Anonymous tip revealed in murder trial

Over a month into the trial of Narcy Novack, charged with the murder of her husband and mother-in-law, prosecutors revealed her sister tipped off Miami police. A week after Ben Novack Jr., heir to the famed Miami Fontainebleau hotel, was found dead by his wife in a Rye Brook, N.Y., hotel, Miami police received an anonymous letter. The letter, unsigned and written in Spanish, claimed Narcy had killed her husband and his mother, Bernice Novack, in a scheme to get her hands on the family fortune. Prosecutors revealed Monday that Narcy's sister, Letitia Toruno, penned the letter, which implicated Narcy and her brother, Cristobal Veliz, in the murders. The trial began April 23. The Miami Herald reported Veliz's lawyer, Lawrence Sheehan, said in opening arguments he would prove May Abad, Narcy's daughter, arranged the killings. The two hit men and three accomplices who admitted to dispatching Ben and Bernice Novack have already testified, saying Veliz hired them and paid them $15,000 to bludgeon Novack and cut out his eyes. They also said Narcy allegedly let them into the hotel room and handed them a pillow to muffle her husband's screams.