Ben Novack killer gets 10 years; cooperation reduced sentence
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Joel J. Gonzalez / Miami Herald
Defendants in the Novack Case
Narcy Novack - Ben Novack’s wife. Devised and bankrolled the plot to attack her husband and mother-and-law. Convicted and sentenced to life. Currently serving in federal prison in Tallahassee, Fla., while appealing the conviction.
Cristobal Veliz - Narcy’s brother. Hired and transported the hit men and handled the planning for both attacks. Convicted and sentenced to life. Currently serving in the Big Sandy federal prison in Inez, Ky. Appealing his conviction.
Alejandro Garcia - Hired hit man who killed both Ben Novack Jr. and Bernice Novack. Pleaded guilty under a cooperation agreement with prosecutors. Scheduled to be sentenced in September.
Joel Gonzalez - Helped Garcia beat Ben Novack to death. Pleaded guilty under a cooperation agreement. Sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison.
Denis Ramirez - Veliz’s son-in-law. Indicted with Narcy Novack, Veliz and Gonzalez in July 2010. Pleaded guilty the following year, admitting that he drove Garcia and Gonzalez to and from the Hilton Rye Town the morning that Ben Novack was killed. Scheduled for sentencing June 26.
Francisco Picado - Ramirez’s cousin and friend of Veliz. Pleaded guilty as an accessory after the fact, admitting he drove Garcia and Gonzalez from Brooklyn back to Miami a few hours after they had killed Ben Novack Jr. Spared prison time and sentenced to two years of supervised release.
Narcy Novack - Ben Novack’s wife. Devised and bankrolled the plot to attack her husband and mother-and-law. Convicted and sentenced to life. Currently serving in federal prison in Tallahassee, Fla., while appealing the conviction.
Cristobal Veliz - Narcy’s brother. Hired and transported the hit men and handled the planning for both attacks. Convicted and sentenced to life. Currently serving in the Big Sandy federal prison in Inez, Ky. Appealing his conviction.
Alejandro Garcia - Hired hit man who killed both Ben Novack Jr. and Bernice Novack. Pleaded guilty under a cooperation agreement with prosecutors. Scheduled to be sentenced in September.
Joel Gonzalez - Helped Garcia beat Ben Novack to death. Pleaded guilty under a cooperation agreement. Sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison.
Denis Ramirez - Veliz’s son-in-law. Indicted with Narcy Novack, Veliz and Gonzalez in July 2010. Pleaded guilty the following year, admitting that he drove Garcia and Gonzalez to and from the Hilton Rye Town the morning that Ben Novack was killed. Scheduled for sentencing June 26.
Francisco Picado - Ramirez’s cousin and friend of Veliz. Pleaded guilty as an accessory after the fact, admitting he drove Garcia and Gonzalez from Brooklyn back to Miami a few hours after they had killed Ben Novack Jr. Spared prison time and sentenced to two years of supervised release.
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One of the men who brutally beat Florida millionaire Ben Novack Jr. to death at the Hilton Rye Town was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in federal prison.
“I feel like a coward because a man would’ve done the right thing,” Joel Gonzalez told U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains as he asked for “mercy on my soul.
“The terrible mistake I made was I failed to have the strength to say no to this group of violent people.”
Gonzalez, 28, sought leniency from what could have been a life sentence by highlighting his cooperation and how his testimony helped convict Novack’s widow, Narcy, and her brother, Cristobal Veliz, the orchestrators of the 2009 hotel attack and the earlier fatal beating of Narcy Novack’s mother-in-law, Bernice Novack. The siblings are serving life in prison.
Interactive graphic: Who’s who in the Novack murder case at http://www.lohud.com/flash/novack/.
Karas told Gonzalez he was perplexed that someone with a limited criminal history and no violence in his past would have been in the defendant’s position. He seemed unmoved by arguments of Gonzalez’s gullibility.
“You’re a grown man, you’re a resourceful person, you could have walked away,” Karas said. “You did what you did and a man is dead.”
But he gave Gonzalez a huge break from the 24 to 30 years called for in sentencing guidelines because Gonzalez’s testimony was so crucial to the conviction of the ringleaders. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Dember called Gonzalez’s account “truthful and forthright, significant and extremely helpful” to the prosecution.
Gonzalez was also sentenced to five years post-release supervision. He had previously agreed to forfeit the $3,500 he had received from Veliz.
Narcy Novack, a former stripper, was aware of an affair her husband was having with a porn actress-tattoo artist and feared she’d be cut out of his millions if he divorced her.
“I feel like a coward because a man would’ve done the right thing,” Joel Gonzalez told U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains as he asked for “mercy on my soul.
“The terrible mistake I made was I failed to have the strength to say no to this group of violent people.”
Gonzalez, 28, sought leniency from what could have been a life sentence by highlighting his cooperation and how his testimony helped convict Novack’s widow, Narcy, and her brother, Cristobal Veliz, the orchestrators of the 2009 hotel attack and the earlier fatal beating of Narcy Novack’s mother-in-law, Bernice Novack. The siblings are serving life in prison.
Interactive graphic: Who’s who in the Novack murder case at http://www.lohud.com/flash/novack/.
Karas told Gonzalez he was perplexed that someone with a limited criminal history and no violence in his past would have been in the defendant’s position. He seemed unmoved by arguments of Gonzalez’s gullibility.
“You’re a grown man, you’re a resourceful person, you could have walked away,” Karas said. “You did what you did and a man is dead.”
But he gave Gonzalez a huge break from the 24 to 30 years called for in sentencing guidelines because Gonzalez’s testimony was so crucial to the conviction of the ringleaders. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Dember called Gonzalez’s account “truthful and forthright, significant and extremely helpful” to the prosecution.
Gonzalez was also sentenced to five years post-release supervision. He had previously agreed to forfeit the $3,500 he had received from Veliz.
Narcy Novack, a former stripper, was aware of an affair her husband was having with a porn actress-tattoo artist and feared she’d be cut out of his millions if he divorced her.
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