A list of enemies 'a mile long': Kidnapped and murdered millionaire real estate developer was 'a slumlord' claim cops as his funeral is held

  • Menachem Stark, 39, who was kidnapped outside his Brooklyn office has been found dead in a dumpster in Great Neck, Long Island
  • The body was badly burned and law enforcement said it was recovered on Friday
  • Hundreds of mourners honored Stark during funeral in Brooklyn Saturday night
  • Members of Satmar Hasidic community remembered Stark for his generosity
  • Two men reportedly forced Stark into a white Dodge minivan
  • His family has put up a $100,00 reward for his safe return
  • Brother Yitzy describes Menachem as a 'good man, a great man'

By James Nye and Snejana Farberov

PUBLISHED: 02:06 EST, 5 January 2014 | UPDATED: 11:17 EST, 5 January 2014


A multimillionaire New York real estate developer whose charred body was found in a gas station garbage bin was a 'slum lord' and 'loan shark' with a list of enemies 'a mile long,' police have revealed.

Detectives attempting to track down the men who kidnapped and murdered Menachem 'Max' Stark Thursday night are learning that their task will not be easy - suspects include nearly all of his dozens of business associates and hundreds of tenants, according to authorities.

'Any number of people wanted to kill this guy,' a law enforcement source told the New York Post.

'He owed a lot of people money,' another source told the newspaper.

Kidnapped: Orthodox Jewish real estate developer Menachem 'Max' Stark was abducted from his office in the middle of a blizzard on Thursday

Kidnapped: Orthodox Jewish real estate developer Menachem 'Max' Stark was abducted from his office in the middle of a blizzard on Thursday

Outpouring of grief: Hundreds of members of the Satmar Hasidic community came together Saturday to mourn murdered real estate developer Menachem Stark

Outpouring of grief: Hundreds of members of the Satmar Hasidic community came together Saturday to mourn murdered real estate developer Menachem Stark

Tradition: The funeral took place in Williamsburg just hours after Stark's badly burned body was found in a Dumpster on Long Island

Tradition: The funeral took place in Williamsburg just hours after Stark's badly burned body was found in a Dumpster on Long Island

Hundreds of members of a Hasidic community gathered Saturday in Brooklyn, New York, for an emotional funeral service honoring 39-year-old Stark, a father of eight.

Somber mourners dressed all in black came together at the Lodiner Bais Medrash synagogue in Williamsburg to pay tribute to Stark, whose charred remains were discovered in a Dumpster on Long Island Friday afternoon.

Detectives investigating the case are finding a that Stark left a trail of unpaid contractors, ripped-off tenants and tens of millions in debts related to the 17 properties he owned in the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods of Brooklyn, according to the Post.

In 2008, he and his business partner defaulted on a $29million loan. His creditors were still pursuing legal action in federal court to recoup the losses.

 

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His tenants were also furious. His 17 buildings had received 233 complaints and 148  violations - 49 of which were still open.

Many tenants told the Post his properties were infested with rodents, sometimes didn't have heat or water and had shabby interiors.

'I’ve had many conversations with him, and of course in many of those conversations I wanted to kill him myself,' Greg Hanlon, who lived in one of Stark's Greenpoint buildings, joked to the Post.

In 2009, according to the newspaper, one of Stark's buildings was so rundown, the city ordered all tenants to vacate and deemed it no acceptable to live in.

Kind words: Speakers talked about Stark's well-known generosity and readiness to help those less fortunate

Kind words: Speakers talked about Stark's well-known generosity and readiness to help those less fortunate

Ritual: Eulogies offered at the Lodiner Bais Medrash synagogue were frequently interrupted by wailing from the overflowing crowd

Ritual: Eulogies offered at the Lodiner Bais Medrash synagogue were frequently interrupted by wailing from the overflowing crowd

Tenants were forced to track Stark down in order to get back the four-months deposit they had put down.

'He pretty much ripped off the whole building,' a tenant organizer, Ryan Kuonen, said.

'They kept trying to serve him, and he kept hiding from them. When he’d hear "Are you Max Stark," he would take off running.'

Said one detective working the case: 'He f***ed a lot of people over.'

Some neighbors told police that he was also a neighborhood 'loan shark,' according to the Post. He lent thousands to friends and then demanded it back with interest.

'He's a scammer,' a source told the Post.

In accordance with Jewish tradition, Stark's funeral service and burial took place just hours after police identified the scorched body found at a Great Neck, New York, gas station as the missing real estate developer who was forced into a van during Thursday's blizzard.  

During the ceremony, which was conducted in Yiddish and was frequently interrupted by ritual wailing, speakers described the father of eight as a pillar of the Satmar Hasidic community who was always ready to help the less fortunate with money for food and rent, The Jewish Daily Forward reported. 

A body was found at around 4pm Friday in Great Neck with extensive burns and Nassau County police have identified the remains as that of Stark, 39, who was kidnapped in Brooklyn during the blizzard that hit New York City.

A police source told the New York Daily News that the victim was likely suffocated before his killers wrapped his body in fabric, stuffed him into a trash bin at a gas station and set fire to his corpse.

Fernando Cerff, the owner of the Getty gas station on Cutter Mill Road, told the paper that Friday morning his workers were shoveling snow when they noticed smoke rising from the Dumpster.

Thinking that someone had tossed a cigarette inside, they sprinkled some snow into the container.
When Cerff approached the Dumpster in the afternoon, he noticed a horrible stench coming from the bin.

Cerff became suspicious and called police, which immediately discovered the body amidst the trash beneath a layer of snow.

This development comes as cops released dramatic surveillance footage that shows the suspects forcing Stark into a Dodge Caravan after he left his offices in Williamsburg late on Thursday evening.

Hunt: Police and the Willliamsburg community are looking for clues on the light-colored Dodge minivan (circled) which Stark appears to have been bundled into

Hunt: Police and the Willliamsburg community are looking for clues on the light-colored Dodge minivan (circled) which Stark appears to have been bundled into

On Friday the family of Stark, 39, offered a $100,000 'no questions asked' reward for his safe return on Friday, as police combed through surveillance video that appears to show his abduction.

Officers say the incident happened at around 11.20pm, when Stark was grabbed by two men on Rutledge Street in South Williamsburg. Some reports suggest he was carrying $4,000 in cash.

DNA Info reported that Stark was approached and manhandled into a light-colored van by two men as he left his office at Southside Associates at 331 Rutledge Street.

His wife, Bashie, apparently became concerned when Stark did not return after midnight and contacted Shomrim, a neighborhood patrol group for the Orthodox community. 

Surveillance footage was then discovered in Stark's office that shows a struggle with one man, before the van pulls up and he is wrestled by two men into the vehicle.

Investigations: The incident is being looked into by the police and the Shomrim, a neighborhood patrol group for the Orthodox community, who produced this report

Investigations: The incident is being looked into by the police and the Shomrim, a neighborhood patrol group for the Orthodox community, who produced this report

Stark's brothers Yitzy and Yoely told the New York Post: 'We saw two people fighting with him, and they put him into a big white van, a Dodge Caravan,' Yitzy, 30, said.

The brothers described Menachem's alleged attackers to the Post as 'big' and 'black.'

The New York Daily News reported that Stark was carrying $4,000 in cash, but Yitzy Stark denied this when he offered the six-figure reward for his brother's return.

'We're waiting for a phone call with demands. [We're] just hoping that he is still alive,' Yitzy told DNA Info. 'We'll do anything they ask.'

Shomrim reportedly informed the NYPD of the incident at around 2.30 a.m. on Friday. Both the police and the community are now looking for clues on the white Dodge minivan.

Officials spent the day in the local area conducting interviews and reviewing surveillance footage from local businesses.

Scene: Stark was reportedly grabbed from outside his office on Rutledge Street in South Williamsburg, seen in this file photo

Scene: Stark was reportedly grabbed from outside his office on Rutledge Street in South Williamsburg, seen in this file photo

The Real Deal claimed that Stark, and associate Israel Perlmutter, were being sued more than $51 million in 2011, over loans for development projects in Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

And a number of tenants who claimed to live in properties owned by Southside Associates have left a number of angry complaints on sites such as Yelp about the condition and maintenance of the apartments, also describing Stark as a 'slumlord.'

One user wrote: 'These people are absolutely terrible. It's as though they have no hearts and no compassion for anyone else. All they seem to care about is their bank account.'

Yitzy Stark described his brother to the Daily News as 'a good man, a great man.' 'Nobody around here would say anything bad about him,' he added.

Comments (46)

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Even IF everything is true, none of that even remotely justifies murder and leaving a widow with eight orphans. There are many other avenues through which to go about righting financial wrongs or even mistreatment of tenants. If every person with this level of wrongdoing and up would be killed, our streets would look like a war zone and the world's population would be a lot smaller. Have we sunk to the level of Hamas and al-Qaeda, where brutal murder is glorified due to the victims (or their govt) being perceived as having unfairly treated others?

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Yes, helping his own community but screwing others. Just lovely

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Why do some cultures encourage making money by any means even if it includes treating other humans like dirt.

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well if it happened to you aswell guess it wouldn't be tragic

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Yet apparently he's still good with God?? You play with so many peoples lives and kick them enough, something bad happens.

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Because he was an unsavoury character perhaps?

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Rest in peace...not nice to scam ppl with $$ either.

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This guy can wear any costume he likes, but religious people can't be slumlords, they can't steal and cheat in their business dealings and then give to charity. This guy makes me sick to my stomach and so does his family and sect he belongs to. I write this as an Orthodox Jew.

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yeah sounds like a lovely fellow..with all his tenants living in filth whilst he racked in the cash, greed,greed and more greed...the bank balances of the crowd at the funeral would probably clear Americas national debt...

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It sounds to me like the people who killed him performed the world a favor, and did a great mitzvoh. It sounds like this guy was a walking chillul HaShem. Shame on Satmar Chassidim for honoring this guy. That also is a chillul HaShem. This case shows everything that is wrong with Satmar Chassidic community. On the other hand, if his properties were in such bad shape, why did anyone choose to live in them?

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