MANHATTAN U.S. ATTORNEY CHARGES NARCISA NOVACK AND CRISTOBAL VELIZ WITH THE MURDERS OF BEN AND BERNICE NOVACK

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and JANET DiFIORE, the District Attorney of Westchester County, today announced the filing in White Plains federal court of an 11-count Superseding Indictment charging NARCISA NOVACK and her brother, CRISTOBAL VELIZ, with racketeering offenses, including the murders of Bernice Novack in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on April 4, 2009, and of Ben Novack, Bernice Novack’s son and NARCY NOVACK’s husband, at the Hilton Rye Town Hotel in Westchester County on July 12, 2009.

Mr. BHARARA stated: "This Indictment alleges racketeering acts that run the gamut from murder to robbery to obstruction of justice -– a bloody and corrupt chain of events for which the defendants will now have to answer to a jury."

According to the Superseding Indictment filed in White Plains federal court:

From in or about February 2009 to in or about January 2011, the Veliz Enterprise -- consisting of NOVACK, VELIZ, and others -- was "a group of individuals associated in fact" that engaged in "a pattern of racketeering activity" including the assault and murder of Bernice Novack, the robbery and murder of Ben Novack, as well as other crimes that were allegedly committed after his murder. That conduct included NARCY NOVACK’s theft of approximately $95,000 in cash belonging to Convention Concepts Unlimited, her husband’s company; NOVACK’s laundering of those funds through a number of bank accounts; an endeavor by CRISTOBAL VELIZ to have a witness killed; and a number of endeavors by NOVACK and VELIZ to pay a witness for false exculpatory testimony.

Both defendants are charged with: racketeering, which carries a maximum prison term of life; racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum prison term of life; conspiracy, which carries a maximum prison term of 5 years; interstate domestic violence, which carries a maximum prison term of life; stalking, which carries a maximum prison term of life; and obstruction ofjustice, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. NOVACK is also charged with: interstate transportation of stolen property, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years; and two counts of money laundering, each of which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years. VELIZ is also charged with: tampering with a witness, which carries a maximum prison term of 20 years.

Both defendants are scheduled to be arraigned before United States District Judge KENNETH M. KARAS at 10:00 a.m. on April 8, 2011. Mr. BHARARA praised the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Rye Brook Police Department, and prosecutors and investigators from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office for their cooperative work in this investigation and prosecution.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys ELLIOTT B. JACOBSON, ANDREW DEMBER, JEFFREY ALBERTS, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney PERRY PERRONE of the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, cross-designated for this case, are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and the defendants are innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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