Three months after Kendel Felix was convicted in the grisly kidnapping and murder of Brooklyn landlord Menachem Stark, three other members of his family have been indicted for their alleged role in the 2014 slaying.
Erskin Felix, 38, is due to be arraigned in Brooklyn Supreme Court Wednesday on charges of second-degree murder and kidnapping. His brother Kendall Felix, 28, along with their cousin Irvine Henry, 35, are variously charged with conspiracy, tampering with physical evidence and first-degree hindering. They all face up to 25 years to life in prison.
Erskin Felix and Kendall were arrested in October. A month earlier, a Brooklyn jury found their cousin, Kendel Felix, guilty of kidnapping and killing Stark. He is still awaiting sentencing, but faces 25 years to life in prison.
Stark, 39, was abducted outside his Williamsburg office during a snowstorm in 2014. His burnt body was found in a dumpster near a Long Island gas station two days later.
Prosecutors say that on the night of Stark’s death, Erskin and Kendel Felix accosted him outside his office. They say he tried to escape, but the two men forced him into a waiting vehicle. Kendall and Henry joined their relatives later, according to prosecutors. At some point Stark asphyxiated.
Prosecutors say the men planned to extort Stark, but discovered that he had died in the minivan. They eventually drove to Long Island, threw his body in a dumpster and set it on fire, prosecutors say. According to investigators, Erskin Felix, who was in the construction trade with Kendel Felix and Irvine Henry, had worked for the Brooklyn landlord.
Stark was a father of seven and a member of the ultra-orthodox Satmar community. He was an active developer in Williamsburg-Greenpoint area, and was millions of dollars in debt at the time of his death. — Miriam Hall