MIAMI (AP) -- A trail of intrigue that has followed an ill-fated gambling boat deal, including a Mafia-style hit and lawsuits over alleged financial irregularities, has now ensnared a man House Majority Leader Tom DeLay once called one of his "dearest friends."

Jack Abramoff, once a powerful Washington lobbyist and major Republican fundraiser, was accused Thursday in a federal grand jury indictment with conspiring with a partner to defraud two lenders out of $60 million in the casino boat deal.

A few months after the September 2000 transaction, the man who was selling the SunCruz Casinos fleet, Greek-born Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, 51, was shot to death in his luxury car near his Fort Lauderdale office. Police described it as a gangland-style slaying that remains unsolved.

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