Menachem Stark murder case

Menachem (Max) Stark (July 15, 1974 – January 3, 2014) was an American real estate developer based in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. A prominent member of Brooklyn's Hasidic community, Stark was kidnapped outside his office at 331 Rutledge Street in Brooklyn on January 2, 2014,^[1] in an intended robbery.^[2] His body was found smoldering in a dumpster^[3] outside a Getty station on Cutter Mill Road in Great Neck, New York,^[4] on January 3, 2014.

According to coroner reports, he died of suffocation, and was also badly burned on his torso and hands. When found, he had $4,000 cash in his pocket, and uncashed checks in his name worth another $41,000.^[5]

Stark exited his office at around 11:45pm on January 2, 2014, into a heavy blizzard. A surveillance camera positioned near the office captured images of Stark struggling with two attackers for nearly five minutes, before being forced into a silver Dodge Caravan.^[6] Broken handcuffs and plastic restraining tape were later found on the sidewalk.^[7]

During the weeks before his death, Stark reportedly ended his conversations with the phrase "Please pray for me", and asked the person to whom he was speaking to invoke his name and his mother's name, a sign in Orthodox Judaism of someone facing a life-threatening situation.^[8]

Cause of death, arrest of suspect

In May 2014, construction worker Kendal Felix, 29, was indicted on charges of second-degree murder, kidnapping, and attempted robbery in the Stark case.^[9] Felix lived in nearby Crown Heights, and had done about $20,000 worth of construction work for Stark but had not been paid. He said that he and two accomplices had kidnapped Stark, hoping to get the money.^[10] According to the New York Post, Felix confessed to the killing and admitted to being the driver of the van, as well as one of the men who wrestled with Stark on the sidewalk.

The Post said that Felix implicated two other men in the murder, but that they had been arrested and then released.^[11] According to Felix's alleged confession, one of the accomplices said "He owes me money" just before they grabbed Stark.^[9]

According to the Nassau County Medical Examiner, which conducted an autopsy, Stark died of asphyxia by compression of the neck and chest. Felix indicated that the death was unintentional, and occurred after one of Felix's accomplices sat on Stark inside the minivan.^[12]

Loan defaults and missing money

Public records showed that Stark and his business partner, Israel Perlmutter, had some business troubles dating back to the real estate market crash, including a $29 million loan default resulting in a 2009 bankruptcy and a lawsuit in 2011,^[13] and an unrelated $2.9 million loan default that lead to a $4 million judgement in 2012.^[14] The media also reported on a long list of building violations in properties owned by Stark and his partners.^[15] Tenants had described revolting conditions in Stark-owned residential buildings for many years, although shortly after Stark's death, glowing reviews of his properties began to appear on social media sites.^[16][17][18]

Among Stark and Perlmutter's creditors was the Broadway Bank of Chicago, notable for its association with President Barack Obama and for its loans to organized crime figures, such as convicted bookmaker Michael "Jaws" Giorango. Stark and Perlmutter defaulted on a $1.5 million loan from the bank, part of the $104 million in loan defaults that contributed to the bank's demise.^[19]

Bank accounts belonging to Southside LLC (Stark and Perlmutter's corporation) appear to have been tampered with to conceal a diversion of funds. According to court filings, $3.6 million was found to be missing from accounts maintained by Southside LLC. Unauthorized withdrawals had been made in the second half of 2013.^[20]

Jonathan Flaxer, a trustee appointed by the bankruptcy court to oversee the Southside LLC case,^[21] said that Stark had "obtained cashier's checks made out to a multitude of individuals, entities and law firms to pay for personal debts or for use in other real estate transactions."^[22] According to the Daily News, the checks were marked "customer withdrawal". The Daily News said that court records show that, in the month before Stark was murdered, five "customer withdrawals" were taken out from the account, totaling $267,101.

According to court records, a rent security account at one of Southside LLC's businesses contained only $3,500, when it should have in excess of $200,000 on deposit. The account contained rents collected from the company's buildings, which the company continued to manage as its bankruptcy was being processed.

Flaxer said he would call Stark's widow and his partner Perlmutter to testify in the case. Perlmutter, via his attorney, said he would use his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination if he is questioned about the missing money.

Perlmutter also reportedly told police that the pair owed about $1 million to a loan shark and/or a Russian businessman.^[23]

Stark died without a will.^[24]

Outrage about New York Post front page

The New York Post featured an image of the deceased Stark on the front page of their January 5 edition with the headline "Who Didn't Want Him Dead?"^[25] The front page sparked outrage, specifically among members of the Orthodox Jewish Community, amid suggestions that the Post was helping to create a climate of violence.^[26] Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind, and other local politicians condemned the coverage at a press conference at Brooklyn Borough Hall,^[27] and there were calls for a boycott of the tabloid. The Post refused to apologize, saying that the headline referred only to Stark's "many enemies", and expressed its sympathies to the deceased man's family.^[28][29] Stark left behind a wife and seven children.

Stark was publicly mourned by the Hasidic community. The Jewish Daily Forward noted that, "For his Satmar friends and colleagues, Stark, 38, embodied the best of their world: a generous person with an open wallet for anyone in search of aid."^[30] The Forward added that "Stark appears to have personified a contradiction familiar both inside and outside ultra-Orthodox circles: a pious philanthropist whose business dealings didn't always live up to avowed communal standards."

After his death, the Chassidic fertility charity Bonei Olam dedicated a new Clinical Genetics Fund in his name "to help couples with genetic issues realize their dreams of parenthood".^[31]

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