Correspondent Troy Roberts of "48 Hours" talked to police about the twisted trail of evidence. In 2008, Ben Jr. answered an online ad placed by a porn actress named Rebecca Bliss, working at the time as a high-priced prostitute. "It was a horrific scene, very gruesome, very bloody. A year later, the alleged murder of Novack Jr.'s mother was thrown into the mix. At the time, even Ben Jr. felt something wasn't right, telling detectives that the glass of white wine on the table was suspect: his mother didn't drink white wine. Gangster Sam Giancana's daughter's wedding. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. But not on their own: Rye Brook police had obtained a confession from the killer who told them he had been hired to beat Bernice Novack with a monkey wrench. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Violent: Glatt says the marriage was volatile from the start with Narcy accusing him of having a fetish for naked amputees and Ben once called police claiming she had pistol-whipped him, article-2249691-168F0ECC000005DC-173_306x423.jpg, article-2162339-13B529E1000005DC-909_306x423.jpg. More than two months after his murder, Ben Novack Jr.'s body remained in the Westchester County morgue, prompting police to wonder why his widow was taking so long to have him buried. To keep creating She had previously been into Santeria South American black magic and in every storage facility we went to we found rabbits feet and voodoo things. She asked, did I know he was married. MIAMI Initially, the brutal killing of Ben Novack Jr., heir to the founder of Miami Beach's famed Fontainebleau Hotel, looked like the sordid story of a wealthy couple's sexually charged marriage gone very wrong. The bloodied bathroom in Bernice Novack's home in Fort / CBS News. Novack Jr. was found beaten to death in July 2009 in a suburban New York Hotel room. He also bought her a toy poodle, she said, and a new cellphone account so she could drop the escort number. Narcy is currently spending her life in prison in Brooklyn, New York, and has been since 2012. Beautiful & Twisted marks Rob Lowe's third Lifetime movie, but the first in which he plays the victim. Updated January 20, 2012 7:04 AM. Narcy, 56, was convicted last year of arranging the murders after discovering her husband of 28 years was having an affair with porn star Rebecca Bliss. I had no idea, that years later, it would probably become the biggest story of my career, or that it would become a book. More than five years after Bens death, the fight for his fortune still continues. Narcy Novack, left, and Ben Novack Jr. in an undated photo. After learning Novack was planning to divorce his wife and that she would have beenbarred from the Novack family's multimillion-dollar estate due to a prenuptial agreement police began investigating her possible involvement in the murder. was always close with Frank Sinatra (left). Part of TV News Archive. presented as evidence in the court 'Sinatra became a close family friend he was an uncle to Ben as he grew up and flew the family on his private jet to President Kennedys inauguration in 1960. From the moment that Ben Novack Jr. was found bludgeoned to death in a Rye Brook, N.Y. hotel room on July 12th, it was evident that the Fontainebleau Hotel heir had some pretty dark stuff in his past. The Sun-Sentinel reports that Novack had been attending the convention he planned for 1,200 Spanish-speaking people for Amway Global International. Photos taken by police show a large bruise where May claims she was hit with the crowbar. Ben Novack Jr. Rye Brook Police Department, via Associated Press. They had been sent an anonymous letter claiming that Bernice had indeed been murdered. Soffer owns 72% of the hotel and a sizeable chunk of Aventura Mall, plus stakes in the familys other hotel, office and residential properties in Florida; FORBES estimates his net worth at $1 billion. As police on both ends of the Eastern seaboard continue their investigation, the Rye Brook Police Department -- small, with just 28 officers -- has set up a Web site they hope will generate tips. Love, money, death, strippers. Bernice and Ben Novack Sr. owned the famous Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. She also indicated that her husband had enemies. Ben Novack Jr. had doubts about how his mother died, but he was killed before he could demand a more thorough inquiry. With Bliss waiting in the wings, the question was whether Ben Novack was about to leave his wife. Ben Novack Jr. was brutally beaten to death in his room at the Hilton Hotel in suburban Rye Brook, N.Y. Narcy Novack allegedly orchestrated the killings out of the fear that Ben Novack Jr. was . Do Men Still Wear Button Holes At Weddings? May showed up at the guest house a little after six. There are secrets that have never been able to fit into the hundreds of stories that made it into print. Novack's eyes. Alejandro Garcia's 210-month prison term was well under federal sentencing guidelines because he had cooperated with prosecutors almost from the moment of his arrest. On July 12, 2009, three months after Bernice's death, Ben Novack Jr., 53, Bernice's only child, and heir to the hotel fortune, was slain execution-style at the Rye Town Hilton hotel in Rye Brook . "Narcy always suspected Ben of cheating. There was a disagreement, according to the warrant, and "Narcy told investigators that she retrieved a 'bag' of cash and provided the money to her husband who in turn gave it to the unknown comic book collector who left the house with the cash. A cemetery posted a personal ad for a goose whose mate died. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The agent said that as far as he knew, no investigation was mounted. States Attorney?s Office, Wicked Games On July 12, 2009, Florida millionaire Ben Novack, Jr., was found bludgeoned to death at the Hilton Rye Town. Paradise Lost: Crime in Miami is a conversation between friends, both South Florida natives, about the notorious true crime cases that have occurred in their home state. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. Millionaires Row spans Collins Avenue in Miami Beach from 41st Street to 62nd Street. of beating, killing and gouging out Ben Novack Jr. is seen. Ben Novack Jr. was found bludgeoned to death last month in Room 453 of the Hilton Rye Brook Hotel in Rye Brook, N.Y., where he had organized a weekend convention for Amway, the direct-selling company. Each time the story was the same: Bernice Novack had fallen and died from head trauma. The victims . Her brother, Cristobal Veliz, is a co-defendant. Her husband Ben Novack Sr., who built the hotel and owned it until 1977, had died in 1985. It was just a complete mess,"said Sgt. Ben Novack was found dead and handcuffed in the Rye Town Hilton in New York. Police thought Novack murder was sex game gone wrong. Narcy Novack was convicted in White Plains of hiring the men who killed Ben Novack Jr., a millionaire, in Rye Brook, N.Y., and Bernice Novack in Florida in 2009. In 2009, Bernice Novack and her son, Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel heir Ben Novack Jr., were murdered three months apart. 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Please enter valid email address to continue. The victim, 53-year-old Ben Novack Jr., was a multi-millionaire Florida businessman. Months later, detectives were able to tie Narcy and her older brother along with two hired hitmen to Ben Novack's killing. An FBI agent testified that in December of 2008, Narcy Novack tried to implicate Bliss in an alleged sham-marriage plot by which foreigners would gain legal status in the U.S. mother. Crime News is your destination for true crime stories from around the world, breaking crime news, and information about Oxygen's original true crime shows and documentaries. On April 6, 2009, that charmed life came to a traumatic end. Abad also told the Herald that after the murder Narcy Novack "flunked" a polygraph test in New York five times. Dateline examines the murder of Ben Novack Jr. the wealthy heir to Miami's famous Fontainebleau Hotel. The wealthy heir to the Fountainebleau Miami Beach Hotel is brutally murdered and the investigation focuses on the victim's wife, a former stripper. It was an obituary for Bernice Novack, the 86-year-old family matriarch. On Monday, the woman, Narcy Novack, 54, went on trial in a White Plains, N.Y., courtroom on federal charges stemming from the July 2009 death of her 53-year-old husband, Ben Novack Jr. iTunes has an . Mother of foetus found on heathland is discovered safe and well after dog walker made grisly Rat pack: Ben Novack Jr. (right) grew up at the Fontainebleau and With each story I wrote questioning her death, Fort Lauderdale police became increasingly uncooperative. Fort Lauderdale Police Sgt. This private estate served as a great backdrop for Scarface filming. Home | About | Contact | Copyright | Report Content | Privacy | Cookie Policy | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap. Fontainebleau Hotel heir Ben Novack, Jr., tracing his gilded childhood at the sides of famous celebrities, his multi-million-dollar business deals and the savage killing that many, including Novack's daughter, believe was arranged by his wife. She maintained her innocence from the start ,even claiming that her grown up daughter from a previous relationship was responsible. In the hours after the murder of Ben Novack, detectives were talking to as many people as they could. Now May Abad, Narcys daughter, stands to inherit $150,000, and the rest of the fortune stands to go to her two sons. "The only one else that had access to that room was Narcy," Carpentier said. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! I met at least three times with Broward County Medical Examiner Joshua Perper. (Courtesy of United In some ways, his portrayal of Ben Novack Jr., the real-life . 2 men found drugged after leaving NYC gay bars were killed, medical examiner says. need your help for this. Thank you very much in advance. States Attorney?s Office, Southern District of New York), Garcia used a monkey wrench like this one Ben Novack Jr., whose father founded the lavish Miami Beach landmark frequented by President John F. Kennedy and Frank Sinatra, was found beaten to death in a suburban New York hotel in July. Three months later, Novack Jr. was found beaten to death in a hotel in Rye . CBS4 News obtained a video showing just how bad this mother-daughter relationship was in the days after the murder. But Karas said it was also important "to acknowledge Mr. Garcia's heinous criminal conduct. Later it would be learned that his killers had cut out his eyes. She moved out of the condo and lived in an ex-boyfriend's garage for a while before saving up enough money for a bus ticket to California. It was overwhelming. From the time he was a teenager, Ben Novack Jr. was obsessed with cops . Ben Novack Jr. found his mother sprawled in her utility room, face down on the floor, wearing a nightgown drenched in blood. Although she was in the condo for about a year, and spoke with Novack several times a day, she said she saw him only a few times and had sex with him maybe twice. Novack, 55, and Veliz, 59, were convicted in June of the brutal death of Ben Novack Jr., son of the founder of the famed Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. Security guards separate May from Narcy. The Spanish actress Paz Vega plays his wife, Narcy, who was sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating the murder. Bliss said in July 2009, her bills were no longer being paid because Ben Novack had been killed in New York. king ben and queen bernice lived in b a penthouse suite, then alg came their prince, ben novack jr. >> he was a spoiled kid, he was a brat. More than 1,000 employees from Amway Global International, his most prestigious client, squeezed into the 455-room hotel -- and all of them were potential suspects, including his wife, a former stripper he had been married to for almost 19 years. You can see Roberts' exclusive interview with Ben Novack's mistress, who police believe was part of the motive for murder, on Saturday night on "48 Hours" at 10 p.m. on CBS 2. Family Affair: With May Abad, Preet Bharara, Rebecca Bliss, Andrea Canning. However, Narcy Novack emphatically denied involvement in the murder. However, when something happened to him in a hotel in New York, an in. [1], On April 5, 2009, Ben's 87-year-old mother, Bernice (December 2, 1921 April 4, 2009), was found dead in her Fort Lauderdale, Florida garage.