Narcy Novack Sentenced To Life In Family Killings Case
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBSMiami/AP) – Narcy Novack, the South Florida woman who was convicted of hiring hit men to beat her husband and mother-in-law to death has been sentenced to life in prison.
Narcy Novack of Fort Lauderdale was not in the White Plains, N.Y., courtroom to hear the sentence on Monday. She waived her right to appear, just as she did when the verdict was delivered in June.
Her brother and co-defendant, Cristobal Veliz of Brooklyn, was also sentenced to life in prison in federal court in White Plains.
They were convicted in June of hiring hit men to carry out the 2009 beating deaths of Ben Novack Jr. in New York and Bernice Novack in Florida. Ben Novack was the son of the man who built the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach.
The U.S. attorney's office asked Judge Kenneth Karas to impose life sentences. Prosecutor Elliott Jacobsen wrote in court papers that Novack and Veliz "engaged in the very worst criminal conduct imaginable."
Novack's lawyer, Howard Tanner, told the judge that federal guidelines would be satisfied with a 27-year sentence. Novack is 56.
"She would be released from prison an elderly woman with virtually no possessions or home," Tanner wrote. But a sentence short of life in prison would give her at least "a chance of reformation and rehabilitation," he said.
Prosecutors said Narcy Novack feared that her husband would divorce her, and that a prenuptial agreement would bar her from the multimillion-dollar family estate. Her motives were "hatred, greed and vengeance," the sentencing memo said.
One key witness at the trial was Rebecca Bliss, a former prostitute and porn actress, who said she was having an affair with Ben Novack when he was killed.
She said Narcy Novack offered her $10,000 to end the affair. According to Bliss, Novack said that, "If she couldn't have him, no other woman was going to have him."
The government said Novack recruited her brother and he hired a group of thugs who testified about slamming Bernice Novack in the teeth and head with a plumber's wrench and beating Ben Novack with barbells and slicing his eyes with a knife.
Veliz testified at length, denying any involvement and blaming Novack's daughter, May Abad, for the killings. Abad's two sons stand to inherit the bulk of the family estate, which includes Ben Novack's large collection of Batman memorabilia.
Narcy Novack did not testify.
In addition to the murder charge, the defendants were convicted of domestic violence, stalking, money laundering and witness tampering.
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