NYPD has released security camera footage of a man suspected of involvement in the murder of New York Hassidic millionaire Menachem Stark. The man was caught on tape lurking around Stark's office for 2 hours around the time of the murder; 2 weeks earlier he was seen in the same exact spot.
Police suspect that the crime was committed by a 3-man assassination squad, consisting of a driver and 2 attackers. Stark's family, with the help of the NYPD, have raised the reward for the arrest of Stark's murderers to $72,200.
The security footage, showing the suspect who police describe as a white male with a checkered jacket and knitted cap covering his head can be seen here:
The new breakthrough in evidence is raising hopes that light will be shed on the mysterious disappearance of the millionaire last Thursday, which culminated in the discovery of his badly burned body stuffed in a dumpster in Great Neck last Friday.
Security camera footage released by police Saturday morning revealed suspects apparently forcing Stark into a light-colored Dodge Caravan after he had left his real estate offices of Southside Associates on Rutledge Street near Broadway. Investigators believe he was duct-taped before he was thrown into the van, which sped off.
Police have announced that they suspect Stark was killed while struggling with his captors. "It might be that they sat on him to get him under control and that they wound up killing him that way," a police source stated Monday, according to New York Daily News.
Stark's murder was reported on Sunday in a New York Post headline read "Who didn't want him dead?" The headline sparked anger over the apparent justification of the murder, and the ominous anti-Semitism in the flippant approach to the Hassidic Jew's violent death.