The Prince of Paradise

by John Glatt

“Do you know who killed your husband on July 12, 2009?”

  “No.”

  Then Crawford asked how many key cards been issued to her and her husband when they had checked into the Rye Town Hilton.

  “I’m going to advise my client to invoke the Fifth Amendment,” Tanner said.

  “Describe the appearance of your husband when you found him on July 12, 2009, after breakfast?”

  Again, Tanner told his client to invoke the Fifth Amendment to that question, as well as a further one as to whether she knew Ben Jr. had been having an affair prior to his death.

  Then Crawford moved to the 2002 home invasion, asking Narcy if she had conspired to kidnap her husband.

  “No,” she replied defiantly.

  “Okay,” Crawford continued. “On or about June 10, 2002, did you extort any money or property from your husband?”

  “No.”

  “Did you admit to participating in a scheme whereby your husband was bound and gagged on or about June 10, 2002?”

  “That’s exaggerated,” Narcy replied.

  “Did you admit to that on June 10, 2002?” Crawford pressed.

  “I don’t recall,” Narcy said evasively.

  “Did you participate in tying up and gagging your husband on June 10, 2002?”

  “At this point we’re going to invoke the Fifth Amendment,” Tanner interjected.

  “Did you ever say to any Fort Lauderdale Police Department detectives, on or about June 10, 2002,” Crawford asked, “‘If I can’t have Ben, No one else can’?”

  “No.”

  “Did you ever extort money or property from your husband Ben Novack, in exchange for your silence with respect to certain sexual practices in your marriage?” Crawford asked.

  Once again, Tanner invoked Narcy’s Fifth Amendment rights, and then again for a question about why Ben had declined to file charges against her in 2002. He also refused to let her answer whether Ben had given her a pay rise after the 2002 incident.

  “Do you practice voodoo?” Crawford asked. “Do you have black candles at your house?”

  Tanner again stepped in, invoking Narcy’s Fifth Amendment rights.

  Crawford then asked the name of her husband’s life insurance company, which she had applied to for a payout after his death.

  “I don’t remember,” she answered.

  “Is that the policy with a million dollars in it?” Crawford probed.

  “Yeah,” she replied.

  Then after half an hour on the stand, Bill Crawford had no further questions, and Narcy Novack stepped down from the witness box.

  * * *

  The next day, Narcy Novack’s civil attorney, Henry Zippay Jr., filed a motion asking the Broward County Probate Court to decide whether May Abad’s opposition to her mother’s appointment as the estate’s personal representative had any merit. The motion also asked Judge Dale Ross to rule on whether the Florida “Killer Statute” was sufficient grounds for denying Narcy the right to oversee her husband’s estate.

  “Narcy Novack hereby requests,” the motion read, “this honorable court to specifically set a time for the trial/final hearing of the two objections as filed by May Abad relating to the allegations that Narcy Novack ‘unlawfully and intentionally killed or participated in the procuring of the death of the Decedent, Ben H. Novack, Jr.’ And further, upon failure to advance and/or prove said evidence, that the court appoint Narcy Novack as Personal Representative … and award her the requested family allowance.”

  Three days later, May Abad’s attorney William Crawford responded, again asking Judge Ross to appoint Maxine Fiel as the estate’s personal representative. His motion repeated the allegation that Narcy Novack had murdered her husband, and therefore should be disqualified from running Ben’s estate under the so-called “Killer Statute.”

  Later, Maxine would explain that she had reluctantly agreed to become involved in the probate case to protect her family’s estate from Narcy Novack. “[Stephen McDonald] called me up and asked me to be the [personal] representative,” she explained. “I was not too happy about doing it, but he said this way you can protect your sister’s [and Ben’s] money, because as his wife, she would inherit everything.”

  On November 9, May Abad’s attorneys filed a new motion, citing the 1991 prenuptial agreement as sufficient grounds for Narcy’s not being appointed personal representative.

  “Prior to the parties’ marriage,” the motion stated, “Narcy Novack waived and relinquished all statutory rights as surviving spouse … in the selection and appointment of an executor, administrator or other personal representative of the decedent’s estate.”

  The motion also alleged that Narcy Novack had “surreptitiously” deposited money belonging to Novack Enterprises into her personal bank account, contravening the Florida Probate Code. She had also refused to return the money to the court-ordered estate curator.

  “Narcy Novack is further incapable of complying with … Florida law,” the motion read, “by reason of her deliberate surreptitious removal of Batman memorabilia and collectables [sic] and hiding and concealing [them] from the duly appointed Curator.”

  Two weeks later, attorney William Crawford filed yet another motion into probate court, this time concerning Narcy’s role in the June 2002 home invasion. It accused her of conspiring with others to “kidnap and batter” Ben Novack Jr., and of stealing $350,000 in cash and jewelry.

  “Narcy Novack stated … to another,” the motion read, “that she did what she did … to decedent Ben H. Novack, Jr. to get what she needed to get.”

  The motion observed that Ben Jr. had been bound with duct tape in 2002, just as he had been when he was murdered seven years later. It alleged that Narcy had “extorted” her husband to pay her $6,500 a month, so she would not “reveal photographs … involving nude bodies with amputated arms and legs.” It also accused her of an ongoing campaign of extorting money and property from Ben Jr. “in exchange for her remaining silent about the intimate facts and circumstances concerning their private marital relationship, including their sexual relationship.”

  * * *

  Soon afterward, Narcy Novack’s attorney Howard Tanner hit back, hiring a private investigator named Robert Crispin to go through May Abad’s trash looking for incriminating evidence. The retired Coconut Creek Police Department detective was put on retainer for an ongoing program of “trash pulls.” His first one was on November 8, and over the next six months he would conduct at least half a dozen, taking various bills and final notices that Narcy Novack hoped to use against her daughter at a later time.

  FORTY-SEVEN

  THE BIG BREAK

  On Wednesday, November 18, investigators were finally ready to move in and arrest Alejandro Garcia for Ben Novack Jr.’s murder. Over the last few weeks they had been busy gathering evidence against him. He and Joel Gonzalez had now been clearly identified on surveillance video at the Rye Town Hilton at the time of the murder. Detectives had also interviewed Gladys Cuenca, who told them that Garcia had introduced her to Cristobal Veliz, who had then spent three days in her trailer with the two suspected killers.

  The investigators’ endgame was to arrest Narcy Novack and her brother Cristobal for Ben’s and Bernice’s murders, but they would start with Garcia and Gonzalez and try to get them to cooperate.

  That morning, investigators Ed Murphy and Mike LaRotunda arrived at the car wash on Twentieth Street and Seventeenth Avenue, Miami, where Garcia worked. They brought him down to Miami Police headquarters on an outstanding bench warrant.

  At the station, Garcia was brought into an interview room and seated at a table with the two detectives and a female Spanish-language interpreter.

  At 12:20 P.M. the detectives turned on a video recorder and asked Garcia about his background and how he had come to America. Wearing sunglasses, a gray T-shirt, and a heavy silver chain, Garcia appeared relaxed, saying he was “confused” as to why he was there.

  Over the next half hour, he answered Murphy�
�s general questions about his life in Miami, admitting to being in the country illegally.

  Then Murphy casually said he wanted to play Garcia an audiotape, but would first have to read him his Miranda rights.

  “We need to know if you recognize the voices on that tape,” Murphy said. “Am I clear?”

  “I don’t know, I’m confused,” Garcia replied. “I need an attorney, because I don’t know what I’m being accused of. I can’t sign this.”

  Finally, he agreed to sign the Miranda rights form, and Murphy played him cassette tapes of his three telephone conversations with Cristobal Veliz in which Veliz implicated Garcia in Ben Novack Jr.’s murder.

  “I just remembered that Alejandro Garcia committed a crime,” Veliz is heard saying on one tape.

  After playing the tapes, Murphy showed Garcia photographs of people connected to the case, including Joel Gonzalez. He also displayed surveillance pictures of Garcia and Gonzalez at the Rye Town Hilton on the morning of Ben Novack’s death.

  Garcia was evasive, initially denying that he had ever been to New York. Eventually, after seeing the irrefutable evidence of him at the Rye Town Hilton with Gonzalez, he admitted going to New York to do some painting and laboring for Carlos Veliz.

  “We cleaned, we painted, we removed trash,” Garcia said. “We cleaned the house. My conscience is clear that I haven’t done anything. I didn’t do anything to anybody. I didn’t harm anybody.”

  Murphy told Garcia he was sympathetic and knew he had only played a small part in the murder. He said he was far more interested in the people behind it.

  “We’re trying to help you, Alejandro,” Murphy said. “Obviously there are other people who are blaming you.”

  Finally, Murphy and LaRotunda left the interview room after more than an hour of questioning, and Detective Alison Carpentier came in.

  “Alejandro, I’m Alison,” she told him through the interpreter. “I’ll let you know what’s going to happen from here. You’re gonna be booked on charges of murder.”

  * * *

  On December 18, Douglas Hoffman submitted his second curator’s report, asking for Judge Dale Ross’s permission to liquidate Novack Enterprises and file bankruptcy.

  “The corporation is insolvent,” he wrote, “and could not be maintained as an ongoing concern.”

  He noted that the company’s assets were approximately $350,000, and the outstanding debts on Ben Novack Jr.’s black American Express card were $769,763.81. Additionally, there were claims for unpaid bills for the Batmobile totaling $18,650.00, as well as $50,000 for work on Ben’s yacht, White Lightning.

  Convention Concept Unlimited staff Joe Gandy, Matthew Briggs, and May Abad were also asking for nearly $30,000 in unpaid wages, while Charlie Seraydar was owed $3,000.

  “It was my position that the company had no value without Ben Novack,” curator Doug Hoffman later explained. “And ultimately that’s what the court decided.”

  * * *

  On Saturday, January 23, 2010, the top-rated TV show America’s Most Wanted featured the Ben Novack Jr. case and appealed for anyone with information to come forward. Producers invited Narcy Novack to be interviewed, but she refused.

  Several days earlier, Rye Brook Police had released the anonymous letter to the media, in a new attempt to break the case open. It would be another year before they discovered it had been written by one of Narcy’s sisters.

  Police chief Gregory Austin said that he had been initially skeptical of the letter, but during the ongoing investigation, it had proved uncannily accurate.

  “What we found interesting in the letter,” said Chief Austin, “is that there were names in it at the time we were not aware of. As we did our own investigation, we found that information to be true.”

  Lead detective Terence Wilson, who was interviewed for the America’s Most Wanted segment, called the anonymous letter a key piece of evidence. “We processed the letter for fingerprints, DNA,” he said, “to try and find out who the person was that wrote the letter. Unfortunately we were not able to do so.”

  Narcy’s criminal attorney Howard Tanner told The Miami Herald that the anonymous letter should never have been made public while the investigation was still ongoing.

  “It is astonishing to me,” he said, “that the chief of Rye Brook police would give it to the press.”

  * * *

  On Monday, February 2, Broward County probate judge Charles M. Greene suddenly handed Narcy Novack control of her husband’s multimillion-dollar estate. In a dramatic ruling on the first day of the probate trial, the judge dismissed May Abad and Maxine Fiel’s lawsuits that she be disqualified under the “Killer Statute.”

  Abad’s attorneys, Stephen McDonald and Bill Crawford, had asked the judge to dismiss their petition without prejudice, so they would still be able to challenge Ben Novack Jr.’s will. Their case had fallen apart after attempts to subpoena a Rye Brook homicide detective to come to Florida and testify were shot down in case this compromised the ongoing criminal investigation.

  After the ruling, Howard Tanner told reporters that May Abad’s attack on her mother was based on “rumor and innuendo,” and called it a “miscarriage of justice.”

  “If it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone,” he said.

  Under the ruling, Narcy could now dispose of all her husband’s assets, and inherit her late mother-in-law Bernice’s estate.

  The following day, Narcy Novack’s three attorneys submitted bills to the estate for their services. Her criminal lawyers Howard Tanner and Robert Trachman billed legal fees of $883,000 and $650,000, respectively. Her probate attorney, Henry Zippay Jr., wanted $36,190 for his work on the case.

  On Thursday, Judge Greene abruptly reversed his decision, seizing the estate back from Narcy. His about-face came after he learned that a federal grand jury was about to convene in New York to investigate a broad criminal conspiracy involving Narcy Novack.

  The judge had also based his new ruling on Narcy Novack’s request to use $1.6 million from her husband’s estate to pay off her legal team. He questioned whether her criminal legal team’s work benefited the estate or just defended Narcy from possible criminal charges.

  Judge Greene then appointed Doug Hoffman as the new personal representative for both the Ben Novack Jr. and Bernice Novack estates. He ordered that the estates’ liquid assets be placed in a court depository so they could not be accessed without court permission.

  After the hearing, Tanner said that his client would fully cooperate in any investigation, as she had done from the start. “Authorities have nothing but unsubstantiated rumors,” he told reporters.

  * * *

  Cristobal Veliz was becoming increasingly worried that Alejandro Garcia might cut a deal with the government. He still did not know of Garcia’s arrest, and started calling Joel Gonzalez, asking where his friend was.

  “I lost count of how many calls there were,” said Gonzalez. “I didn’t tell him [about Garcia’s arrest] because Mr. Garcia had told me not to tell him a thing.”

  Finally, Veliz surmised that Garcia had returned to Nicaragua, and he decided to have him killed there so he couldn’t give up him or Narcy to the police.

  In early 2010, Veliz contacted Juan Carlos Castillia, saying he needed to talk to his lover, Melvin Medrano, who had been deported to Nicaragua after the Bernice Novack job.

  “Cristobal was worried and wanted to know about Alex [Garcia],” Castillia later testified. “He was worried Alex would talk to the cops. He wanted to … have him killed.”

  On February 19, Castillo arranged a three-way telephone call between Veliz and Medrano, who agreed to make Alejandro Garcia disappear.

  * * *

  At the beginning of March, the FBI seized assets belonging to the Ben Novack Jr. estate, under federal forfeiture regulations, in connection with allegations of financial fraud. When Narcy attempted to take title of Ben’s Batmobile and several other antique cars, a federal judge signed sealed warrants preventin
g her.

  The Miami Herald reported that the sealed warrants meant that the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force now believed it had sufficient evidence to persuade a judge that Narcy Novack had been involved in illegal activity for financial gain. The forfeiture was ordered under a seldom-used maritime and admiralty law. Among the items seized were the Batmobile, a 1957 Ford Thunderbird, a 1970 Jaguar, a 1962 two-door Ford coupe, and a thirty-five-foot barge.

  * * *

  In early April, on the first anniversary of her sister Bernice’s death, eighty-four-year-old Maxine Fiel flew to Fort Lauderdale to try to get the case reopened. She was accompanied by her husband, David, who was seriously ill, with only a few weeks to live.

  “I refused to believe Bernice died naturally,” Maxine said. “So we went to Florida and started investigating.”

  When the Fiels arrived, they were met by Estelle Fernandez, who took them to Bernice Novack’s house and introduced them to Bernice’s friends and neighbors.

  “They told me that Bernice said there were men in front of her house,” Maxine said. “She was being stalked, which is what it says in the anonymous letter.”

  During their visit, May Abad was particularly attentive, as she needed Maxine’s help to challenge Ben Novack Jr.’s will. A few weeks earlier she had given birth to her third son, whom she had named Ben, in honor of her late stepfather.

  “May knows how to charm you,” Maxine said later. “She’s a good talker and can be very open. She’ll tell you about her mother at the drop of a hat. They don’t get on. She thinks her mother did it.”

  Maxine was surprised at how May continually referred to Ben Novack Jr. as “Dad.” “She never called him ‘Dad’ before,” Maxine said. “Bernice would scream if she could hear it. He was never that.”

  While in Florida, Maxine gave an interview to The Miami Herald criticizing the way Fort Lauderdale Police had handled her sister’s death.

  In a front-page story headlined “Two Bodies, Few Answers in Novack Family Mystery,” Maxine questioned why Fort Lauderdale Police had failed to take the anonymous letter seriously. “The letter lays it all out. She was murdered,” Fiel said. “They tried to say she was confused, but she was not.”