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Family Believes 99-Cent Store Owner Was Killed For Rent Money
By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 4, 2012
Modified Aug 4, 2012
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via CBS
By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 4, 2012
Modified Aug 4, 2012
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On Thursday night, a 59-year-old father of four was found dead on the floor of his 99-cent store in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Isaac Kadare was fatally stabbed in the neck and shot in the head just before 9 p.m. that night. His family told the News they believe he was killed for the $900 in rent money he had just collected before his murder: “He had $900 in his pocket,” said Kadare’s 18-year-old son, Mark. “He collected the rent from a tenant upstairs.”
According to neighbors, Kadare was a devout Sephardic Jew who came to the country 30 years ago; he had run the Amazing 99 Cent Deals on 86th Street for 16 years, originally as a furniture shop and then a discount store as the economy soured. In addition to the store, Kadare also owned the whole building, and rented several apartments out, including the one he collected rent from that day.
Police sketch of suspect (DCPI)He was well liked by his tenants: “Everyone says, when they lose somebody, he was a great man. But this really was a great man, he was very, very giving,” Ray Lopez, one of Kadare’s tenants, told CBS.
Kadare and his family were planning to celebrate his 60th birthday this weekend in Atlantic City. His body will be returned to Tel Aviv for services and burial over the weekend. No arrests have been made yet and police are still trying to parse the motive for the killing, but a sketch of a suspect has been released (see right). “I know for a fact if anyone asked for money, he would have gave it to them in an instant,” family friend Daniel Frija told CBS. “He’s not the type to fight whatsoever, so I know whoever did it, did a malicious act.”
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99 cent store
bensonhurst
brooklyn
isaac kadare
murder
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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