57: Miami Beach Royalty: The Novack Murders (Part 1)

Southern Fried True Crime

Erica Kelley

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

4.6 • 10.5K Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2019

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The history of the infamous Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach is fascinating. Mobsters, movie stars and and scandal helped the brilliant and ruthless hotelier Ben Novack Sr. propel his hotel onto the world stage, where it remains today. But the brutal murders of his ex-wife Bernice and son, Ben Jr. rocked America and the squabble over the Novack fortune is still winding through the Florida probate courts to this day.

Sources: https://www.southernfriedtruecrime.com/57-58-the-novack-murders-parts-1-2

Suggested Reading: The Prince of Paradise by John Glatt & Fools Paradise by Steven Gaines for more history of Miami Beach and an interview with Ben Novack Jr.

Written, hosted, produced by Erica Kelley
Researched by Erica Kelley
Edited by Chaes Gray
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner
Original Music by Rob Harrison-Gamma Radio

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Transcript

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0:00.0	7.
0:05.7	Southern Fried True Crime Covers Cases That Are Not Suitable For Young Listeners
0:09.9	And There May Also Be Some Explicit Language Used.
0:13.4	Listener Disgression Is Advised.
0:25.0	Most of us can't understand what it means to be truly wealthy.
0:29.4	That's a reason it's called the 1%.
0:31.9	A peat behind the carton to those unicorns who are born into the privilege and glamour
0:36.3	of the Uber Rich is often air-resistible.
0:40.2	Ben Novak, his wife Bernice and their son Ben Jr., known in childhood as Benji, encapsulated
0:46.9	everything about the rich and famous in the 1960s.
0:50.8	Ben Sr. built the infamous Fountain Blue Hotel on the strip of Miami Beach in 1954.
0:57.6	Ben and Bernice Novak were held as the king and queen of Miami Beach.
1:02.3	And Benji came up the lonely prince in the tower, living on the 17th floor, waited on
1:07.2	hand and foot, his every whim granted, Ben Novak Jr's only friends were really employees.
1:14.2	This colored his adult life in many ways.
1:17.5	He had trouble making and maintaining intimate relationships.
1:21.3	But he was a brilliant, if-called businessman.
1:24.1	The saga of the Miami Beach Novak family ends in the bankruptcy of the Fountain Blue and
1:29.7	two brutal murders.
1:31.8	Scandals which captivated the nation, spurning lawsuits which are still winding their way through
1:36.4	probate court.
1:40.2	Welcome to episode 57, Miami Beach Royalty, the Novak murders, part 1.
	...

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