by John Glatt
“He’s my husband,” Narcy replied. “Oh, he’s in the house.”
Fernandez explained that they now needed to update the safe-deposit records, as they were now out of date. “So I said to her, ‘I need you to upgrade them. When do you think you can bring Ben into the store?’”
Narcy replied she had to run some errands first, but she would bring her husband in that afternoon, for the necessary paperwork. Fernandez said she would appreciate that, so Ben could approve her being substituted in the safe-deposit box records for Bernice.
After Narcy left with the backpack and the shopping bag, Fernandez asked her assistant, Keisha Hall, to place a sign in the Novack deposit boxes that they were not to be accessed until the records had been updated.
Unlike her boss, Hall had read the stories about Ben Novack Jr.’s murder and wanted no part of it. “Oh, no, I’m not touching it,” Hall told Fernandez. “He’s dead. It was all over the news.”
Fernandez then went online and Googled “Ben Novack Jr.” and learned all about his savage death and its lurid aftermath.
“[I read] that he was killed in New York,” she later testified. “He was found in a hotel [and] Narcy was getting investigated for his murder. And that’s when I freak. I said, ‘Lock it up! Nobody accesses those boxes until you hear from me.’”
Then she alerted her boss, the bank’s legal department, and the personnel department.
* * *
At 10:45 A.M. on Thursday, August 27, a probate hearing was held at the Broward County Courthouse to determine how to proceed with the difficult Ben Novack Jr. estate. Although Narcy Novack did not attend, she was represented by her criminal defense attorneys Howard Tanner and Robert Trachman, and her probate lawyer, Henry Zippay Jr. May Abad was represented by her team of lawyers, Stephen McDonald and William Crawford. The Ben Novack Jr. estate was represented by its recently appointed curator, Douglas Hoffman, and his law partner, Gary Rudolf.
The high-profile case was now attracting a lot of national media attention, and in the press gallery were a news crew from NBC News, a producer from Dateline NBC, and a Sun-Sentinel reporter and photographer.
“Don’t put that camera on me,” Judge Dale Ross snapped at the start of the eighty-five-minute hearing. “Don’t you dare do that.”
Gary Rudolf began by telling the judge that the most pressing matter was to get Ben Novack Jr. a proper burial, as his body was still in the morgue forty-six days after his murder.
“That [is] the first priority,” said Rudolf, “and we have taken that very seriously. We have tried to follow the dictates of Mr. Novack.”
Rudolf explained that Narcy had previously informed them that she no longer wanted to follow her late husband’s burial instructions and be buried by his side.
“However, this morning,” Rudolf told Judge Ross, “I was told by counsel for Narcy, just prior to entering the courtroom, that she has changed her mind regarding that issue and wants to now have us adhere to the terms of the will and … buy side-to-side plots.”
Rudolf said the Novack-Spier family was refusing to sell two plots in the mausoleum, as these were being reserved for three other family members. However, there was a community mausoleum next to the Novack/Spier one, where they could purchase a tandem plot, where Ben Jr., and eventually Narcy, could be buried one on top of the other.
He estimated that it would cost approximately $25,000 for the upper and lower plots and burial expenses, including $500 for the services of a rabbi.
“It is Miss Novack’s position,” Zippay told the judge, “that the terms and the provision of the will be followed.”
Then Rudolph said that Narcy, as next of kin, would have to sign off on the burial arrangements. There was also the question of whether there would be a graveside service.
“I have spoken with Mrs. Novack,” said her criminal attorney Howard Tanner, “and she wants a private service.”
The estate curator, Douglas Hoffman, agreed to make arrangements for the funeral, which Narcy Novack had already indicated she would not be attending.
Then he told the judge that there were problems administering Bernice Novack’s estate, as she had appointed her late son as her personal representative.
“The Estate of Bernice Novack will flow into the Estate of Ben Novack,” said Hoffman. “In the interest of economy it has been discussed … that I be placed in the position of successor personal representative to finish … administration of Bernice’s Estate.”
McDonald said Maxine Fiel had also expressed an interest in doing so. “She is the only surviving blood relative of Ben Novack Jr.,” he said.”I will be candid with the court … she has expressed an interest in becoming representative of both estates.”
Judge Ross said it would be more economical to have a personal representative in Florida, and Fiel lived in New York, so he appointed Hoffman to be interim personal representative for both estates.
Gary Rudolf then moved on to the assets of the Ben Novack Jr. estate, describing them as “complex and unique.” To give the judge some idea of the difficulties, he handed him a pile of photographs showing the inside clutter of the Novack house, with Batman and other collectibles stacked to the ceiling.
“As you can see there is a tremendous amount of Batman and other memorabilia in the home,” said Rudolf. “There are also other substantial assets in what’s called the museum room, where … there are numerous Batman items. Cluttered is fairly accurate.”
“My gosh,” said the judge in amazement, looking at the photographs.
“[We] have the original Batmobile which Mr. Novack had made from the original mold from the movie,” said Rudolf.
He also showed the court photographs of the yacht White Lightning and a party barge, which he described as “more or less homemade.”
Rudolf told the judge that he had concerns about protecting the estate assets.
“There were at least three safes in the home,” he said. “All three safes have been emptied and we have no knowledge concerning the whereabouts or the contents of those safes. We have asked and been told that nobody knows.”
Yesterday, he told the judge, when he had visited the six warehouses housing Ben Novack Jr.’s enormous Batman collection, he learned that Narcy had already emptied out four of them.
“There are a smattering of some little items that might have some value,” he said, “but all the other items have been taken by Narcy Novack. The present whereabouts are unknown. The problem … at this point in time is to try and collect and then safeguard all these assets.”
Then Narcy’s attorney Henry Zippay stood up and pointed out that the curator had failed to identify what property his client had co-owned with her late husband.
Judge Ross said that could be done later, but in the meantime he wanted to stop anything further being removed from the house or the warehouses.
“I appreciate that, Judge,” said Zippay, “Just the selective application that everything belongs to the deceased, and for twenty-some years of marriage that she has nothing, is an assumption that should not be portrayed.”
Rudolf said it was vital to safeguard the remaining assets immediately.
“These items could easily disappear,” he told the judge. “We have not even located the comic book collection yet that we understand is quite valuable.”
The judge was then told that Narcy Novack still resided at 2501 Del Mar Place, which she was fully entitled to do. However, she had informed the curator that she could not afford to maintain the house. Since her husband’s murder, she hadn’t kept up the monthly payments on the $750,000 mortgage, or paid the electric bill. She had asked for a monetary advance, but this was complicated by the fact that this wasn’t a probate issue.
“I’m concerned about … the house being foreclosed on,” said Hoffman.
The judge deferred making a decision until a later date.
Gary Rudolf then moved on to the future of Convention Concepts Unlimited, which still owed debts for the Rye Bro
ok convention and three others.
“There are people that are due monies,” said Rudolf. “There is a $770,000 American Express bill for outstanding business as well.”
“I didn’t know you could get a limit that high,” said Judge Ross.
“He’s got a black card,” Rudolf explained.
The lawyer told the judge that Convention Concepts Unlimited had basically been “a one man operation,” with his employees Narcy, May Abad, and Matthew Briggs.
“Prior to her death, Bernice Novack was also an employee,” he added. “Other employees were hired as needed for those events. For the most part, Mr. Novack handled his own finances.”
He said that the curator had come to the conclusion that although it was still a “very lucrative” company, Novack Enterprises should be liquidated, as the other employees refused to work with Narcy.
“Matthew Briggs, who was involved in the financial end,” Rudolf explained, “will not work for the company if Narcy Novack is involved. We’re told May Abad will not work for the company if Narcy Novack is involved. If the court directs us to employ Narcy Novack, we feel that we are going to be unable to manage the company because of the lack of those other two key employees at this time.”
Henry Zippay pointed out that his client had worked for twenty years with her late husband in the business. “[She was] operating the business,” he said. “Not part time, not anything. She was an intricate part of his business, and it’s her desire that the business continue. And, fine, if these other people don’t want to work in the business, don’t let them work in the business. She could run the business just as easily.”
Judge Ross said he was inclined to give Narcy the opportunity to “run with the ball” and see if she could make a go of it. “Why not let her take the darn thing,” he said.
Rudolf replied that there were other reasons why the employees refused to work with Narcy. “Both of them are deathly afraid to work in this business right now,” he told the judge without elaborating.
“It’s her business,” the judge said. “It’s going to be her business … until something else happens. That something could happen, but you know until that does happen and if these folks are going to actually quit, well, I guess that’s their choice.”
Then Rudolf suggested that, as estate curator, his partner, Douglas Hoffman, take over running Novack Enterprises himself. “Mr. Hoffman then makes the decision as to who he is going to employ,” he said, “and [we will] sit down and interview Narcy and find out if she has the capability.”
The judge said he did not want to harm the business, especially if Narcy were to end up with it eventually. “I want to preserve the business,” he said, “if it’s preservable.”
May Abad’s lawyer Stephen McDonald told the judge that others involved in the upcoming conventions also had problems with Narcy. “They won’t work with her,” he said. “Flat out won’t work with her. At the end of that convention in New York, Mrs. Novack took some $95,000 and deposited [it] into an account in her own name. That was business money. Now, that concerns me.”
Rudolf said he had written to Narcy’s probate attorneys demanding the return of those funds to the business.
Finally, the judge agreed that Doug Hoffman be elected to the board of directors for Novack Enterprises, and decide whether to wind the business up or not.
“And if these folks want to object,” the judge said, “you’re going to have to come in here fast and object to that. Okay.”
Outside the court, Howard Tanner gave an impromptu press conference to reporters. “She had nothing to do with her husband’s death,” he said. “Narcy feels horrible about these baseless, uncorroborated allegations. She will be exonerated.”
* * *
At 2:00 P.M. on Monday, August 31, Cristobal Veliz telephoned senior investigator Edward Murphy in New York, saying he had discovered who had killed Ben Novack Jr. He said he had overheard Francisco Picado arranging to give money to the killer, Alejandro Garcia, at a Miami gas station at 7:30 the very next morning.
“He said he was at his sister Narcy’s house in Fort Lauderdale,” Murphy said of Veliz. “And it would be good if we went down to Florida to see them at the gas station.”
The investigator asked for details about Garcia, and where he could be found.
“[Cristobal] told me he was a tall, dark Hispanic,” Murphy said. “He stated he did not know how to get in touch with him.”
As soon as he got off the phone, Murphy rounded up Detectives Terence Wilson, Alison Carpentier, and Mike LaRotunda, and they all flew down to Miami that night.
At 6:45 on Tuesday morning, the detectives set up surveillance units at various vantage points around the gas station, on the corner of Forty-Second Street and Twenty-Seventh Avenue in downtown Miami. The New York investigators had called in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to assist them.
Shortly after 8:00 A.M., Alejandro Garcia appeared on a bicycle wearing a T-shirt and sunglasses and carrying a dark backpack. As the investigators in unmarked police cars moved in, Garcia, who had come to collect another $100 for marijuana to plant in May Abad’s truck, pedaled into an alleyway behind the gas station and disappeared.
The alley was too narrow for the police cars, so they backtracked to see if Garcia would emerge from the other side, but he never did.
“We searched a four- to five-block area,” said Detective LaRotunda, “and gave a description of the subject to four or five other police cars. It was apparent that he had been riding around looking for somebody.”
After giving up on finding Garcia, Investigator Murphy drove to 2501 Del Mar Place in Fort Lauderdale looking for Cristobal Veliz. A security guard at the front door said neither Narcy nor her brother were home.
* * *
The previous day, Maxine Fiel had asked the Broward County Probate Court to appoint her the executrix of her nephew’s estate. May Abad’s attorneys had now persuaded Fiel to work with them, to prevent Narcy Novack from inheriting her husband’s estate, under the Florida “Killer Statute.”
“The surviving spouse is a person of interest,” their petition noted, “in an ongoing investigation of the murder of the Decedent in the State of New York and elsewhere. Under Florida’s so-called ‘Killer’ statute, NARCY NOVACK may be determined to have ‘killed’ the decedent.”
Under the Killer Statute, someone who murders or causes the murder of the decedent cannot benefit from that crime in any way. The estate is then administered as if the killer had died first.
“Accordingly,” the petition read, “the surviving spouse, NARCY NOVACK, may not ultimately inherit under the decedent’s last will and testament even if she is never adjudicated guilty of murder in any degree in any court of law.”
The petition also observed that if Ben Jr.’s widow were disqualified under the Killer Statute, the estate would then pass to her grandsons, Patrick and Marchelo Gaffney.
“May Abad is the natural guardian of these children,” the petition read, “and, on behalf of the minor children, she has waived any preference and consented to the appointment of Maxine L. Fiel as personal representative. It is in the best interest that the minor children of May Abad be represented by a family member who will appropriately protect their interest in this estate and properly administer this estate.”
FORTY-FIVE
“HE GOT BURIED WITH HIS FATHER”
At 1:00 P.M. on Wednesday, September 2, 2009, Ben Novack Jr. was finally laid to rest in Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Queens, New York—fifty-two days after his murder and on Narcy Novack’s fifty-fourth birthday.
Despite asserting earlier that she would not attend, Narcy came to the private service wearing a black suit with a small matching fedora and silver cat’s-eye sunglasses, but deliberately avoided many of the mourners. Maxine Fiel was there with her husband, David. May Abad and her sons, Patrick and Marchelo Gaffney, also came. Also in attendance were several fully armed law enforcement officers.
The previous
weekend, estate curator Douglas Hoffman had purchased two plots in the Novack-Spier family mausoleum, after tracking down Ben’s distant cousins in Iowa and England.
“I believe he’s buried where he wanted to be buried,” said Hoffman.
At the private ceremony conducted by Rabbi Samuel Waidenbaum of the Rego Park Jewish Center, Maxine Fiel movingly recited a poem from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.
“I feel at peace today,” Maxine later told a reporter. “He got buried with his father. It should have been done immediately. She let him lay there for fifty-two days, and he would have gone to Potters’ Field. I understand Kelsey Grammer paid for the funeral.”
During the service, Narcy Novack played the role of grieving widow, pointedly ignoring the rest of the family and standing by herself at the service.
“She turned her back on me,” David Fiel said. “I saw she tried to shed some tears, but I think she’s a big actress.”
After the funeral, Rye Brook Police chief Gregory Austin said his officers were still rigorously investigating Ben Novack Jr.’s murder.
“The case is still active,” he said, “and continues to move forward.”
* * *
The next day, attorney Gary Rudolf wrote to Narcy Novack’s attorney Henry Zippay demanding that his client return all the Batman memorabilia she had taken.
“Your client emptied four large storage units,” the letter read. “These warehouses contained a substantial number of Batman memorabilia … and your client must have transferred them to new or other storage locations. Please provide the Curator with a list of all items removed by your client … within one week from the date of this letter.”
The following day, Rudolf fired off another letter, this time seeking information about what Narcy Novack had done with the missing $105,000 from the Rye Brook Amway convention.
“You have yet to respond to any of our letters requesting information regarding the assets which your client has taken,” wrote Rudolf. “Specifically we asked for the information and return of approximately $105,000 of cash assets from the New York convention which she has deposited in her own name (or taken as cash) and you have yet to give us any information regarding the whereabouts of the four warehouses of memorabilia taken by her.”