Family Law Nightmare: The Novacks

It always amazes me to hear another “stripper marries millionaire” story, but it seems to be one of the favored professions for more than a few millionaires. The story of the Novacks from Florida is just such a case.

Ben Novack Jr. was the son of the owner of the spectacular Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami. After the hotel business went bankrupt, Ben Novack Jr. made most of his money as a convention planner for Amway International.

Mr. Novack met Narcy Novack, a stripper from Ecuador, and they married in 1991. Ms. Novack’s lifestyle went from near-poverty to posh. Mr. Novack treated Narcy’s daughter from a previous relationship as his own. The couple worked together in the convention business and financially flourished.

But the loving relationship they showed the world was not real and that would soon be apparent. In June 2002 Mr. Novack called 911 to report that he had been the victim of a home invasion engineered by his wife, Narcy. She, together with four men, held him hostage with a gun pointed at him, handcuffed him to a chair and looted the safety deposit box, stealing almost $500,000.00 and all the corporate records and personal documents. Narcy left the home with the loot and all of her personal belongings.

The police advised Mr. Novack that a squad car was on its way to their lavish home in Ft. Lauderdale, but an anxious Novack forbid them to come, saying that his life was in danger if the police appeared on the scene.

When the police asked Narcy for her side of the story, she attended at the police department with bags and boxes of bondage paraphernalia, pornography, and stories about violent assaults on her by her husband. She advised the detectives that the alleged home invasion was a part of their usual intimate activities.

Narcy also told the police and her husband that if charges were laid against her, she would release all the damaging evidence contained in the bags and boxes. Mr. Novack implored the police to let the matter go and Narcy and Ben reconciled, for a time.

Marital peace, if it ever existed, lasted only a short time. In 2009, Narcy was alerted to an affair her husband was having and became worried that Ben may dump her, leaving her with only the six figure payout from their prenuptial agreement. She stood to gain much more if he predeceased her.

By this time, the Novack’s net worth was about $10 million, including Ben’s million dollar Batman collection containing the original Batmobile prototype.

The couple’s business was booming and Narcy, Ben and Narcy’s adult daughter, May Abad, jetted off to an Amway convention in New York, checking into a suburban Hilton Hotel. On the first day of the convention, July 12, 2009. Mr. Novack was nowhere to be seen, which was very unusual for the hands-on business owner.

An hour later Novack was found brutally beaten in his hotel room, his face wrapped in duct tape, which also bound his hands and feet. His eyes had been gouged out with a knife.

Narcy feigned shock and horror when she discovered her husband’s body. She told the police that an hour earlier he had been alive and well in their hotel room and the likely suspects were business enemies of Mr. Novack or other Batman collectors.

More lies, of course. Surveillance photos from the hotel cameras captured Narcy’s brother, another relative and two others skulking away from the scene. She also failed a lie detector test. The whole sordid bunch were indicted for murder and on August 10, 2010 Narcy entered a plea of not guilty and was denied bail.

In yet another twist, the police later alleged that Narcy Novack had also murdered her 81 year-old mother-in-law, Bernice Novack in April 2009. Her death was ruled accidental at the time. In order for Narcy to inherit, she first had to get rid of Ben’s mother, which the prosecutors say she did.

Ms. Novack’s previously loyal daughter, May, then took the position that her mother was evil, and as the sole beneficiary of her husband’s estate, she ought to be deprived of the inheritance. Of course, it was May who would inherit if Narcy was convicted of her husband and mother-in-law’s murder.

But there was still more. The prosecutors also disclosed that Narcy was involved in a plot to plant drugs on her daughter May and to have her beaten up, perhaps murdered as well?

After a lengthy trial Narcy Novack was convicted of murdering her husband and his mother and was sentenced to life in prison with no parole. Her brother and several others were also convicted of murder.

Thomas Perry, American mystery author and Edgar award winner summed it up nicely:

“Sociopaths are people who do evil things because they don’t see any reason not to.”

Lawdiva aka Georgialee Lang