The Betrayal of Ben Novack Jr

hey you and welcome my name is mike and in this whole video we're talking about a hotel in miami the fountain blue la font sorry about that but you know if you're going to give something a french name you best pronounce it correctly quite a storied hotel okay yeah that's a lie we're not actually gonna be talking about the hotel because that would be uh just weird for uh that chapter instead we're gonna talk about the family behind it and the just insane story of greed betrayal and most importantly batman memorabilia taking all the boxes with this one let's give it a go so uh let's start with a little background so we know what's what and who is who we'll begin with the family and what they were famous for big old hotel the fontainebleau hotel is located in miami beach florida a luxury hotel it opened in 1954 and it's pretty iconic it's the hotel that you know every time there's miami you see it it was the place to be and be seen the hotel was built and owned by ben novak a hotelier and son of russian immigrant parents ben had an adopted son with his first wife and in 1952 he married his second bernice stemple who would become bernice novak ben and bernice would have a son ben benji novak jr born in 1956 the novak family would lose the fontaine blue hotel in 1978 when it went bankrupt and will be taken over by another but the novak family would remain very rich indeed ben novak would die of hearts and lung failure in 1985 and he would be survived by bernice and ben jr survived for by about 25 years because in 2009 junior was found in a hotel in new york it was a horrific crime scene that was discovered in westchester new york state it was july 12th 2009. 53 year old ben benji as he was known was bound and gagged in a hotel room his eyes had been gouged out benji was a multi-millionaire a businessman that had started his own empire after the bankruptcy of the fontainebleau so coming to a horrific end like this was uh well yeah his legs and mouth had been bound with duct tape and it appeared that uh whoever did this well there was at least two whoever's the investigators deduced that he was lying in bed when whoever came in came into the room they beat him while he was asleep maybe waking up they duct taped him strangled him and then cut his eyes out i mean hopefully they strangled him before they cut his eyes out i don't like that at all benji novak was married to narcy novak they both resided in south florida and they were in new york for a convention so where was narcy you know at this time well she was the one who reported him dead to the police according to the police report she left the room they shared together at 7am went down to get some brekky bitter grub you know yourself and when she came back 40 minutes later he was face down on the bed covered in blood and bound there was expensive jewelry in the room and it was still in the room when the police arrived so you know not much of a robbery even though he was a multi-millionaire though like a gold bracelet that had been you know written in diamonds just in case ben forgets his own name that was gone so like kind of a robbery but not really more tonight on the millionaire murder mystery at the rye town hilton the victim ben novak jr spent his childhood surrounded by celebrities at another well-known hotel down in miami beach now just imagine for a second what it would be like to spend your childhood up in a penthouse here well ben novak jr didn't have to this was his reality no why would somebody want ben dead well a little bit about ben so ben benji his parents ben senior and bernice were the charming lovable owners of the fontainebleau back in the day they rubbed shoulders with the rich and powerful jfk frank sinatra elvis presley and they catered themselves you know among that group benji he wasn't so uh charming or likable really he was a loner he was uh kind of the spoiled let's be fair little [ __ ] and grew up to be a big one according to those that knew him he was not a nice guy he was tough ruthless unpleasant a bully he married narcy in 1991. narcy was a former exotic dancer and a single mother from narcy and benji would live the high life it was far from expensive jewelry and fast cars she was raised but she got used to that life pretty quickly now this is important to note so maybe you want to get pen benji loved batman he was mad about the bat eu is probably one of the biggest collectors of batman memorabilia in america maybe even the world with his number one possession being a replica of the 1960s batmobile the shittiest batmobile narcy would help benji with the business basically basically they set up conventions as did narcy's daughter may abad may was actually there in new york at the time too for the convention a convention which was attended by more than 1 000 people hindering the investigation into who burst into benji's room and killed him in such a horrific and torturous way [Music] so right narcy left the room at 7am is gone now and gets some grub comes back 40 minutes later and he's dead uh what but it seems that benji was alive when she left as front desk called benji's room at 6 54 a.m and they talked to him so it wasn't like she killed him and then left the police interviewed a guest who first encountered narcy after she found benji's body as he said she looked suspicious it was also weird right but the door to the room it wasn't like it had been you know yeah kicked in i mean the first thing the police had to find out was how did the killers get into benji's room the door wasn't kicked in they traced the key card history and it seemed that the key cards none of the key cards were used to that room since midnight 12 midnight till 7 40 uh the next morning when narcy came back into the room and discovered his body so the killers didn't have a key card to get access to the room it also looked like benji was asleep when he was killed so it's not like he let them in either narcy was then interviewed like that there won't be anymore [Music] something was not right and i sometimes told me that something was not something was not right by the way let me remind you this was the crime scene so yeah narcy well spotted very astute if i walked into a room like this i would also think something's not right only thing she could think of was maybe she didn't close the door fully when she left to go get breakfast i don't have anything to do with opening the door intentionally for anybody now benji loved batman who doesn't he also loved another bee bondage who doesn't that and benji was also um he was a fierce he was a fair cell man for the side chicks you know girlfriends having an affairs he was mad about that you know he was a party boy did narcy know you know he had his own rogues gallery she had her suspicions for sure and she was definitely the jealous type there was one time she confronted benji about him having girlfriend girlfriends she threatened to burn his house down and now benji denied denied denied and it went away now the fact that benji was tied up and he liked bondage that wasn't uh you know lost on investigators bit of a stretch though uh you know i'm not sure that's that's really bondage and being tied up behind your eyes ripped out it's really the same thing bit of a stretch that is found in a way that he enjoys sexually don't you think it's god he dies in a position that he finds sexually when i left then she was a hot tub you want me to straight out did you have any involvement in your husband's son no there is a next electrical chair and i'm a suspect give it to me right now pull me out of my misery i want to die [Music] but uh that wouldn't be the first time benji would be tied up and it having something to do with nursey see in 2002 seven years earlier benji was the victim of a home invasion and he was tied up for 25 hours he said it was orchestrated by narcy and about three to four hundred thousand dollars were stolen weirdly he never pressed charges and stayed married to narcy i mean he loved her but that's some bonkers style [ __ ] batman would not do that but this also wasn't lost on investigators and i don't think this part is a stretch at all i have no clue what happened i have nothing to do with my husband so what would a motive be the motive that it's it's always money it's always money and jealousy it's for batman what else see benji had a new woman rebecca bliss or also known as mona love well lads here with a name like that you probably know where to find her my name is mona love moana love and where you from i'm from beirut lebanon so what started out as a bit of fun with a porn actress turned into a serious relationship going on two years and so maybe benji was thinking of leaving narcy for rebecca narcy would not be too keen on that especially as benji and narcy had a prenup so if they did divorce she would only get 65 000 out of benji's you know multi-million dollar estate but here about something hey how about something happens to something happens to benji she might just get the whole thing including those batman toys when the police spoke with rebecca she told them narcy tried to buy her off for ten thousand dollars and she said that narcy told her if she couldn't have him no other woman was going to have him so regarding benji's murder some things were beginning to you know slide into place and they you know a why became pretty obvious it was the hell that wasn't a hell and really a who it didn't seem like it was narcy herself who had done this no not i mean it would it still wouldn't be the first time she would have done something similar like that though to her husband only this time instead of you know just tying him up and leaving him there for 25 hours she tied him up and took his eyes like that's just horrific ah and so the investigation digged deeper into the novak family though unfortunately there wasn't much deeper to go benji's mother bernice novak had tragically died three months earlier in april 2009 at her home in fort lauderdale she fell accidentally while getting out of her car not quite sure though how many accidental falls look like this bernice and narcy did not get along well while benji would call his mother every day narcy also did not get along well with her own daughter mayabad while benji he also got along really well with her may considered him like a father figure may after benji's death began to suspect her mother of being involved with it days after the murder in new york when back in florida mae and narcy actually got into a fight with narcy grabbing a krober thankfully some friends did arrive and broke it up before things got too serious but narcy still got a fair whack in on may so things were not looking good for narcy but i mean they didn't actually have enough to charge her with a crime and timelines and such it didn't seem like she had actually done anything but 10 days after benji's death the police got an anonymous letter written in spanish and it said that narcy did have something to do with benji's death and not just narcy also narcy's brother narcy's brother was christabal veliz a bus driver in philadelphia the police went to speak with him in philadelphia he denied did not deny chase that's don't know what you're on about no comprende you know what i mean but as they were speaking to him on the table they saw quite a lot of paperwork quite a lot of money transfers he left there just out in the open the detectives took a little you know scribble of uh some of the names he was sending money to one name in particular was alejandro garcia alejandro had been wired money by cristobal alejandro had only one eye and a criminal record and so police began to wonder if cristobal had paid him to murder benji novak maybe i mean a bit of a stretch but it's possible one thing would would clear that right up they it happened at a hotel hotels then have quite a lot of security cameras maybe they could match something up they did in fact two days before the murder cameras at the hotel in westchester show alejandro and another man casing the hotel scoping it out the other man was joel gonzalez both alejandro and joel were from south florida so over the next few months phones were tracked banks were tracked and investigators began to theorize that narcy was afraid benji would leave her for rebecca bliss therefore narcy would get nothing so narcy went to her brother cristobal cristobal hired alejandro and joel and then well that's that they drove from florida to new york and murdered benji novak as he slept four months after benji's death police brought in alejandro he denied for a bit joel also gave in pretty quickly and they told the exact story the police had suspected when joel and alejandro arrived in new york narcy novak identified her husband to them in advance by stroking his hair in a restaurant as they watched maybe something to remember there folks nursie had put the l foot in the door held it open for joel and alejandro to head in and do do the dirty work and not just that narcy was there when they did it she was watching them she was she was telling them how to kill benji the fact that his eyes were gouged out that was narcy's idea alejandro said cristobal promised him 15 000 and not only that also a good tip for the job yeah you know like uh like like they're at a restaurant well done alejandra you went you know above and beyond here's a little some extra for the wife and kids back home in july 2010 narcy and cristobal were arrested so after this the uh fall yeah the fall bernice novak had the time where she fell multiple times all over the house that was reinvestigated and wow who would have guessed that probably wasn't a fall kind of amazing that that was ruled an accident when her body was covered and i mean covered in fractures also a neighbor saw two men dressed in black casing bernice's home huh weird when investigators began making a deal with alejandro to testify against narcy and cristobal that is when he admitted they had also hired him to beat bernice to death with a wrench ten months after narcy and cristobal were arrested for benji's death they were also charged with bernice's murder marcy novak is already charged with having her millionaire husband killed at the rye town hilton here in westchester back in 2009. now investigators say just a few months earlier she arranged her mother-in-law's murder as well news 12's tim cassidy joins us now with the very latest on this new indictment just filed and suzanne it is a new twist in an already twisted case prosecutors believe that narcy novak had her husband and mother-in-law killed in an attempt to gain control of novak's multi-million dollar estate estimated to be between 5 and 10 million dollars now the only thing narcy may gain is more time behind bars narcy and chris the ball went on trial in new york in 2012. say they're looking to seek the death penalty for narcy novak and her brother in the millionaire murder case the two pled not guilty today to new charges that they were behind the murder of narcy's mother-in-law bernice novak she's looking forward to her day in court and narcy novak is going to get it in white plains federal court friday prosecutors announced they may now seek the death penalty for novak and her brother christabal veliz the pair is accused of murdering narcy's husband ben novak jr as well as his mother bernice novak just months earlier my client says he's never murdered anybody the lisa's attorney stephen lewis believes the government has no case though because it's based on the word of a killer they've obviously made a deal with somebody they now know by his own admission is the person who in fact killed ben novak and slit his eyes that makes no sense at all either this man is a liar or he is as dumb as a bag of hammers one or the other alejandro and joel testified against them during the trial it was revealed that narcy had a secret phone that she used at 6 39 on the 12th of july 2009 calling alejandro and joel to come to the room where she would let them in she then popped on down and very obviously tried to make sure that she would be seen by the hotel security cameras so she'd have an alibi look at her there just chilling like a villain in that very particular spot oh on camera didn't realize after testifying on day one of this trial former fort lauderdale police detective steve palazzo talked about a previous violent incident back in 2002 involving the married couple ben had been tied up and held hostage in his house and ultimately it was narcy who directed people to do that to him and of course she was there and involved in it as well the defense pled not guilty and mainly questioned the credibility of alejandro and jill who you know who had made a deal with the prosecution in fact the defense said no no no no no it wasn't narcy and cristobal who orchestrated benji and bernice's murder no you know who it was i'll tell you may of bat yeah chris the ball of prosecution narcy herself they all pointed the finger at her own daughter who i suppose as i said she did not really get along with yeah they said may about she organized the entire plot she wanted to get uh benji's money and his batman toys i mean we're worth a [ __ ] ton no joke this fell too shite when alejandro told the court that in fact may was actually next on his list his to-do list in fact when alejandro was arrested he already had a picture of mae in his pocket i guess he was gonna do what narcy couldn't do with a crowbar [Music] narcy and chris the ball were found guilty of benjies and bernice's murder life in prison without parole nine weeks 59 witnesses and 16 hours of deliberations later the jury of the millionaire murder trial have found narcie novak and her brother cristobal veliz guilty of orchestrating one of the most vicious murders in westchester county history as a result the former miami stripper will most likely lose the rights to her husband's 10 million dollar family estate the same estate jurors decided that the sibling defendants killed for not once but twice after learning ben novak jr was having an affair with this tattooed ex-porn star and that's the story of benji narcy and all of them on the uh you know bernice she was killed so that benji would get what she had and then benji was killed so that narcy would get what he had oh and by the way the anonymous letter that was sent to police you know that was written in spanish that tipped them off about you know crystal ball and narcy and that they had planned everything that letter was written by narcy and cristobal's sister another family member this story is just all about like messed up families it's also so horrific that narcy would be in the room as they tortured and murdered her husband seriously though makes sense why she would do it that batman stuff mucho de niros [Music] thank you so much for watching i really appreciate it i will see you as always real soon in the next one all right take care of yourselves mike out [Music]

Channel: That Chapter

Views: 1,521,496

Keywords: that chapter, ben novack jr, benji novack, narcy novack

Id: FIw5k2kPLf0

Length: 24min 27sec (1467 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 18 2020