BREAD and BULLETS

Book excerpt: BREAD and BULLETS is a "tell all" book of how a hard-working commercial baker turned his small, one delivery van operation into a multi-million dollar enterprise that served upscale restaurants, hotels and grocery chains up and down the East Coast of Florida only to have it crumble in a hail of bullets. When Rosario Liotta decided to expand his bakery and open a chain of delicatessens/cafes similar to Panera Bread, he caught the eye of Gurino, a man with underworld connections. Gurino decided he wanted a piece of the loaf. When Liotta refused, Gurino used verbal threats and, eventually, force in the form of a knife and a .38 caliber. Liotta defended himself with his own legally owned gun. Since this was two years before the Stand Your Ground laws went into effect, Liotta was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 15 years in prison. With the passage of time, the Broward County prosecutor learned the Gurino had been the hit man hired to murder Gus Boulis, the founder of Miami Subs and the SunCruz Casino Line. The Boulis murder was the longest running investigation in Florida history until it was solved in 2013. Boulis' killing had ties to the Bush Whitehouse through D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramhoff and his business partner, Adam Kidan, the founder of Dial-a-Mattress. From his days as a successful baker and businessman to standing in the spotlight for a crime he did not commit, Rosario Liotta never let his unjust conviction turn his easy disposition into a desire for revenge. This is the story of how one man's humble beginnings as a baker's son led to a road paved with Bread and Bullets.