for forgiveness, it is up to them to determine if i will ever earn that right. >> i am glad he took accountability for his actions. it still does not bring my brother, back still does not change what either of them did. >> what they did. the madness of two. nathan is still serving his life sentence, no indication of when or if he will ever get out. but, duncan martinez is out, has been out of prison since april of 2021. in plenty of time, of course, for the summer solstice. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and this is dateline. >> i am being followed, there are threats on my life. i know we're in danger, i know we are.

>> it's a riveting mystery that started in a place of glamour. >> it became a destination for a rat packs, for frank sinatra -- >> and ended in a case of murder. the wealthy heir to this legendary hotel, dead. >> he was my father. he was the only father i ever knew. >> now, police said she was next. someone in the shadows gunning for her. >> my suspicions are growing and growing by the minute. >> so who is behind all this? plenty of suspects and plenty of motives. anger, jealousy, greed. someone had 10 million reasons to kill. >> if you look back and say, my god, i can't believe what i saw. >> you are not going to believe it either because in this case, there is a final terrifying twist. >> i see him arriving with the crowbar. ♪ ♪ ♪

>> hello and welcome to "dateline". ben novak junior was a successful entrepreneur and the wealthy son of a miami businessman. then, he was found bound and bludgeoned to death in a new york hotel room. who wanted ben novak dead? in this case, there was no shortage of suspects or, possible motives. but a mysterious letter will lead detectives in the direction no one expected. here is dennis murphy with family affair. >> if ever there was a little girl lost, it was may. >> from when i was little, i was always in the way. >> she survived a mother daughter relationship quite unlike any you've ever heard. >> my mother is like trying to hug a cactus. you will eventually get hurt. >> and at the intersection of

blood and money, -- intrigues you, there's plenty of both just ahead. >> it's really an amazing, unusual, frightening story. >> what ended so badly in a darkened hotel room with the curtains drawn, has its beginnings really in the warm sands of south florida. not the south beach of today with its hot bodies and pulsating dance clubs. that's all marketing reinvention of a much older miami beach. we need to go back 50 years or more. when caddies with tail fins were pulling into the newest, glitziest hotel and the east coast, the fountain would. >> miami should be a great city. >> a hotel real or dealer called ben novak builds it. steven gaines wrote about the era in his book fools paradise. >> it became a destination for the rat pack, frank sinatra, a lot of major stars were

appearing. lots of movies were shot there. >> novak was the king and he needed a queen to preside over his aqua colored palace. he found one in the former coca-cola model named bernie with her beauty and effortless charm, bernice turned out to be the perfect hostess to greet the celebrities, gangsters, and just plain guests, who made the fountain blue the scene of its day. king ben and queen bernice lived over the store in the penthouse suite, then came along the young prince, ben novak junior. >> he was a spoiled kid, he was a brat. >> ben junior, don't call him benji, would be trotted out to shake hands with the vip's. then it was back up the hotel elevator to home. birthday cakes came from room service. and the kids who came to the birthday party were complete strangers to him. just kids who are passing through the hotel. >> the friendless lonely boy disliked by his father's help lost himself in the fantasy world of batman.

the superhero became an obsession, even as an adult, ben junior was still amassing a floor to ceiling collection of batman memorabilia. he even bought a bat mobile from the old tv show. but there was no holding off the real world and change. just as the rat pack faded away, so too did the fountain blue. by the late seventies, miami beach was regarded as a stale place for old people. ben novak senior lost the hotel to bankruptcy and died not long afterwards. the son, ben junior, all grown up now, stayed in the hospitality business and made his mark. he created a company run out of his home here that organized conventions at big hotels. like his father, he was a hard nosed businessman, and in time, he was grossing $50 million a year. and like his father, he needed someone like his mother to mix and mingle with the clients. he found that woman in a recent emigrate from ecuador, her name

was --, and she had a little girl named may. >> why do you think they became a couple and not just passing through the night? >> my mother's a lot of fun. she definitely partied. >> when ben junior met her, she was partying for tips as a stripper in a sleazy miami club. supporting herself and her little girl. >> she did very well with it? >> she did very well. my mom is a survivor. she could do just about anything. >> she left behind her stripper pole to marry ben novak junior. but the little girl felt like so much excess baggage in her mother's new relationship. she was dispatched to boarding school at the age of eight. >> did you feel like you've been shipped off? >> kind of. >> you had a tough childhood? >> best thing is that it's over. >> ben junior and her mother lived in a 2 million dollar fort lauderdale state with a boat out back. his elderly mother, bernice,

live not far away. but may, the step fought daughter, was never going to be a good richmond trust fund kid. she grew up tough and hard, estranged from her mother. paying her own way with bartending and waitressing jobs. she had two children young and sweated the bills. it was the grandchildren that ultimately thawed some of the ice between mother and daughter. >> she may have been a horrible mother but she was the best grandmother. she did everything with them. >> and ben junior warmed to may. the one-time lonely prince belatedly seemed to recognize a kindred spirit in lonely, neglected may. >> he saw me as his daughter and i did see him as my father. and he had no children of his own. >> ben, after his own stunted childhood, finally found in his grandchildren some kids who wanted to play with all his batman stuff. >> he did a lot of the

grandfather things with them. a lot of, i, think why we saw so much of each other was because of those two boys. >> when she was in her late twenties, ben junior asked may to become part of his very successful convention organizing business. she would work alongside her mother and his mother, bernice it had taken 20 years, but they were finally becoming a family. >> i actually got older and got into the business, he was there guided me and showed me how to do things. >> and then sadness, in the spring of 2009, bernice, in her late eighties, had apparently slipped and took a nasty fall one coming out of her fall car. she struggled into the house and died. may thought the time had come. for years, ben had been asking her to consider becoming his legally adopted daughter. she thought it would be the perfect father's day gift for him. >> i started thinking we bernice had just passed and it would be something nice for him to be like, ok, you do have a daughter. because i do feel like i have him as a father, to this day. so it never got legally changed. the paperwork is still on his desk.

>> it never got attended to because of the brutal event three months after bernice's passing. ben, narci, and may we're putting up another big convention in a hotel in new york suburban district county. just after 7:30 sunday morning, on july 12th 2009. the last day of the convention. hotel security got the urgent call. something very bad had happened in one of the sweets. a 58-year-old man had been found bound and bludgeoned to death in the bedroom. ben novak junior, the one-time prince of the fountain blue, had been murdered. >> coming up. the investigation begins. >> but comings and goings of every room, every guest -- >> 150 rooms. >> when dateline continues. sotyktu is the first-of-its-kind, once-daily pill for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis... for the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding that outfit psoriasis tried to hide from you.

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in new york was host to 2000 amway conventioneers, that summer in 2009. one of the suites had become a homicide site. sergeant terri wilson, from the local police, would lead the investigation. >> i couldn't believe what we saw, i went in the room, and there was the victim, hog-tied, on the floor. and it was a bloody mess. >> what does that tell you? this was a targeted individual. >> is it true his eyes were also gouged out? >> yes, yes. >> sergeant wilson learned that the victim was banned novak, junior. a name that meant nothing to him. the murdered man's wife and stepdaughter had been escorted to a nearby hotel room, so investigators could take their statements.

the wife of 20 years, marsai, told sergeant wilson that her husband had been working on convention details all night, and, didn't go to bed, she thought until about 6:30. >> she then went downstairs to oversee getting breakfast organized for the convention attendees. >> did you verify that the wife was in attendance at the breakfast? >> we did, yes, we confirmed what she was saying. >> the stepdaughter, who manage the company money on these road trips, confirmed her mother story of coming down to pitch him with breakfast. >> i was thinking, yes, there are a lot of people, i wanted to take any help i could get. >> after the breakfast rush, narcy says she called her husband up in the room. no answer. >> and then she comes back at what 7:30 and find some? >> yes. >> she told detectives that she tripped over the body, then bolted over out of the room, to yell for help. >> our security guard was

holding at the end of his feet, and -- was continuing to lunge toward the body, howling and screaming at the top of her lungs. >> when -- later told police about the timeline of the murder, the computerize key confirmed her recollection. >> her courage was trying to get in the room at 7:30. >> she had been there just after midnight. >> there had been no activity up until midnight? >> going up until the door, and then runaway, telling us that she ran away from the inside. >> if narcy had been downstairs helping with breakfast, and no key other than the wife's had opened the door since midnight, who then, had admitted the killer or killers? an early on mystery. >> this woman, meanwhile, had been summoned to her hotel

suite by the manager. >> i asked what happened, and they said he's gone. what do you mean he's gone? try, go do something. the hotel guards wouldn't let her in the room. >> one officer said it was a bloodbath in there. >> a bloodbath that sent her mother into hysterics. >> she's emotional, she's whaling to you? >> she's throwing herself on the floor. she says, i think they are after all the convention money, it had to be a robbery, they know we have money, somebody must have been watching. >> unusually, the business ran on cash. the exhibitors would turn over their dollars to the stepdaughter may, and her assistance onsite. this weekend they had taken in over $100,000. that money was not being kept

in the hotel safe behind the desk. rather, it was being stashed in closets, under the beds of the staff members. question. had an insider, who knew about their business, tortured ben to cough up the cash? >> they had about $100,000 in cash. >> so you are in motivation country, right now. >> we are trying to figure out what's going on. >> they didn't get anything from him, so a horse i'm scared, not just for myself but for the staff. >> if someone had been roaming the hotel hallways, with money and murder on their mind, there were 2000 potential suspects. a detectives nightmare. >> we decided we were going to download the locks of the entire hotel. >> the comings and goings of every room? >> 450 rooms. it took us that much. >> the hotel was bristling with security cameras. unfortunately for the investigators, none were in the hallway outside the murder room. one of the first things the

cops did was round up all the cash. and get it stored in the hotel safe, until the banks opened in the morning. then sergeant wilson posted a guard at the hotel room, being shared by the mother and daughter. before that sunday night was over, the two women would have another round of questioning by the detectives. >> they totally grilled me, and you get mad. so first, i was fighting back. of course. >> they asked you the question, did you do it? >> correct. >> and one of the cop said, they have to ask these questions, and i said do, you have to get right here and ask the questions. >> this woman was a veteran westcott west chester county detective, she led some of the questioning. >> the daughter, what did you

make of her? >> pretty much, i got a feeling she was being honest. but you never know, people are deceptive. >> the cops went through narcy and her story once again, hoping for some investigative nugget. >> and she was grieving, exactly, a widow, we need that information, the last person that saw her. >> narcy told attractive there was something of value miss missing, a gold bracelet spelling out bens name in diamonds. an expensive rolex watch was still on the bed lying in blood. as well as an unexplained broken stem from a cheap pair of sunglasses. and then there was the matter of her husband's huge batman collection, a rare collection valued at $43,000 he was planning on selling. >> that might have been a motivation for murder? his passion in life. he had a valuable comic, someone else wanted it? >> correct. >> sunday was over. on monday, the cops would hear about the novak's type of sex games, on monday, when mother and daughter started to go for one another's throats. coming up -- >> the suspicions were growing and growing by the minute. when "dateline" continues.

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yes. poppy, i'm your sister. my what? whoo. did you just braid my hair? >> who had bound, gagged, and dennis murphy (voiceover): who had bound, gagged, and bludgeoned to death ben novack jr.? bludgeoned to death ben novack jr.? >> the scene was overwhelming. just thinking, oh my god. >> in this case, the detectives -- victim-ology would play a big role. finding out who the murdered person was, as well as the people in a circle of friends, his enemies. >> this is the address here? >> detective allison carpentier along with detective nelson would piece together an unflattering family portrait. >> in the beginning we didn't know if this is an affair, domestic, and random act? >> they cavill together the story of ben jr.. the while the son of a famous miami beach man with his eccentric batman collection. the wife from modest beginnings, the stepdaughter welcomed late to the family circle. >> we're still learning the dynamics of the family, how may was a stepchild. it took some time to learn about the family. >> the novak's came like the

cast from a bad reality show. but good old fashion robbers were number one in the homicide. >> a lot of guys don't like his style. >> that's correct. >> he could've cultivated enemies along the line. >> they're a lot of people who didn't like him. >> on the monday following the sunday morning murder, narcy took her daughter to the more to identify ben's body -- >> i'm throwing up in the garbage can, detectives are right there and everything else, and we'll turn around and she is just staring at him. there was no emotion at all. from her. >> that monday, late into the night, narcy and her daughter were interrogated by the detectives. >> i should've been there and i wish i got killed with him. >> detective carpentier broached the sensitive subject of the couple sex life. >> i know this is hard -- >> do you want it to leave? >> yes. >> with the male detective out of the room, detective carpentier managed to win narcy 's trust. she found out that ben's into bondage. >> did you like it -- >> now here he'd been tied up. >> right. >> in the homicide. did you think that this is a sex game gone wrong? >> we brought it up to her and i confronted her out on that in the interview. >> ben is found in a way that he enjoys sexually. >> no, no. >> i just found it odd that the way he finds pleasurable, he's killed in the same way.

>> because she was the spouse, the questions for narcy got sharper as the night were on. was she in on the murder? >> if i'm being asked if i let the men. no i did not let the men in. >> all the while, may have been outside eavesdropping in on her mother's interrogation. getting chills. >> may said that to me somebody told her it was a bloodbath. i don't remember anything blood. blood is red. >> just listening to her talk to detectives, nothing was making sense. >> when she heard her mother describe tripping over the body and reaching down to touch ben, alarms went off. she'd seen her mother shortly after that. >> i'm looking at her and there is no blood on her. >> in a scene that was described to you as a bloodbath? >> as a bloodbath, correct. and i'm looking at her from head toe -- >> and you don't see any evidence. >> i don't see any evidence on her. >> what's going on in your head? >> suspicions are growing, and growing by the minute. and i'm thinking that i'm a horrible human being for thinking my mom could do something like this.

>> for 14 relentless hours, homicide actives tried to pin back narcy novack's years. grilling her as if she masterminded her husband's murder. >> did you have anything to do with the death? >> no. >> >> she never went to the bathroom, the detectives would come in, question her, she would just keep going flowing. nothing fazed her. >> question, had ben hired a key escort girl to tie him up? >> she snarked the idea and told them to turn it down. >> have compassion, please, have mercy. if there is an electrical chair and i am a suspect, give it to me right now. put me out of my misery. i want to die. >> shortly after 9 pm, detective carpentier brought up the idea of a lie detective test. >> i take 100 like detectors. i do whatever you want me to do. >> at this point i'm hoping

that i am completely wrong. if she takes this polygraph tests, and she passes it, then i'm just going crazy my own head. there is no way that you could have done this. >> may also agreed to be polygraphed. but then narcy got cold feet about taking hers. >> so we ask, what's wrong with you? why don't you take the light detective test? >> the mother finally agreed to the polygraph. may would pass her test. but -- >> how did the lie detective test go for narcy? >> it didn't go well. >> she flunked it all the way through? >> yes. >> when the cops were finally done with the two of them for the night, may finally confronted her mother. >> i asked her to her face -- >> what? did you have something to do with this? >> i did. i got in her face. and they had pictures of the crime scene and i smacked them in her face --

>> you think that she killed ben junior? >> i think that something to do with it. i didn't think she did it herself, personally. >> the cops had only started to peel back the many layers of the novack family story. there is still so much about these people they did not know. >> coming up -- >> i see my mother coming at me with a crowbar. >> when dateline continues.

>> welcome back to dateline. i'm craig melvin. was narcy novak involved in the murder of her wealthy husband?

the new widow told detectives that when she found him tied him up similar to the way they even found, she also failed a lie detector test. even so, investigators had no evidence linking her to the crime. but there was one person condense of nice's guilt. her own daughter. may -- and she was about to put herself at risk to prove it. here again is dennis murphy with family affair. >> the cops were spool-ing through hours of television looking for what they didn't know exactly sure. homicide investigation was underway. >> we were leaving the doors open as far as we were concerned, everything is on the table until the investigation led to get us back to arrest. >> it was at the medical examiner. mother and daughter attached now by blood only, returned to florida separately. may had her own agenda. telling the cops she had helped them anyway she could. she was collecting her things from her parents house when she stopped at the guest cottage, where ben had his home office. she was snooping through his files for the detectives, when she turned to see her mother upon her like a fury. >> i see my mother coming at me with a crowbar.

and i very quickly, she swung, it and i pick my arm, up and she got this whole end. on me with a crowbar. >> it was literally the final blow for may. she was calling me a traitor. >> she knew that you were giving evidence against her. >> yeah. >> could you have backed off at that point? could you have been a good little daughter and falling in line? >> no. it's not in me. i knew what she had done was wrong, even though she was my mother, i knew she was wrong. >> the battleground between mother and daughter then moved from the novak house, to the courthouse. i take no prisoner's fight over the well. >> may was given the cops her theory, her mother had murdered her stepfather for the inheritance. nicely as the beneficiary stood together in a state estimated at $10 million. lock, stock, and bat mobile. >> at this point my mother was to get everything. and i was like, she is gonna

get away with this. >> may filed a civil lawsuit against her mother, arguing the probate court should not award narcy ben's money because she hadn't killed. the judge ended up freezing ben's assets while the court looked into the daughter's allegations. >> so the big money was nice, but the mother already at then illicitly cleaned out safe deposit boxes kept by ben and his mother. >> was she on the list of people that had the key to get? >> no she was not. no she was not. >> she told them a story. >> she did. >> my husband's out in the car waiting. >> yes. >> and he had been dead for a week at that point? >> yeah. >> narcy was saying leaving the bank with a duffel bag. with police scrutinizing her every move, and may hounding her. narcy hired new york attorney, howard -- >> he says 90 did have authority to get into those safe deposit boxes. he also disputed maze contention that narcy was involved in her husband's death. >> she had absolutely nothing

to do with. it and when she discovers ben novak, she acted consistently with how anyone else would act in that situation. >> and the defense attorney urged anyone looking at this case to follow the money in ben's murder. down, they're in the fine print of the well, it shows that may, the daughter, may have had her own reason for wanting ben dead, and her mother accused. >> may and her children with an excellent.

>> if somehow narcy was removed from the line of inheritance, the daughter mejia, would have gotten the money for her children. >> correct,. >> was narcy out of the picture, may would've got a flat $150, 000, and her two boys, the rest of the 10 million dollar estate. >> nicely began offering her own theory of the crime. >> may did it. >> when she realized, you know, the finger was pointed unmanned on her, she accused me. >> arranging to kill ben. for the money. >> yes. >> the mother and daughter finger-pointing accusations continued without cease-fire. even as the internet man and his family mausoleum. narcy, hidden bags in the sunglasses and a scarf and had ignored her daughter. the mother was flying by arms bodyguards. the daughter brought her sons. >> one of my mother's bodyguards flashed his guns at my kids. >> i am packing and cases and at one of those guns adjusters. >> yeah. >> i thought the extent of everything, when she threatened her own grandkids. and i always said, she would never due to anything to her grandkids. she loved these kids. >> there was a mother daughter war. ben blood for sure. but the detectives were buffalo

there was another close relative of interest in this toxic family portrait. and more crimes to investigate. perhaps even another murder. >> coming up, a clue that could turn the case upside down. >> this is shocking, and it could be a big break. >> when dateline continues. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes.

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help treat the inflammation beneath the skin, causing plaques and pain, it's time to get real about psoriasis, so, your dermatologist can help you get clear. make the appointment and ask about real clear skin. >> mother and daughter each had dennis murphy (voiceover): mother and daughter so, your dermatologist can help you get clear. each had a $10 million motive for murder, a 10 million dollar motive for murder, as the detective thought, sergeant terry wilson was focusing on narcy. he knew he did not have enough to charge her, at least not

yet. she had an alibi for the assume time of the murder the case against her was circumstantial. so someone else must have gotten into the room and told her husband, but who? >> then seemingly out of nowhere, anonymous letter fluttered on to the desk of a detective away from the crime scene. this officer had been an investigator in florida, and personally knew nothing of the case, and his department was not involved. >> there was other people that had heard the name, i was not one of them, until i talked to detective wilson in new york. >> the letter, written in spanish, was nothing less than a blueprint to the murder, naming names and citing motivations. >> this is shocking and it could be a big break. sergeant wilson, up in west chester, could not wait to see it. >> whoever wrote this letter, obviously had information inside information. >> looking back, that letter had the whole story. the greed, the obstacles. >> the facts on the money. >> here's the gist of the letter. it claims narcy's brother, a man named cristobal, had hired some people to kill ben. sergeant wilson and his team paid an unannounced visit to the brother.

>> we caught him off-guard. he told us to sit down, and he would be more than happy to answer any questions that we had. as we sit down, we sit at the kitchen table. and the kitchen table is literally papers. >> wilson and another detective spied something on top of the heap. >> this is all right out in the open. it's too good to be true. pinch me. and we are holding the conversation with him trying not to focus on the table. because we don't want to dry attention to it. >> when narcy's brother left the room, the sergeants partner furiously copy down dates and other information. why would the brother, just a let's driver scraping by, be loaning money to another person in miami. >> alejandro garcia. >> the surname garcia and miami is like murphy in boston. >> yes it is, it is. >> they began writing it all down. and security cameras began picking up narcy wiring the money from philly, but at the other end in miami. cameras are on the fritz. no luck in getting pictures of

this garcia guy picking it up. so they moved on to the brother's cell phone number. they found frequent calls to a woman in miami. turns out the phone belonged to garcia's ex girlfriend. they were using it to talk to her. >> -- >> a garcia with a bad eye, the database near search was narrowed. >> and now we have some sort of physical description, to see if this individual is and lo and behold, he was. >> so garcia with a bum eye comes out of the database? >> >> he pops up. and we get a photo. >> with alejandro garcetti is before them, they really racked those security tapes from before. >> this is the main entrance.

here they come. >> bingo, there was garcia in the dark shirt with somebody else. his ex girlfriend said he always wore sunglasses to protect his bad eye. but he was not wearing them on that day. >> then you see the two of them, walking very fast, alejandro has the bag, he doesn't have his glasses on anymore. >> with the broken frames? which are now? >> >> apparently, as the victim reacts to the assault, he hits alejandro in the face, breaking the glasses, the glasses fall off onto the bed. >> they re-wound the tapes even further back, to the first day

of the convention, and there they were again. garcia in sunglasses and a yellow shirts, and the other guy casing the hotel. in one chilling scene, they check out their future victim, ben novak junior. in the lobby. >> and then less than 48 hours, they're going to do it. >> that's right. >> the second man's ided as a gonzalez. wilson's team had two targets, and started with the apparent leader garcia. >> we started to hunt him down. >> the miami hunt didn't take long. garcia was picked up on an outstanding warrant, the new york cops braced him. garcia denied ever being in new york. >> he is on video in the hotel. >> they wanted to smoke out their one-eyed suspect. they showed him stills from the footage. garcia and he suspected accomplice in the hotel. there was a tape recording of a phone call between the detective, and narcy's brother. in the call, narcy's brother

sounding all cooperative, says he wants to help the cops. and gives them the name of alejandro garcia as the person good for the murder. >> [inaudible] >> garcia listens silently as the brother threw him under the bus. >> he was the one who did the murder. cristobal told me you did it. >> he denied being the hitman in that interrogation. but the message was clear. get on board now, confess, or take the fall. >> he's going to be booked on charges of murder. >> meanwhile, the evidence against narcy's brother was piling up. cell phone records showed him near the hotel on the morning of the murder. evidence he provided a getaway car and driver. >> who is in charge of this

gang, the conspirators? >> the street boss that was handling everything that was going on with crystal ball. >> and who was the boss of bosses? with a 10 million dollar motive, there was only one answer for the cops. narcy novack had ordered the hit on her husband. >> obviously, he didn't report it to [inaudible] >> what started as a small suburban investigation, was now a multi state conspiracy case. the decision was made to let federal prosecutors take the complex conspiracy to try. the suspected hitmen were offered a deal. testify against narcy and her brother, or go away to prison for what would likely be life sentences. the two confessed to be the hit man in a murder for hire scheme. then garcia shocked the prosecutors. there was something else. a second murder that they did not know about. and if they didn't act fast, he

said, a third was on the way. >> coming up, just who was in the crosshairs? >> there was a hit out on me. >> when dateline continues! hoes. they know a 10 when they see it. after advil. feeling better? on top of the worlddddd!!! before advil. advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. when pain comes for you, come back fast with advil liqui-gels. she found it. the feeling of finding the psoriasis treatment she's been looking for. sotyktu is the first-of-its-kind, once-daily pill for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis... for the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding that outfit psoriasis tried to hide from you. or finding your swimsuit is ready for primetime. dad! once-daily sotyktu is proven to get more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu; serious reactions can occur. sotyktu can lower your ability to fight infections including tb. serious infections, cancers including lymphoma, muscle problems,

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this is the brother-- learn more today. dennis murphy (voiceover): the two hitmen had confessed, admitting to killing ben novack jr. they claimed ben's wife >> the two hitmen had confessed. admitting to killing ben novack junior. they claimed, vance wife and narcy and her brother painted them to do it. but still qatar days have been filed against total please continue to investigate. and then the hitman, alejandro garcia dropped a bombshell.

he claims he also killed someone else on orders from narcy and her brother. almost a year earlier. and he had gotten away with it. the murder for hire, none other than ben novack's 87 year old mother bernese. the one-time queen of the fountain will, died three months before ben, when florida cops and medical examiner roles was an accidental death. a slip and fall getting out of her car. >> how is the killer? >> he had a monkey wrench, and he took what appeared to be a baseball swing, header several times in the head. >> garcia said he got paid $600 for the job. but why kill ben's 87 year old mother? because in ben's, well and place at the time, if he died first, his mother, not as bright nausea, would be the primary beneficiary. but what brittani said, there was nothing standing in narcy's way. >> had they not try to kill ben, and succeeded in killing ben, they probably would have never been caught.

>> and there was more. when detectives arrested garcia, they learned that still a third murder might be in the works. someone else provided for in the well. narcy's daughter, may. >> she was in serious peril. >> and i was believe that she was. i just couldn't prove it's anybody. but when we sat down with and alejandro garcia and learned that there was a hit made on may, that had become concerning. >> a batted photo of may had been found -- wallet. he was so that she would be the next job. >> while may freaked. she needed to move apartments asap. and tilt that will prosecutors she didn't have the money. the feds told her that they would get or the money but the paperwork would take time. detective allison carpenter didn't think that there was time. >> and here came a moment a big moral dilemma, ethical dilemma as you as a person and an officer. >> yes. it was hard.

>> what did you decide to do? >> i decided to give them the money and tell them all. >> your money. from your bank account? >> yes. >> the west chester detective loans made $5,000 of our own money. may promised to pay her back. when prosecutors learned of it, they remove detective carpentier from the case. the defense they admonished with a college buying witness testimony. >> i said i cannot sleep, knowing that if i wake up tomorrow morning something happens to may and her children, then i did nothing. >> i am very grateful to her. because if i didn't move when i did, i wouldn't be here today. >> almost a year after ben's murder, narcy was indicted. and walked before the cameras of america's most wanted. she and her brother cristobal were charged with racketeering and conspiracy for two murders, witness tampering, and a host of other charges. >> the plot that led to the death of ben novack was a family affair.

>> when the trial got underway, federal court, garcia, the hitman, testified in ice-cold detail how he killed ben novack junior. >> so how did they get into the room? >> narcy opened the door and let them in. >> prosecutors argued that morning that there was a small window of opportunity for narcy to let the hitman in, and direct the assault on her sleeping husband. >> the victim was in bed. they got right into position, they signaled, one, two, three, and then boom, the assault starts. >> and they are banging him in the head. >> him all over the, head to hit him in the ribs. brutally. >> the two hitmen used small hand weights to pummel then. narcy looked on. >> then there is a point in time where i guess he is making sounds, moans, and she tosses a pillow to keep him quiet. >> did they say that narcy tells them to cut it out his eyes? >> she did. >> admit child the case against 90s but there was solid. a long trail up wire transfers,

credit card receipts, and saw phone records, connected him to the hitman. but for narcy, it was primarily the hitman's word against hers. until the jury heard about narcy's secret cell phone. on the morning of the murder, garcia testified that narcy called her brother a while they wait at a gas station near the hotel. >> now she makes a call from that phone at 6:39 in the morning. saying come on in. >> the coast is clear. >> the coast is clear. that becomes huge because it is her calling bring the killer. >> isn't that putter right at the top of the plot of the conspiracy. >> yes. >> and there is yet another twist. would you be surprised to learn that there was another woman in the story? a person named rebecca bliss. bliss a south florida tattoo artist, and sometimes porn actress, was having an affair with ben junior. he put her up in a nice waterfront apartment, told bless he was going to leave his wife for her. narcy, the story goes, learned

of the affair, and calls a bliss, saying if i cannot have them, no one will. six months later, he was dead, and without eyes to ever look at another woman. this case was about money. >> and it was about narcy not being wanted to be replace. >> one defense attorney howard tanner put on his case, he zeroed in on the hitmen's credibility. and their motivation and testifying. they also attacks their allegation that narcy was in the room during the murder. >> they themselves state that they would do anything to help themselves. in my book, they would have been willing to lie. >> it's nicely in the room? >> absolutely not. >> and how about the disturbing direction she allegedly gives them? gouges eyes out? >> it didn't happen. >> the defense also suggested that narcy's daughter may, could have somehow been involved in the murder, so she and her sons could inherit ben's estate. >> may hadn't arceneaux back in her way. if narcy novack disappears, she takes and her children take under the will. those are facts. >> so that's the defense? jurors consider who is gonna get this money here. and it's not just narcy novack,

it's a daughter, may. >> there was an incomplete investigation done in this case. i am not claiming that anyone else committed this murder. the defense here is that narcy novack did not commit this murder. >> detectives concluded that may new nothing about that ends well. until well after the murder. >> i didn't even know that miami name or the boys names were in this well. >> after a nine-week trial, narcy and her brother were found guilty of racketeering and conspiracy in the death of ben novack junior and his mother bernese. they were acquitted up only one charge involving the theft of ben's diamond bracelet. for the crime that conspirators almost got away with, the murder of bernice novack, the conviction carried a mandatory life sentence for both. >> the best part of it was, that bernie's could finally rest in peace. >> after the verdict, narcy spoke by telephone with dateline from prison. she says she would never had done anything to harm her husband ben. and was innocent of all the charges. >> sergeant terry wilson and his team of detectives, the prosecutors, won their case with some big assist from may. now her mother is gone. and will spend the rest of our life in prison. >> she didn't see what she had in front of her. she had her daughter. she had two grandchildren that totally loved her. and now she has nothing. >> and greed and some amount of

jealousy presumably is driving this. >> absolutely. no matter what, i love my mother. she was my mother. she had grandchildren that adored her that would have done anything for her. and they did. and she just threw it all away. through it all away for money. >> if you go to miami beach, the fountain blue is still there. all spruced up with a new lease on life. and may has a fresh new outlook on the rest of her life to. >> amir buddy. >> in 2011, may welcomed a new little guy in her life. a son she named him ben after the lost prince, the namesake he never got to meet. >> that's all for this edition of dateline, i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching.