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A Deadly Paradise
By Randy Wyles | July 21, 2010
Few stories capture the imagination of amateur sleuths and mystery buffs like the champagne and caviar murder cases of the rich and famous – and the murder of Ben Novack, Jr. has popped a cork in celebration of its first anniversary in a big way.
No “soap opera” could ever come close to this 
storyline. This is a “true crime detective” style, bona fide murder mystery that has it all; deep, dark family secrets, serious family money – and ties to the iconic Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, used in the James Bond movie “Goldfinger”. There’s even a long lost relative – suffering from mental illness – who provides a surprise twist at the end.
The Killer Amway Convention
On July 10, 2009, Ben Novack, Jr., 53, owner and CEO of Convention Concepts Unlimited of Fort Lauderdale, arrives at the Hilton Rye Town hotel in Rye Brook, NY, about 40 minutes from Manhattan, to attend an Amway Global International convention. Amway Global is Novack’s largest client and his wife, Narcy, 53, and her daughter May Abad, 33, attend the convention with him.
Ben is still mourning the suspicious death of his mother, Bernice Stempel Novack, 86, who was found face down in a pool of blood at her home in Fort Lauderdale just three months earlier. Blood is found in several places around the house and her death is ruled accidental – due to a series of falls.
Around 6:30, on the morning of July 12, Novack finally gets to bed after working all night. At 7:15 a.m., Narcy leaves their hotel suite to attend a breakfast at the convention – returning by 8:00 a.m. to find her husband dead on the floor of their suite, next to the bed. He had been beaten to death – his arms and legs bound by duct tape and his face covered.
On July 13, Narcy Novack is questioned by police for approximately 13 hours and given a polygraph test that shows what police would later term “signs of deception.”
By July 16, while Ben’s body is undergoing an autopsy at the Westchester County, NY morgue, police search the Novack home in Fort Lauderdale, confiscating computers and printed documents along with video surveillance recordings. Back in Rye Brook, police discover that the only hotel issued key card that has had any access at all to the Novack suite was the key card issued to Narcy.
On July 21, Narcy issues a statement through her lawyer saying she had nothing to do with the death of her husband – and had nothing to gain from his murder.
The Cat Fight
Less than a month later, on August 14, Ben Novack’s will is filed in the Broward County Circuit Court in Florida stipulating that Narcy is his sole beneficiary and is to inherit the proceeds from Ben’s family estate – estimated at $10-million. However, if Narcy is dead at the time of Ben’s death, the inheritance is to go to the children of Narcy’s daughter, May Abad.
Ironically, on that same day, Fort Lauderdale police respond to a domestic dispute at the Novack home. Police said that Narcy and her daughter were fighting – Abad claiming that Narcy hit her with a crowbar. The altercation occurred less than a week after Abad had a judge freeze her stepfather’s assets and Narcy Novack, who had been the executor of the will, is replaced by a curator appointed to handle the will.
Two days after the mother-daughter cat fight, Abad implicates her mother in the murder, claiming her stepfather was having an extra-marital affair – which is, indeed, later confirmed by police investigators. Abad says that her mother murdered her father because she was afraid he would divorce her – cutting her out of the family fortune.
Dirty Little Secrets
What followed was nearly a year of chasing down clues, police protection, fears by some of retaliation against witnesses and informants, as well as closely held family secrets that were revealed, painting a very bizarre portrait of life behind the closed doors of the Novack home.
To begin with, Narcy Novack, whose real name is Narcisa Cira Veliz Pacheco Novack, is a former stripper from nearby Hialeah, FL – an area replete with strip joints and crime. She married Ben in 1991, but the marriage was rocky from the get-go.
In June 2002, according to police reports, Narcy and two other individuals tied Ben up at their Fort Lauderdale home, robbed him and threatened to kill him. When Ben was found some 24 hours later, Narcy told police that it was all just an elaborate “sex game.” Ben did not file criminal charges; however, he did file for divorce. But Narcy allegedly threatened to reveal Ben’s strange sexual fetishes, so, Ben halted the divorce action.
There had been at least one affair on Ben’s part, but it wasn’t surprising to those who knew the family; Ben and Narcy’s marriage was made far from Heaven and the apple didn’t seem to fall far from the tree. Like his father, Ben, Jr. was a demanding and successful businessman. Ben’s father, Ben Novack, Sr., had several hotels, including the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach – his signature hotel that he had built in 1959. Ben, Sr. also had at least one affair earlier in his life – an affair in which Ben’s own mother was the mistress.
In the 1950s, Ben Novack, Sr. had been married to Bella Novack who had a son, Ronald. Ben, Sr. adopted Ronald but had little to do with him. Ben later had an affair with a young model named Bernise. Ben, Sr. finally divorced Bella, leaving her with her son, married Bernise and in January 1956, Ben and Bernise had a son of their own – Ben, Jr. – and as far as Ben was concerned, Ben, Jr. was his only son.
When Ben, Sr. died in 1985, he only left Ronald one single dollar – the rest of the multi-million dollar estate went to his wife, Bernise and, ultimately, his biological son, Ben, Jr. Meanwhile, Bella’s divorce settlement gave her a small piece of property in Miami Beach that she held on to and managed to earn an income from until she died in 2001.
The Dash For Cash
Eight years later, Ben, Jr. is murdered and the fight for the family fortune is on – with Narcy trying every angle she could to get her hands on the money.
She had the locks cut off of a storage unit and took possession of Ben’s multi-million dollar Batman collection. She tried to get access to his boat but was unsuccessful, though she did manage to take approximately $100,000 in cash out of Convention Concepts Unlimited.
One of her most incredible moves was conning bank officers at Bank of America into opening Ben’s safety deposit boxes – telling them he was alive even though he had been dead for some time. It’s still unclear exactly how she managed to convince Bank of America to open the boxes that would have been sealed until the settlement of Ben’s estate had been legally finalized – it’s especially puzzling given the fact that the murder of Ben Novack, Jr. was so widely reported.
In February 2010, Narcy also managed to convince the court that she should have control of Ben’s $10-million estate – over the staunch objections of the Novack family and Narcy’s own daughter, Abad who had turned on Narcy a month after the murder. But that sweet score for Narcy came crashing down around her earlier this month when federal prosecutors charged Narcy, her brother and two other men with the murder of Ben Novack, Jr.
According to federal prosecutors, Narcy gave the men access to the Hilton hotel suite in Rye Brook on the morning of July 12, 2009 while Ben was sleeping. They also say she witnessed the brutal beating of her husband of almost 20-years and, at one point, even handed the assailants a pillow to place over Ben’s face when they murdered him. Prosecutor also said that Narcy attempted – in the months after her daughter, Abad, turned on her – to have Abad killed. And after a further review of the evidence in the death of Bernise Novack, Ben’s mother, prosecutors now believe Narcy may have also been involved in the elderly woman’s death.
Like many states, Florida has a “slayer rule”, which prohibits a person from receiving any benefits or financial proceeds from the estate of the person they have murdered. Narcy Novack could lose her entire fortune and spend the rest of her life in prison. The estimated $10-million estate would then go to the children of Narcy’s daughter, Abad.
Out of The Blue
In a final twist to the Novack saga; re-enter Ronald Novack, the adopted son of Ben, Sr.
Over the years, Ronald had spiraled down into an abyss of homelessness, despair and mental illness- walking the streets of Fort Lauderdale, sleeping in cars and panhandling. When his mother, Bella – the elder Ben’s first wife – died in 2001, the surviving family members spent years hiring private investigators to find Ronald. Finally, in August 2008, Ronald was located and his inheritance from his mother – the proceeds from the sale of that small piece of Miami Beach property she had won in her divorce from Ben, Sr. – was placed into a trust for Ronald – estimated at more than $7-million.
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