Kendall Felix, a man convicted in the horrific kidnapping and murder of Menachem Stark, was sentenced Wednesday to a minimum of two years and four months to a maximum of seven years in prison — over prosecutors’ objections.
Family members of the 39-year-old Hasidic landlord from Brooklyn, whose body was found charred in a Long Island dumpster, railed against what they said was too lenient a sentence for the man who bought the gasoline and burned the body.
Stark, a father of 7, was killed as Felix’s cousins wrestled the landlord into a van outside his Williamsburg office on a snowy January night in 2014, as part of a failed kidnapping and extortion plot. When Stark struggled to break free, one of the men sat on his chest, which killed him.
Felix, now 30, admitted to bringing the gasoline and burning Stark’s dead body.
Felix pleaded guilty earlier this year to second-degree conspiracy and first-degree hindering prosecution, in exchange for the deal offered by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun. The judge cited the defendant’s young age and college education, as well as no involvement with other crime. He faced up to 25 years in prison.
Prosecutor Howard Jackson on Wednesday blasted the deal in court, calling it “fortunate” given the brutality of the crime.
“This defendant went to help purchase the gasoline,” Jackson told Chun. “This defendant specifically poured the gasoline on the victim, lit a piece of paper towel on fire, and lit Menachem Stark’s body on fire. For his role in this crime, he’s extremely fortunate to have this offer.”
Chun said he felt the sentence was warranted, given that Felix wasn’t the mastermind.
Felix’s cousin, Kendel Felix, was convicted on murder charges in September 2016. Another cousin, Erskin Felix, is due back in court Friday. A fourth co-conspirator, Irvine Henry, is awaiting sentencing on pleas of hindering prosecution and attempted tampering with physical evidence
During Kendel’s trial, the jury was shown ghoulish images of Stark’s remains, which sent his widow fleeing from the courtroom.
“I will forever be haunted by the image of my husband’s end,” Bashie Stark said through tears as she confronted Kendall Felix in court, The NY Post reported. “Our lives will never be the same.”
Bashie’s sister, Yenti Herskovitz, also spoke in court Wednesday and decried the light sentence.
“Standing before you is a man with ice running through his veins,” she stated, according to the NY Post. “Kendall took this innocent man’s body and dumped it in a dumpster like trash.”
“Years of therapy cannot undo this trauma,” she sighed.
“Here you have a person who helped his brother and cousin – who had kidnapped Stark – murder, burn, and incinerate the body of a father who didn’t get to return home to his wife and seven children on that cold snowy night, and somehow this judge feels a sentence as potentially low as 2 years is warranted?” asked the former New York State Assemblyman, and chairman of the Coalition for a Positive America Dov Hikind.
“I can tell you that the entire community is livid over this grave miscarriage of justice. This is terribly misplaced judicial leniency that tells me Mr. Chun is probably better suited to serve as a kindergarten teacher than a judge in criminal court who has to preside over such gruesome cases. Usually, the only thing that can give the family of murder victims a measure of comfort is knowing that justice was pursued and served. Today, our local judiciary has failed miserably, and Menachem’s blood will remain a stain upon that judge and this city’s record.”
At YWN previously reported, cousins Erskin and Kendel Felix accosted Stark on the street as he left his office, located at 331 Rutledge Street in Williamsburg, on January 2, 2014, at approximately 11:30 p.m. After he fought unsuccessfully to escape, Stark was forced into a waiting vehicle and driven away from the location. Kendall and Henry allegedly joined their relatives. At some point, apparently while being restrained, Stark died of asphyxia.
According to the investigation, Erskin Felix, who was in the construction trade with Kendel Felix and Irvine Henry, had done work for Stark. Erskin Felix allegedly planned to extort money from Stark and enlisted Kendel Felix to help kidnap him, forming a conspiracy which also involved both Kendall Felix and Irvine Henry.
Upon discovering that Stark was dead, the four relatives allegedly returned to Rutledge Street, intending to retrieve physical evidence and dispose of Stark’s body. Upon arrival, Erskin and Irvine Henry got out of the vehicle, only to find the crime scene already flooded with police. As alleged, Erskin then directed Kendel and Kendall to go elsewhere to dispose of the body. They drove to Nassau County, threw the body in a dumpster and set it on fire.
Approximately 17 hours later, a Nassau County police officer found Stark’s partially burned body in a garbage dumpster behind a gas station in Great Neck, Long Island. The Nassau County Medical Examiner’s Office conducted an autopsy on Stark and determined that the cause of death was asphyxia by compression of the neck and chest.
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23 Responses
Democrat state
This article contains several statements which are contradictory to one another.
If Felix had worked for the Trump campaign, he would never see the light of the day again.
Hence the name, “The CRIMINAL Justice System”
How about “kidnapping” ? that in itself should give one life time..?
I guess Rabashkin was the only dangerous enemy #…
Rabbosai – get used to this. We are in Golus and once again Jewish blood is cheap.
Ask the Democraps like Omar, OAC, Schumer, and the rest (that couldn’t even condemn Omar for her Antisemitism)
The EU is back at it once again with a vengeance.
The universities are burning with hatred against us (they call it BDS – but it menas us)
Smollet got away with his crime with not even a slap on the wrist – but Rubashkin gets 27 years
Get your passports ready chevra
Are Ilhan Omar, Talib and AOC giving out candies on the steps of the Capitol Building?
#JewishLivesDoNotMatter
The judge cited ‘no involvement in other crimes”. What do you know ,now we get credit for not being involved in other crimes. What a crazy world we live in.
What is the difference between killing people with gun or suffocating them. Dead is Dead. USA is so screwed up. Good luck to us all.
This lenient sentence is probably mida kneged mida for all the molestation cover-ups in frum communites. Apperently yiddish kinder blood is cheap after all.
Wow, Takes2-2tango, you even know two Yiddish words!
Very impressive!
Circle
March 27, 2019 8:07 pm at 8:07 pm
Wow, Takes2-2tango, you even know two Yiddish words!
Very impressive.
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Kinder is actually “german”
The Yiddish language hi jacked it.
JUSTICE?! Complaining about Justice? New York Yidden are Voting In Socialist Democrats in City and State Governments who release MURDERERS of Jews from jail, but lock up people for Tax crimes for Decades, and who pass Infanticide Laws allowing Full Term Babies to be Killed even after birth, and legalize Dangerous drugs, … you Elect these Democrats who perpetuate Amalek anti Noachide morality laws, and complain about Justice?!
Leahleh, well said!
Passed experience indicates that had the skin colour (and religion) of victim and perpetrator been reversed, them streets across the country would be flooded with riots over this.
georgeg
March 28, 2019 9:42 am at 9:42 am
Passed experience indicates that had the skin colour (and religion) of victim and perpetrator been reversed, them streets across the country would be flooded with riots over this.
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Plz give us some examples from your experience!
Stark was no saint. He was a slumlord and , while monetarily generous, the community conveniently ignored the fact he stiffed banks on some significant loans. It reminds me of 35+ years ago when the convicted ( MO) partners of OPM ( they stole millions of dollars borrowing against nonexistent computer leases ) came before Judge Weinstein in Federal court. They asked for leniency based upon their generous charitable donations. The Judge ignored the request, saying it wasn’t their money, they stole it
Takes2-2tango,
You are a complete sicko. What’s this sheer lack of justice got to do with molestation cover up???? Just focus on one issue at a time!
You don’t need “georgeg” to cite “passed experience” of his own. Just look through national history yourself. Stop burying your head in the sand.
UncleMo
March 28, 2019 1:08 pm at 1:08 pm
Takes2-2tango,
You are a complete sicko. What’s this sheer lack of justice got to do with molestation cover up???? Just focus on one issue at a time!
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Im very goood at multi tasking(unlike u ) .Face the real issues kllal yisroel is dealing with internally ,on a daily basis. God has his ways of showing mida kneged mida in very interesting ways! The truth may hurt. But u cant deny fact.
Your head is buried in your kids sand box, even your kids cant undig u out. You need lots of help.
Lealeh above said it best!!!
> Takes2-2tango
I can’t give examples from my own “personal” experience as I live away from most of these things. But in terms of the news reports over the past, did you ever hear of the Crown Heights riots? Read up on it. That was not even a murder or even a kidnapping – it was an auto accident.
> Takes2-2tango
I continue in a separate post. As eyewitness reporter Ari L. Goldman writes,
> when I picked up the paper, the article I read was not the story I had reported. I saw headlines that described the riots in terms solely of race … that was simply untrue … I never saw – or heard of – any violence by Jews against blacks … To show Jewish culpability in the riots, the paper even ran a picture – laughable even at the time – of a Chasidic man brandishing an open umbrella before a police officer in riot gear. The caption read: “A police officer scuffling with a Hasidic man ….
> On Aug. 21, as I stood … in front of the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters, a group of demonstrators were coming … “Heil Hitler,” they chanted. “Death to the Jews.” Police in riot gear stood nearby but did nothing. Suddenly rocks and bottles started to fly toward us and a Chasidic man just a few feet away from me was hit in the throat and fell to the ground
> I blamed the editors. It was clear that they had settled on a “frame” for the story … there were two narratives here: the white narrative and the black narrative. And both had equal weight.
And not everything shows up in the mainstream media. Personal sources informed me that about a year before the accident that killed the Black child, in the same city a Jewish child was killed by a Black driver. But the Jews did not riot, so the news treated it like it did not happen.
Everyone knows that Yiddish is based on German. I was impressed that someone like you knows two Yiddish words.
I should have realized that your vile comments are based on your German personality and your affinity for the German attitude towards Jews.
georgeg
March 28, 2019 4:48 pm at 4:48 pm
> Takes2-2tango
I can’t give examples from my own “personal” experience as I live away from most of these things. But in terms of the news reports over the past, did you ever hear of the Crown Heights riots? Read up on it. That was not even a murder or even a kidnapping – it was an auto accident.
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So far you havnt given any examples of the reverse other then a crown heights car accident, which happened how many moons ago?
Tell us a substantial number of incidents similiar to the stark story, where ortho jews actually ganged up or beat or kidnapped goyim?.