Fla. woman going on trial in 2009 Novack killings
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. There are plenty of bizarre elements in the murder case against Narcy Novack, 54, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. But theyre unlikely to overshadow the grisly killings of her millionaire husband and his mother, which Novack is accused of orchestrating to get her hands on the family estate.
This was nothing short of a diabolical plan by a woman who was intent on eliminating her husband and taking his family fortune for her own, Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said when Novack was indicted. Prosecutors believe Novack feared her husband was tiring of her and shed be left with nothing.
Novack, a native of Ecuador, and her brother, Cristobal Veliz, 57, of Philadelphia, have pleaded not guilty to a long list of federal charges. Their trial opens Monday in White Plains, N.Y.
The top count, murder in aid of racketeering, carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Novacks husband was Ben Novack Jr., son of the man who built the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach. He grew up in the hotel, which was a celebrity playpen in the 1950s and 60s and appeared in the movies Scarface and Goldfinger.
Novack, who had his own successful travel company, was at the Hilton hotel in Rye Brook, N.Y., at an Amway convention hed arranged, on July 12, 2009, the day he was killed.
He was found beaten to death in the suite he shared with his wife. His body had been pummeled with dumbbells, his eyes slit with a knife.
Narcy Novack told police she was downstairs having breakfast when he was killed. But prosecutors say she opened the door to the killers, gave them a pillow to put over Ben Novacks face and ordered them to cut out his eyes.
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