The Rye Town Hilton in Westchester is a popular local destination for Bar and Bat Mitzvah celebrations; it was also the site of the grisly murder of Florida multimillionaire businessman Ben Novack Jr last year. Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment yesterday accusing his wife, former stripper Narcy Veliz Novack, of plotting and aiding in the murder: "She opened the door for the attackers and during the assault, went so far as to provide them with a pillow to place over her husband's face as he was being beaten to death," said US Attorney Preet Bharara.
According to police, Novack, whom the Post describes as "still surgically sultry at 53," had discovered that her husband was cheating on her, and feared he would divorce her. Novack, owner of the country's second largest collection of Batman collectibles and television show memorabilia (including a real Batmobile), was the son of the founder of Miami's Fontainebleau hotel, and worth an estimated $10 million at the time of his death; his wife was the sole beneficiary of his will. She allegedly enlisted three men, including her brother, in the murder plot.
Prosecutors painted Novack as a cold-hearted murderess: as her husband drew his last breath, they say she snatched his bracelet—which spelled his name, "B-E-N," in diamonds—and tossed it to one of the assassins as payment. So far, Novack and her three conspirators are charged only with stalking and "conspiracy to commit interstate domestic violence," but as the Voice points out, "it is presumably a good place-holder until more evidence is obtained."
And this was not the first brush with the bizarre for the quarreling couple:
In 2002 Novack accused his wife of arranging a break-in using a half-dozen men, where he was beaten, handcuffed and robbed of more than $1 million in their Florida home. He claimed she yelled at him, "I can have you killed any time I want...You're not dead now because I stopped them." Though she admitted taking him prisoner, she countered that the incident was part of their sex life, which included violent S&M, bondage and amputee porn.
Nancy Novack also told police that her husband beat her, and one time broke her nose; when he took her for plastic surgery, she woke up with breast implants she hadn't asked for. Police are also looking into the death of Novack's mother, Miami socialite Bernice Novack, who reportedly died after a "series of falls," in a "nightgown drenched with blood" and with "massive skull injuries, broken teeth, a fractured finger and broken jaw."
