Privileged childhood in Fla. hotel leads to stormy life that ends mysteriously in NY hotel

Life’s journey from hotel to hotel ends in mystery

RYE BROOK, N.Y. — The investigation of a killing in a New York hotel room has widened into Florida.

Police say there have been no arrests in the death of Ben Novack Jr., a convention organizer from Fort Lauderdale whose beaten body was found in his room at the Hilton Rye Town in Rye Brook.

But detectives and agents of the Westchester County district attorney’s office are looking into Novack’s past, including his claim that his wife had him tied up and robbed in 2002. Police say his wife is not a suspect.

Acquaintances say Novack, who grew up in a hotel penthouse as the son of the owner of the Fontainebleau (FOUNT’-in-bloo) in Miami Beach, was an aggressive businessman with a troubled family life.