Real estate developer bound and kidnapped in Williamsburg | New York PostAn alleged Brooklyn Satmar ...

1. utf8_encode(Real estate developer bound and kidnapped in
Williamsburg)
Real estate developer bound and kidnapped in Williamsburg | New York Post
An alleged Brooklyn Satmar slumlord was snatched off the street, duct-taped and hauled off in a
speeding van late Thursday in a terrifying abduction, his brothers said.
Surveillance video showed Menachem "Max" Stark, 37, being whisked into the minivan seconds after
leaving his Rutledge Street real-estate office, Southside Associates, at around 11:45 p.m.
"We saw two people fighting with him, and they put him into a big white van, a Dodge Caravan,''
said Stark's brother, Yitzy, 30, -describing the video to The Post.
He and another brother, Yoely, said Stark's alleged attackers were two burly African-American men.
Yitzy said he has put up a $100,000 reward for Stark's safe return.
Stark, who owns several New York apartment buildings under at least a dozen corporate names, has
been described as a slumlord by tenants, who blast him in online forums with complaints of vermin,
leaky ceilings, broken heaters and no heat or gas.
In 2009, the Department of Buildings shuttered his Sweater Factory lofts, at 239 Banker St.,
deeming the building uninhabitable and evicting tenants on the spot, declaring that "occupancy is
hazardous to life."
The Stark-owned Greenpoint Hotel on Manhattan Avenue -- a decrepit flophouse and notorious drug
den -- was seized by the feds in 2005.

2. Public records show Stark has a string of recent foreclosures, and he and his business partner, Israel
Perl-mutter, were sued in federal court for defaulting on a $29 million mortgage loan in 2008 and a
$2.5 million mortgage note due in 2009.
A police source said there had been no ransom demands, and investigators are probing whether his
disappearance is related to a bad business deal or money problems.
Yitzy said there were no threats made against Menachem -- or any other suspicious occurrences -before his disappearance.
"He was supposed to come home at 11:30 p.m., and he didn't," Yitzy said. Calls to Stark's cellphone
"went straight to voicemail," and when family members went to the office looking for him, they
discovered Stark gone and his black Lexus SUV still parked outside.
"We knew something was wrong at that point."
Stark's wife initially called the neighborhood Orthodox Jewish patrol, Shomrim. The NYPD was
notified about two hours later.
Cops could not confirm Stark's brothers' description that the alleged kidnappers were black or
reports that the developer had been carrying a large amount of cash.
Additional reporting byJeane MacIntosh and Jamie Schram
http://nypost.com/2014/01/03/man-kidnapped-after-leaving-williamsburg-office/