale later led to the imprisonment of Jack Abramoff, a former influential lobbyist and one of the buyers of SunCruz, who pleaded guilty to fraud. He sold the company for $147.5 million in 2000 in a deal that quickly grew contentious.īoulis, 51, was shot and killed by a hitman in 2001. ONE DEAD: Mother of two, 42, identified as casualty after Port Richey boat fireĪ spokeswoman for Tropical Breeze could not be reached Tuesday morning.Įarly on, the Kolokithases worked under the umbrella of SunCruz, run in the late 1990s by South Florida millionaire and Miami Subs founder Gus Boulis. PREVIOUS: Casino shuttle boat destroyed by fire as 50 passengers abandon ship in frigid Gulf

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