The Prince of Paradise

by John Glatt

  “We had been trying to do that for him for a long time,” said Seraydar, “and so that was a very ego-boosting thing for him.”

  He also called Kelsey Grammar to arrange dinner at his Hamptons spread. But the actor couldn’t make it, as he was in Los Angeles shooting a movie.

  When a limousine from the Rye Town Hilton was not there waiting outside the terminal, Novack went ballistic. He called up the hotel’s associate director of events, Angelica Furano, and yelled at her, before hanging up and hailing a cab for himself and Narcy.

  At 2:00 P.M., Ben and Narcy Novack walked into the lobby of the Hilton at 699 Westchester Avenue in Rye Brook, New York, where they were welcomed by Furano. Ben did not mention the limo problem.

  Furano, who would be on call 24/7 during the Hispanic convention, escorted Narcy to the Woodlands Suite, on the fourth floor, where they would be staying.

  A few minutes later, Ben Novack Jr. walked into the suite with the hotel’s general manager, Alon Ben-Gurion, whose grandfather David Ben-Gurion had been Israel’s first prime minister. The luxury suite consisted of a large parlor doubling as an office, a bedroom, and two bathroom/toilets (one of which was broken).

  Two hours later, after unpacking and settling in, Ben Novack Jr. went to the John Halstead Room on the second floor for a preconvention meeting. The three-hour meeting was also attended by Convention Concepts Unlimited employees May Abad and Matthew Briggs, and by Furano, duty manager Jeremy Morris, the hotel chef, and the food and beverage manager. Narcy Novack did not attend the meeting, remaining in the Woodlands Suite to make calls.

  The president of Convention Concepts Unlimited began by castigating Furano again for having failed to have the limousine waiting for him at the airport. Then he outlined in detail exactly what he expected the Hilton staff to do during the convention. He said that his stepdaughter, May Abad, would be handling the event, and that hotel staff should liaise with her.

  * * *

  Back in the Woodlands Suite, Narcy Novack was busy finalizing arrangements for the attack on her husband, now just three days away. While Ben was busy at the briefing, Narcy was talking to Cristobal, who had now reached Philadelphia.

  While Ben was away, Narcy called her brother four times, with one call lasting forty-five minutes.

  “They are discussing what is going to happen on July twelfth,” assistant U.S. attorney Andrew Dember would later explain. “They are mapping it all out. Narcy knows her husband is in a long meeting with staff. She doesn’t have to worry.”

  In Philadelphia, Veliz took the Thunderbird to a mechanic, who told him it was beyond repair. So after removing the license plates and title papers, Veliz left the car in the mechanic’s yard and drove on to New York in the Pathfinder with Garcia and Gonzalez.

  When they arrived, Veliz drove straight to his son-in-law Denis Ramirez’s house at 1499 Jefferson Avenue, Brooklyn. Outside on the sidewalk, Veliz ordered his son-in-law to get him a car for “the big date” on Sunday morning, and told him that Ramirez would now be driving. He handed Ramirez fifty dollars to buy a cell phone for the job.

  “We were going to beat somebody up and rob [them],” Ramirez would later testify. “He said he would pay me a thousand dollars and told me not to drink anything on Sunday night.”

  After Cristobal Veliz left to drop Garcia and Gonzalez off at the Crossbay Motor Inn, where they would be staying, Ramirez called an ex-girlfriend who drove a taxi, who agreed to lend him her Lincoln Town Car for the weekend.

  * * *

  At 8:00 A.M. on Friday, Ben Novack Jr. held a briefing for his staff in the parlor of his Woodlands Suite. Late the previous night, Narcy Novack’s niece Leslie Goyzueta, Maria Gallegos, and Gallegos’s sister Theresa Rivas, had all flown in for the convention, which they would be working on a freelance basis.

  While Narcy stayed in the adjoining bedroom, Ben Novack issued last-minute instructions to his team. Then he sent them off to the Westchester Ballroom to begin setting up the two registration areas, as the Amway Hispanic attendees would soon be arriving.

  * * *

  Thirty miles away, in Ozone Park, Queens, Cristobal Veliz was collecting Alejandro Garcia and Joel Gonzalez to scout out the Rye Town Hilton. He arrived at 2:00 P.M. in his Nissan Pathfinder and drove them straight to the hotel, parking just outside.

  On the way there, he had instructed them to familiarize themselves with the hotel and visit the Woodlands Suite, on the fourth floor. They were also to pay special attention to getting in and out of the hotel, avoiding hotel surveillance cameras at all costs.

  After getting out of the Pathfinder, the two men casually strolled into the parking lot. Garcia, who was wearing his new Valentino sunglasses with his white T-shirt and jeans, and carrying a backpack, coolly asked an attendant where the Amway function was being held.

  At 2:50 P.M. the two hit men were photographed by a hotel surveillance camera walking through the front lobby of the hotel. Ironically, Ben Novack Jr. also happened to walk straight past them on his way to Angelica Furano’s office, near the front desk.

  “I saw the gentleman in the diner at Fort Lauderdale,” Gonzalez recalled.

  Then Garcia led his partner up several flights of stairs to the guest rooms on the fourth floor, turning left and walking toward Rooms 453 and 454, comprising the Woodlands Suite.

  “We found it,” Garcia said. “I said to Joel, ‘This is where the money is going to be.’”

  Garcia then decided to leave through an exit just across the hallway, thinking it would be a faster way out.

  At 2:58 P.M. Garcia and Gonzalez were photographed in the lobby leaving the hotel, and then again walking out into the hotel parking lot to the Pathfinder.

  “Cristobal asked us if we had gotten to know the area and found [Novack’s suite],” said Garcia. “I said yes, everything was fine, and we knew the path we were going to take.”

  From the Pathfinder, Veliz telephoned Narcy inside the hotel, telling her everything was going according to plan.

  * * *

  By the time the hit men arrived back in Brooklyn it was late afternoon. Cristobal Veliz stopped off at a RadioShack on Knickerbocker Avenue, buying a $140 TomTom GPS device. Then he took Alejandro Garcia next door to the Turbo men’s store to buy him some smarter clothing, so he wouldn’t stand out on Sunday morning at the Amway convention.

  “He asked me to look for a shirt, shoes, and pants,” Garcia recalled, “so I would look more presentable for the attack.”

  After picking out a black dress shirt, loafers, and a pair of pants, Veliz paid the ninety-five-dollar bill with his Bank of America credit card.

  He then dropped both men off at the Crossbay Motor Inn for the night; he would be staying at Laura Law’s house in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.

  * * *

  Back at the Rye Town Hilton, the Convention Concepts Unlimited staff was struggling to cope with the unexpectedly large crowds that had started arriving for the Amway convention. That weekend set records, with more than 1,900 Hispanic Amway distributors attending, more than twice as many as the 450-room Hilton could accommodate.

  At 5:00 P.M., two hours before the convention’s first scheduled event, there was a growing line of angry attendees snaking out into the parking lot. Over the next few hours, the Hilton staff scrambled to find alternative accommodation nearby, for the overflow, while Ben Novack Jr. seethed with anger.

  Nevertheless, the first event of the convention started on time and went off without a hitch.

  At 11:00 P.M., as things were winding down, Ben Novack Jr. was sitting at a conference table alone with the hotel’s associate event director Angelica Furano when he began discussing his plans for the future.

  “He said he was very proud of May [Abad] and all the hard work she had done,” Furano would later testify. “And he was looking forward to retiring … and letting May do more of the day-to-day work, while he stayed in the background.”

  * * *

  On Saturday, July 11, Ben Novack Jr. and his Con
vention Concepts Unlimited staff worked a sixteen-hour day.

  “We started early at 7:00 A.M., said freelancer Maria Gallegos. “We registered additional people and continued to collect money.”

  About mid-morning, Ben and Narcy Novack came down and joined their orange-uniformed employees at the registration desk, issuing name tags and taking money from attendees for the various events.

  That night there were two separate banquets, at 6:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M., with little downtime at the two registration desks.

  After the banquets ended, the Convention Concepts Unlimited staff retired to their respective rooms with blue pouches containing a total of $110,000 in cash that they had collected at the registration that day.

  “That was standard procedure,” Leslie Goyzueta explained. “We would collect all the money and put it in pouches given to us by Mr. Novack. At the end of the day I would count the money and put the pouch in my room safe.”

  Ben and Narcy Novack remained downstairs, requesting that the Tulip Tree Restaurant stay open so they could order dinner. Not wanting to upset her “difficult” client, Angelica Furano arranged for this to happen.

  Just before midnight, Narcy Novack offered to help out Angelica Furano at breakfast the next morning, something she had never done before.

  Then, at 12:07 A.M., Ben and Narcy used one of their key cards to enter the Woodlands Suite. As Narcy went to sleep in the bedroom, Ben settled down at his computer. As usual, he worked through the night on convention business, as well as searching eBay for Batman comics and memorabilia.

  * * *

  Late Saturday night, Cristobal Veliz called Francisco Picado, asking if he could drive some people to Miami the next morning. Picado agreed, as he knew his mentor always paid well.

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  “FINISH HIM OFF!”

  At 3:00 A.M. on Sunday, while Ben Novack Jr. was still at work in his suite, Cristobal Veliz pulled up in front of 1499 Jefferson Avenue in his Nissan Pathfinder. He called Denis Ramirez, saying he was waiting outside. After hastily dressing, Ramirez came downstairs and got into the borrowed black Lincoln Town Car and followed his father-in-law’s Pathfinder to a gas station to fill up.

  They then proceeded to the Crossbay Motor Inn, where Alejandro Garcia and Joel Garcia had packed and were ready to go, wearing their “professional-looking attire.”

  At 4:06 A.M. Gonzalez checked out of the motel and walked out with Garcia to the Pathfinder, putting their bags in the trunk. Garcia, wearing his fake Valentino sunglasses, kept his backpack, which contained all the weapons for the attack.

  Then they got into the Lincoln Town Car, which Ramirez drove, following Veliz in his Pathfinder to the Rye Town Hilton.

  Driving in convoy, the vehicles took the Belt Parkway, crossed over the Whitestone Bridge, and took the Hutchinson River Parkway to Rye Brook in Westchester County, New York.

  It was still dark when they arrived at the Rye Town Hilton at 5:10 A.M. There was a light on in the Woodlands Suite, where Ben Novack Jr. was still working at his computer.

  “We showed Denis [Ramirez] the area inside the parking lot where he was going to wait for us,” Garcia later testified. “Then Cristobal said we needed to wait for a cell phone call from his sister, to tell us when we could attack the man.”

  Ramirez then drove the Town Car behind the green Pathfinder off the hotel grounds and to a gas station in Port Chester, just five minutes away. Veliz parked the Pathfinder on the road, while Ramirez stopped the Town Car by a Dumpster on the gas station forecourt.

  Then the conspirators all waited nervously for Narcy Novack’s call.

  While Ramirez went inside the gas station to buy cigarettes, Garcia and Gonzalez got into the Pathfinder for final instructions. The previous day, Garcia said he would need a bottle of rum for the job, and Veliz had promised to bring one along.

  “[Cristobal] said, ‘I have a present for you,’” said Garcia, “and he gave me a bottle of rum. I said I’m going out to buy a bottle of soda and start drinking. I was nervous.”

  After buying the soda, Garcia got back into the Town Car with Ramirez and started drinking the rum cocktail. As the rum began taking effect, Ramirez started teasing Garcia about having beaten up an old lady in Fort Lauderdale.

  “I said the lady had died,” said Ramirez. “He got upset and said that Cristobal had to pay him more money because the old lady [had] died. Cristobal [had] told him she hadn’t.”

  By the time Joel Gonzalez returned to the Town Car after smoking a cigarette, Garcia had worked himself into a frenzy.

  “Mr. Garcia was very angry,” Gonzalez recalled, “and wanted to know if it was true [about the old lady dying]. He said, ‘Don’t mess with me! Don’t play with me!’ Denis [Ramirez] was laughing and joking and not telling him if the old lady had died or not.”

  * * *

  At around 6:30 A.M., it was just getting light when Ben Novack Jr. turned off his computer, stripped down to his boxer shorts, and got into bed for a couple of hours’ sleep.

  Investigators believe that Narcy waited until Novack fell asleep before sneaking out of bed and into the adjoining room, where she quietly called her brother’s cell phone at 6:39 A.M., setting in motion their murderous plan.

  After her call, Cristobal Veliz summoned Garcia to the Pathfinder, announcing, “She’s ready. Let’s go.”

  Garcia walked back to the Lincoln Town Car, took a long drink of rum, and told Ramirez to drive back to the Rye Town Hilton.

  * * *

  At 6:45 A.M. Denis Ramirez drove the Lincoln Town Car onto the grounds of the Rye Town Hilton and parked on a service road. Garcia told him to keep the engine running, so they could make a quick getaway. Then he and Gonzalez emptied out their pockets so nothing incriminating could fall out, before getting out of the Town Car and walking toward the hotel.

  * * *

  Inside the hotel, associate events director Angelica Furano had just arrived at the ballroom to help with breakfast. She was alarmed to discover a crowd of Amway attendees already lining up by the registration desks, with no Convention Unlimited staff to take care of them.

  At 6:54 A.M. she called Ben Novack Jr.’s cell phone, asking him to send someone to the registration desk immediately.

  “He answered the phone,” recalled Furano. “He told me to call Nando [from Amway] and have him go to the registration. He sounded fine … normal.”

  After hanging up, Ben Novack Jr. went back to sleep.

  * * *

  The two killers entered through a side door, went up two flights of stairs, to the fourth floor, and turned left, as they had done two days earlier.

  It was around 7:00 A.M. when they approached the Woodlands Suite. Narcy Novack was waiting in the doorway, gesturing to them to hurry up. She was dressed in a smart brown business suit, but had not done her dyed red hair or her makeup.

  She ushered them in through the double doors and closed them. Then she put her index finger to her lips and made a shushing sound, pointing toward the bedroom. Inside, they saw Ben Novack Jr. fast asleep in bed, wearing only gray Hanes boxer shorts and black socks.

  Then Narcy led the two men to a kitchen area, where Garcia placed his backpack on the counter and took out the dumbbells, duct tape, and gloves.

  Both men removed their dress shirts and shoes, and while they were changing, Narcy told Garcia to remove his sunglasses. He ignored her, as the light hurt his eyes.

  Finally, they put on the sports gloves and picked up the dumbbells, gripping them hard.

  As they tiptoed past Narcy and into the dark bedroom, Garcia whispered that on the count of three they would attack.

  Then they took their positions on either side of the double bed, where Ben Novack Jr. was asleep. Garcia quietly counted to three.

  “We grabbed the dumbbells and started to hit him hard,” Garcia later testified. “On the head, the chest, the ribs, and the abdomen.”

  Ben Novack woke up and started screaming, as he desperately tried to defend himse
lf, furiously lashing out at Garcia. In the struggle, he broke an arm off his attacker’s Valentino sunglasses, and his own gold Rolex watch came off, both falling onto the bed.

  As Novack frantically fought back, Gonzalez got scared and walked out of the bedroom, leaving Garcia alone with Ben Novack.

  “Narcy was angry,” Gonzalez said. “She ordered me to get back there and help [Garcia].”

  When Gonzalez returned to the bedroom, Narcy handed him a pillow and told him to use it to muffle Ben’s screams, as he was making too much noise.

  On the bed, Ben Novack was grappling with Garcia, who was still beating him with a dumbbell. Gonzalez put his knee onto the mattress, leveraging all his weight to smother Novack with the pillow.

  “Mr. Novack swerved to the left and hit [Garcia] in the neck with his fist,” Gonzalez recalled. “I dropped the pillow and left them wrestling with each other and walked out of the room.”

  Narcy was furious to see Gonzalez leave again, and screamed at him to go straight back and help his friend.

  When he came back he found Ben Novack on the carpet, with Garcia standing over him and still pounding him hard with the dumbbell. As Novack was no longer moving and was just moaning in agony, Gonzalez said it was enough. Garcia stopped, and apologized for losing control.

  Then, while he held Ben Novack down, Garcia told Gonzalez to duct-tape Novack’s hands behind his back and his legs together.

  “I taped his legs, and there was no resistance,” Gonzalez recalled. “He was breathing very hard. There was a lot of blood coming out of his mouth.”

  Then, for the third time, Gonzalez went back to the kitchen, where Narcy was pacing nervously.

  Alone in the bedroom, Garcia stood over Ben Novack, who was hogtied on the carpet, and took out the utility knife.

  Then, grabbing a large clump of Ben Novack’s long, thick hair, Garcia lifted up his head and thrust the sharp blade into Novack’s left eye and turned it sharply. Ben Novack moaned in anguish. Then Garcia took out the knife and plunged it into Novack’s right eye and twisted it.