Cunanan Tipster Collects Reward

MIAMI: Fernando Carreira, the caretaker whose call led police to the houseboat where Andrew Cunanan killed himself, is collecting some of his reward after all, thanks to gay activists in New York and Florida. At a ceremony in Manhattan Monday, the Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project presented him with the $10,000 reward it had offered. As for the rest of the money that may or may not be on the table after all: In Miami, gay activists have collected more than 3,500 signatures on a petition demanding that city pay up on its promise of $45,000, though Police Chief Richard Barreto said his department wants to be sure that Carreira did not have any way of knowing that Cunanan was there before he reported seeing him. Paul Philip, the FBI's agent in charge in Miami, feels Carreira deserves his agency's $10,000 reward. New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is still holding back his $10,000 because Cunanan was not arrested or convicted, the usual condition of such rewards. Miami may be the next to pay up, given Monday's release of a highly unflattering 911 tape showing that local police were slow to respond to the Versace murder scene. -- Frank Pellegrini