Someone swiped a gold Rolex watch from the dead man's wrist. My Prince Charming had a shot at the Kentucky Derby . This story was originally published April 1, 2009, 10:21 AM. "What they did personally amongst themselves, I have no idea, " says Robert Saccenti, a former pal of both men. He named a Donzi 007. He backed his Mercedes into the street. One of their horses--named Don Aronow--won more than $200,000 in prize money. This time the dispute was over a 40-foot custom-made sailboat, Cat Dancer, named for Young's green-eyed girlfriend, a one-time topless dancer. Bush named a Cigarette Fidelity. And in the end, he wound up as nothing more than a target for an assassin's bullet. They threatened to cancel the Blue Thunder contract if Aronow didn't buy the company back. Still recovering from the failed breakout, Kramer limped out of court on a wooden crutch. His widow, Lillian Aronow, has not spoken publicly about her husband's murder. On April 19, 1988, a federal grand jury in Oklahoma City indicted Young and three other men in a Colombia-to-U.S. drug pipeline. No buyer, pal or partner turned out to be quite so volatile as Benjamin Barry Kramer, 35, a brash, impatient boat racer who packed a .357 Magnum and ran a worldwide drug empire complete with a toll-free beeper number. Lacy. The chauffeur is 39 years old and 6 foot 2 -- about the same age and height of the stranger who walked into Aronow's office on the afternoon of the murder. Young's latest lawyer, Virgil C. Black, says his client is simply a convenient police target. "I'd do anything for him, " an Aronow employee, Patty Lezaca, quoted Jacoby. He got himself into Cuba -- for smuggling. He designed, built and raced the famous Magnum Marine, Cary, Cigarette, Donzi and Formula speedboats. An old Bell chopper plucked him from the prison's athletic field -- only to snag on a barbed wire fence and crash. Jesse Jackson, running for president, engineered the release of Young and 21 other Americans, as well as 26 Cuban political prisoners, in June 1984. Panzavecchia ran guns. Someone put a small pipe bomb underneath the seat of his maroon Jeep last September. A double-dealing mob tale, it might out-Godfather The Godfather -- if, of course, it's not fiction. It hasn't been easy. Young, already serving time for the "Dixie Mafia" murder, didn't respond to a telegrammed request for an interview. "He just stopped by to see how I was doing, to find out what was going on in the neighborhood, " he says. He is in jail in Oklahoma City, awaiting sentencing on the federal drug charge. "They've been following leads, " says Gary Rosenberg, assistant state attorney. They looked for the Lincoln. A child of the Depression, Aronow, 59, founded several of the world's hottest speed-boat manufacturing companies. Panzavecchia still had on his underwear with the words "Be My Baby, " and his gold panther ring. A couple of weeks ago, a federal jury found Kessler guilty of a drug conspiracy charge. Through the lawyer, Mary Catherine Bonner, Kramer denies involvement in the murder. Detectives looked for the watch. They threw him in jail. "They didn't like each other in the end, " says Dr. Bob Magoon, an eye surgeon, racer and friend to both. Aronow built the dead-end street where he died, known as Thunder Boat Row, and paid his well-tanned laborers for designing and manufacturing his sassy speedboats: Formula, Donzi, Magnum, Squadron. He shot Aronow in the chest, blasting his way down to the groin. The Aronow stables at Ocala, Fla., house about 40 2-year-olds in various. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. Call girls got him into Leavenworth. Don Aronow was a dead set legend. Young's old lawyer, Melvyn Kessler, doesn't represent him anymore because of his own criminal problems. With him on the ill-fated scuba trip was Robert Young, also jailed. At least one he had committed. He seemed "agitated, " says Jerry Engelman, Aronow's manager. Takeaways and reaction, Miamis falling murder rates show the fallacy of Republicans anti-immigration stance | Opinion. Saccenti says they didn't talk about Kramer or bad business blood. Along Thunder Boat Row, people are reluctant to talk about the extent of the Aronow-Kramer relationship. Aronow built the dead-end street where he died, known as Thunder Boat Row, and paid his well-tanned laborers for designing and manufacturing his sassy speedboats: Formula, Donzi, Magnum, Squadron XII and the needle-nosed Cigarette. Then he stopped talking upon the advice of his lawyer. He sold boats to Christina Onassis and Victor Posner and allegedly was a pal of Meyer Lansky, the financial brains of organized crime. "I can't confirm or deny anything that's not public record, " says Walton's lawyer, Paul A. The racers, Aronow and Kramer, had much in common. The locals also found out that the FBI was interested in "a case of murder on the high seas involving the killing and discarding of a body from Robert Young's boat.". "And I'll let the dog chew on him. Both were hot-tempered. Another lawyer, now disbarred, could be a player in the Aronow investigation, too. In the 1970s, police said, he ran a "floating prostitution" enterprise in St. Louis; Columbia, S.C.; Wheeling, W.Va.; and Las Vegas. Investigators don't have the proof. And they looked for Jerry Jacoby. Cuban authorities said they found almost 300 pounds of marijuana aboard. Marshall lived. Abruptly, he left the office, just as Aronow announced he had to be on his way. Maybe they never will. Just last Friday, he was sentenced in a daredevil escape from Metropolitan Correctional Center April 17, 1989. "Unless you could hear that directly from Ben or Don, it's guessing.". By the 1980s, the two men were in the boat business together. Aronow drove a white Mercedes, Kramer a white Porsche. About 2 p.m. the day of the murder, Don Aronow arrived on Thunder Boat Row. Aronow's last boat venture, USA Team Racing, was sold in November. Jacoby never looked for a boat. UMs Destiny Harden was ill and almost didnt play against Virginia Tech. Michael, the oldest of three children from Aronow . The drug deal went bad. Take a look, He found a clam on a Florida beach to make some chowder. Others raced in the Kentucky Derby. We act in a management and/or Agent capacity in any and all aspects of the industry.. . He might or might not be the Jerry Jacoby who has a chauffeur's license from Seminole County. Says Michael Aronow, the slain racer's son: "The way my father lived, it (the murder) could have been as casual as a handshake. Although cons have implicated Young in the Aronow murder, some investigators speculate that more than one man pulled off the crime. Nobody thought much of the comment at the time. Their livers were missing, Little dragon found on uninhabited Australian island is a new species. Not to worry, he explained. He and two pals agreed to cooperate and testified against Young in the federal drug case, according to attorney Anita Sanders in Oklahoma City. About two weeks later, Palm Beach SWAT officers coaxed Young out of a five-acre estate. He kept newspaper clippings about unsolved murders in his house. Or it could have had something to do with Ben Kramer, he says. Both liked money, winning, fast toys and the color white. Panzavecchia took a shot at Young's car. "That's hearsay, " Michael Aronow says. His co-defendant: Ben Kramer, the racer-turned-drug lord, also guilty. He didn't want to talk to The Miami Herald. "But Kramer took a big loss. They never found the other one. Publicly, the Metro-Dade Police Department, the Dade State Attorney's Office and the FBI refuse to comment on the Aronow investigation -- except to cite substantial progress. They were Communists. Conceivably, they could be wrong. Some think two cars might have been involved. Then he counted the rings, Mysterious ball seen beside road was 14-foot invasive snake, New York officials say, Elite gathering of financial titans returns to Miami for annual event, UM, Pitt battle for first place in ACC Saturday in front of sold-out Watsco Center, Philly phenom Carranza back at DRV PNK Stadium to face former Inter Miami teammates, Fourth-quarter burst by LaShae Dwyer propels UM women to ACC tournament quarterfinals, Heat falls to 0-2 on important homestand with painful loss to Knicks. A shy waitress and a persistent customer put their faith in fortune cookies in this sweet story from the director of Lbs. Release Date: Confirmed for 2021.michael aronow horse trainer.. Aronow was a handsome family man who moved to Miami after making a.His unparalleled accomplishments in the world of powerboating are insightfully described by the one who was with him nearly every step of the . . U.S. District Judge James Kehoe gave him 10 years, on top of life. . He is Paul K. Silverman, also convicted on a drug charge, also serving time in Oklahoma. No one has been charged. USA Racing Team's primary mission was its lucrative U.S. Customs contract -- to build "super" anti-smuggling catamarans called Blue Thunder. Michael Aronow Inc. 1988 - Present35 years Port Washington, New York Thoroughbred and Equine Consultants. Young skipped out on his $120,000 bond. But Aronow's son explains: In 1984, his dad sold his USA Racing Team firm to Kramer's Apache company. A world-champion boat racer who enjoyed wild success in business, he was also an unapologetic playboy and fabled bon vivant. Aronow, afraid of nothing, also moved in corporate circles. For years, Young used different dates and places of birth, different names and occupations. But his gold Rolex was missing from his wrist. . . Along Thunder Boat Row, they called him the Old Man. "What do you do for your boss?" But when the Feds found out they were buying the boats from Kramer, a drug suspect himself, they cringed. Then Aronow left. A Lincoln Continental with tinted windows was parked nearby, waiting. Another possible government witness is William George Walton, also serving time. "They were having trouble with a deal.". The street talk is a bit different: Aronow returned the land, the equipment and the chopper to Kramer -- and kept the under-the-table money. But Aronow may have possessed a darker side that even he could not outrun. A day or two after the murder, Kramer told police how troubled he was to lose his "friend" Aronow. He announced that he worked for a rich man who wanted Aronow to build him a 60-foot boat. With a .45, the killer opened fire. Aronow drove his Mercedes less than a block, over to Bob Saccenti's boat place. He was bested businesswise very badly.". Jesse Jackson has a bit part -- as the innocent humanitarian who got Young out of a Cuban prison in 1984. The cast of characters -- two behind bars, one the victim of a mysterious bomb explosion, and one unaccounted for -- all have connections to a trans-Atlantic network of shell companies and secret bank accounts. Robert Samuel Young, 41, the suspected hit man, is a "soldier of fortune type, " says Fred Haddad, one of his multiple lawyers. Ben Kramer, the fast-life desperado, is also adjusting to life in prison. The next day, Young, using the name Bobby Scott, took some shots at Panzavecchia -- four .25-caliber bullets through the skull. "Bobby is one of those guys you should be afraid of, " the detective says. In 1985, Kramer and a car-racing pal paid $50,000 to have a 36-year-old Fort Lauderdale man killed, witnesses told federal agents. He was holed up with his green- eyed companion, three Rottweilers and a .22-caliber semi- automatic rifle. In his spare time, he built speedboats for the Shah of Iran and American presidents George Bush Sr and Lyndon Johnson, among others and he hung out with the Beatles. His technique was to establish a company's reputation by winning races (the world. A fisherman found his body in a canal in Broward County. It could have had to do with the CIA.". Andreu wrote a report: DeCora "stated he had information from a source who was in federal custody in Oklahoma and provided them the name of Robert Young as the shooter in their investigation of millionaire boat builder Aronau, " spelling the name wrong. Not six months later, Young plotted a drug deal with John "Big Red" Panzavecchia, 39, a member of the "Dixie Mafia." Kramer turned over land, assets and a Bell helicopter. But he was the wrong one. "And Don did buy it back, " Michael Aronow says. An Aronow family lawyer, Murray Weil, won't discuss the racers' financial dealings. Even before police crack the case, though, mystery writers and prime-time TV producers have penned scripts for the gangland-style killing on Feb. 3, 1987. In the summer of 1987, Fort Lauderdale police arrested Young after he twice shot an Army vet, Craig Marshall. And he may or may not be the same Jerry Jacoby who once strayed into Cuban waters during a scuba-diving trip out of Miami. a perplexed Aronow asked. Robert S. Young, a self-described mercenary with a fondness for call girls, guns and mean dogs, is the hit man who gunned down Donald Aronow, the legendary speedboat demon, investigators suspect. According to the Nashville newspapers, Silverman is a federal informant. At his boat shop, dopers occasionally visited him. Even the Rev. It pulled up to the Mercedes, driver's side to driver's side. He was a hero and a genius, a ballbuster and a bully. Supposedly, he kept a squad of Rottweilers trained to attack on hand command. He instructed his employees to accept collect calls from a con in a federal pen. But this Jerry Jacoby wasn't that Jerry Jacoby. Donald Aronow, a bored millionaire at 28 and a dead man 26 days before his 60th birthday, used to move briskly through Miami's shadowy world where dopers, government spies and mobsters commingle. Aronow knew a Jerry Jacoby, a racing champion and former partner. He refused to identify his employer. What's more, Young's description -- blue eyes, dark-blond hair -- does not match a composite drawing of the Lincoln's driver made from eyewitness accounts: a white man with a tanned complexion, a day or two's growth of whiskers and wavy brown hair.