Kidnapped Satmar Hasidic Slumlord Found Dead And Half-Burned In Great Neck Trash Dumpster

Menachem "Max" Stark personally owed tens of millions of dollars in defaulted real estate loans and owned vermin-infested drug dens and slums, along with several tonier buildings in Williamsburg that were allegedly poorly maintained and had many of the health code, safety, building code and fire violations that plagued his other buildings.

Menachem "Max" Stark (photo: Eli Wohl/Vin News)

Kidnapped Satmar Hasidic Slumlord Found Dead And Half-Burned In Great Neck Trash Dumpster
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

A Brooklyn hasidic real estate developer and slumlord who was allegedly kidnapped outside his Williamsburg office late Thursday night has reportedly been found half burned and dead in a trash dumpster in Great Neck.

The slumlord, Menachem “Max” Stark, was allegedly kidnapped outside his office at 331 Rutledge Street by two men driving a light colored Dodge minivan in the middle of a large snowstorm.

Stark personally owed tens of millions of dollars in defaulted real estate loans and owned vermin-infested drug dens and slums, along with several tonier buildings in Williamsburg that were allegedly poorly maintained and had many of the health code, safety, building code and fire violations that plagued his other buildings.

Stark and his partner, Israel “Sam” Perlmutter, were referred to as criminals on consumer websites like Yelp.

Stark’s charred body, burned from the waist down (one hand was also burned), was found in the dumpster alongside Fernando Cerff’s Getty station in Great Neck.

“[At about 7:00 am] in the morning, [the dumpster] was smoking. We threw snow on it [without looking inside, thinking a cigarette had lit some trash on fire], and it stopped,” Cerff told the New York Post. But by mid-afternoon the stench of charred flesh wafted from the dumpster, and Cerff called police. “The smell. It made me sick,” Cerff said.

Cerff told the New York Daily News that police told him Stark's body had been wrapped in fabric and then set on fire.

Police complained that Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) and its restrictive laws that prohibit telephone use, radio use, etc., slowed their investigation.

“It’s a little hard to get ahold of some people,” a police investigator told the Post – a real problem when most of Stark’s business contacts, friends and family are also hasidic Jews.

Stark was reportedly known inside his hasidic community for frequently loaning money to hasidim who were in financial crisis. He also allegedly gave generously to hasidic charities and ran an open home.

But tenants often considered Stark to be a crude, disgusting thug who ridiculed them, condemned them to live in unsafe conditions and squalor, and who got rich off of their suffering.

On Yelp, one former tenant wrote that Stark and Perlmutter embody “every terrible stereotype and characterization you can possibly imagine when the phrase ‘New York City slumlords’ enters your head.”

Others called the hasidic slumlords “awful” and “disrespectful.” The two are “assholes on the phone when you call with any issues (especially Max, whose actual name is Menachem Stark), especially if you are a woman,” one tenant wrote.

“…[W]e think he’s a scammer. And he f—ed over a few people,” a law enforcement source reportedly said.

Update 6:51 pm CST – Stark is scheduled to be buried in Kiryas Joel tonight – meaning a full autopsy may not have been done:

Video footage of the alleged kidnapping:

 

Update 7:21 pm CST – Rabbi David Niederman, Executive Director of United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg, reportedly issued the following statement:

“The community mourns the death of our beloved community member Menachem Stark, and our prayers are with his family who loved and cared for him immensely. Menachem Stark was a charitable man, donating to institutions and needy individuals alike, and everyone in the community is devastated and feels this loss on a personal level. We are saddened and dumbfounded how people can commit such heinous crimes against anyone, but especially against such a generous person who wouldn't hurt a fly. Every resource must be expended to apprehend the criminals responsible and we call on anyone with information about this crime to come forward. The community thanks the New York and Nassau County Police Departments who have worked around the clock on this case.”

Related Post:

Satmar Slumlord Allegedly Kidnapped.

[Hat Tips: Ruthie, Devorah.]

Comments

[seymour]

Stark was reportedly known inside his hasidic community for frequently loaning money to hasidim who were in financial crisis. He also allegedly gave generously to hasidic charities and ran an open home.

But tenants often considered Stark to be a crude, disgusting thug who ridiculed them, condemned them to live in unsafe conditions and squalor, and who got rich off of their suffering.

sadly many satmar have no problem with this

[Mark H. Jay]

Sounds like he got what he had coming.

[DAMishMan]

I hope you are found this way one day

[Moisheb]

I don't know this guy but before people start trashing him please make note tennants can be cruel and some of them really take advantage of our system. I had a few tennants from hell and I had some nice ones as well so lets not take All complaints at face value. This poor guy is dead bd"h

[typadder]

waitill they find outhathe murderers are other satmars. hashem yishmor.

[seymour]

Posted by: Moisheb | January 04, 2014 at 06:10 PM

you are right but there seems to many to discount in this case

[typadder]

DAMish

So, that is what you hope for?

[DAMishMan]

Yes I do

[RWisler]

Let God be the judge of his life. I can certainly agree with Moisheb that tenants can trash stuff and destroy decent habitations. I don't know enough about his actions and whether he treated gentiles with contempt, so I won't comment.

Point is, he's dead and his judgement is out of human hands.

Sure sounds like a Mafia hit or something though. It'll be interesting to see if this case is ever solved.

[seymour]

Sure sounds like a Mafia hit or something though. It'll be interesting to see if this case is ever solved.

Posted by: RWisler | January 04, 2014 at 06:19 PM

really do not know maybe they tried getting him to get more money and he said no

[ruthie]

DAMishMan,

i think it's time you moved to colorado

[ruthie]

this was revenge or shutting him up.
money...you can torture someone for money or threaten one of his children.
i think it's one of his tenants getting back for a loved one that died in his building or some kind of deal gone bad.

[yehudis]

The NY Post article sheds a lot of light on his business dealings.

[ruthie]

police need to get a list of all tenants who died in the last year.
i still think it's someone very upset at the landlord that let a loved one die because of the conditions in the home.

actually if this is the case, i hope the cops never catch the people who did this.

if it was money or afraid someone might talk....then this guy was in way over his head. he may be good with money but he did not know the streets.
i still think, considering the money they had lying around,
the $100,000 was a bit low for reward money. hmmm

[seymour]

Every resource must be expended to apprehend the criminals responsible and we call on anyone with information about this crime to come forward.

well not really since no autopsy

[JekylJ]

והחי יתן אל לבו
A tragedy indeed. I wish though, that we learn something from this...

[seymour]

A tragedy indeed. I wish though, that we learn something from this...

Posted by: JekylJ | January 04, 2014 at 07:26 PM

people will learn the question is will satmar learn

[rebitzman - $101 to read my posts]

I checked the code on every crime he was accused of one, and not one would have resulted in capital punishment........whatever he did in life, he did not "deserve" this.

Whether or not he was a crook or a bad landlord is not relevant (beyond being the possible reason he was killed) to the fact that he was kidnapped and murdered.

News reports indicate that an autopsy was done. It may be that the cause of death was pretty obvious an an extensive post mortum was not required.

[Bas Melech]

BDE.
Stark did not deserve this cruel death despite his crimes.

[Mark H. Jay]

Rebitzman @ 08:09 PM:

"whatever he did in life, he did not "deserve" this"

With all respect, au contraire. This man was apparently a truly vile shit. While it is certainly true that no NY court could lawfully sentence him to death, that does not mean that his murder was morally or ethically wrong.

"Whether or not he was a crook or a bad landlord is not relevant (beyond being the possible reason he was killed) to the fact that he was kidnapped and murdered."

Not relevant?!? Are you out of your mind? Of course it is relevant. The man was clearly a pig who ruined the lives of thousands of people who were his tenants.

[rebitzman - $101 to read my posts]

No Mark, I am not out of my mind - I just happen to believe that vigilante actions or mob hits have no place in a civilized system of justice.

I further believe that when we are willing to set aside those principles because the victim is a haredi crook......then we aren't any better than we believe them to be.

[Isa]

So you think that some down trodden tenant killed this rat nope

He owed money to people that was even more evil than him

[ruthie]

if he owed money, they could have gotten to one of his kids and he would have paid so fast it would make your head spin.
i still think it was a tenant who had a family member die because of conditions in a building. i would kill for that.
i also think his brother is somewhat involved if a tenant isn't.
or......he made a promise to someone which involved major money
and the person lost it and can't get it back. so they killed him.
some rough people out there.
some are street people.
some are respectable lawyers.
it's a mean world out there.
also i wonder did they find traces of burned money on him? you know the 4,000 dollars he was carrying. stupid, how could anyone
know what he was carrying! 4,000 i bet it was 40,000.

[Robert J. Barron, Attorney-at-Law]

@ Mark: With all respect, au contraire. This man was apparently a truly vile shit. While it is certainly true that no NY court could lawfully sentence him to death, that does not mean that his murder was morally or ethically wrong.

@ No Mark, I am not out of my mind - I just happen to believe that vigilante actions or mob hits have no place in a civilized system of justice.

I further believe that when we are willing to set aside those principles because the victim is a haredi crook......then we aren't any better than we believe them to be.

Rebitzman hits the nail directly on the head. Whether it is someone like this, or Rubashkin, or whomever...people cannot take the law into their own hands. Not only did Stark suffer, but we all lose when something like this happens.

Our justice system is certainly not perfect. No system designed or administered by humans will ever be perfect. But the alternative(s) are too awful to contemplate.

[S M L]

"...people cannot take the law into their own hands. .."

They do but they shouldn't. Down that path lies what? Afghanistan? Ciudad Juarez? South Africa in the era of necklacing murders? Anarchy?

While I grant that probably we saved money not paying for incarceration of this guy for years for his white-collar crimes I agree with Robert J that activity like this, assuming it's vigilantism, injures our society.

[(The other) Eli]

He gave to Hassidic charities? Does that mean he gave money to Hassidim so they wouldn't have to live like the people he exploited and took advantage of to make a profit?
A real Robin Hood; rob from the poor to give to the poor. It's ok though, they're only goyim.

[brooklynnyc]

I have a slumlord landlord, and he is of the same background. And let me tell you, many Hassid people are getting pig rich on slumlording in Brooklyn. It's a plain fact. And it just might be against the law. Immoral for sure. Maybe the police will do their jobs and lock them up.

They think all us white kids (goyim) are defenseless? Maybe it's class action lawsuit time, maybe the time of the Brooklyn slumlord is coming to an end - hopefully. Landlords in Brooklyn better start playing fair.

Let us pray that the grace of god will bring the immoral law breaking slumlords to trail, Amen.

[jancsibacsi]

brooklynnyc--I know many hassids who are fantastic landlords ,they make sure that everything works and fix things on time ,but the tragedy is the few that are rotten spoils it for all the good landlords

[Moisheb]

Jancisbasi-thank you that is what I tried to drive home numerous times. There are bad apples in every walk of life and I still think that overall percentage wise the frume (in the U.S.A)are not as bad as this blog would have you believe

[1dsmark2]

"Every resource" huh? You mean every tax payer's resources while the Satmar collect welfare?