Global Courant 2023-05-31 11:00:00
More than six decades after his father was found shot to death in Miami, Richard DiMare helped identify his killer, who was closer to home than police realized at the time.
On March 24, 1961, Joseph DiMare, 53, and his wife, Frances, 33, were leaving their Miami home to eat at a North Miami seafood restaurant around 7:15 p.m., when Frances said attackers killed her husband.
“Science in 1961 wasn’t what it is now, but the crime absolutely could have been solved then. What I had to do is find every bit of physical evidence and every inconsistent claim… like a (complete) puzzle,” said Miami personal injury attorney cold case enthusiast Paul Novack to Fox News Digital.
Novack knew about the DiMare case after solving Danny Goldman’s Surfside kidnapping, which led the attorney to a wealth of information related to unsolved crimes in Miami, which he now spends helping solve with a team of volunteers.
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“Science in 1961 wasn’t what it is today, but the crime absolutely could have been solved then,” personal injury attorney and Miami cold case enthusiast Paul Novack told Fox News Digital. (Paul Novack)
He started digging more when Richard DiMare, now 81, asked him for help.
Frances, now deceased, told police that night in 1961 that she and her husband were stopped at a traffic light when two suspects entered their Cadillac Fleetwood, forced her to drive to a nearby address, and then pistol-whipped her until they found it. lost consciousness.
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“They hit me twice — seemed to know exactly where to hit because it knocked me out the second time,” Frances said in an interview with the Miami-Herald at the time. “The next thing I remember I was lying outside the car on the gravel. They’d taken all my jewelry – worth about $5,000. Joe had about $400 in cash on him, and I heard they had that too. I’m sure convinced that the men were not amateurs. They were calm and methodical.”
On March 24, 1961, Joseph DiMare, 53, and his wife, Frances, 33, were leaving their Miami home to eat at a North Miami seafood restaurant around 7:15 p.m., when Frances said attackers killed her husband. (Paul Novack)
After she woke up, Frances found her husband dead and slumped in their car, and she ran to the nearest gas station for help, she said.
That was the story of Joseph’s death told for 62 years, before Richard DiMare contacted Novack.
Joseph DiMare was a widower with four children — three young men and a 9-year-old daughter — when he met Frances, a bank clerk, and made her his second wife after his first died of breast cancer. Their relationship was rocky, with Frances often traveling to Ohio instead of spending time at home with her husband and stepchildren.
DiMare, who grew up selling tomatoes with his brothers on the streets of Boston before they grew their business into a national success, eventually changed his will to state that his wife had to live full-time in his Miami home at the time of his death to receive money from his estate.
Richard DiMare pictured with his father, Joseph DiMare. (Paul Novack)
A week before DiMare’s murder, Frances moved back to Miami from Ohio. DiMare went home to Boston that same week to meet family and tell them of his plans to divorce Frances.
DiMare’s family believes he told Frances about his plans to divorce her around the time of his murder.
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“The clock was ticking. The divorce was going to take place…. It was decided that they would go out to dinner, and I think they would have discussed… how to do this as amicably as possible,” Novack said.
Richard DiMare’s evidence proved crucial in the investigation into his father’s death. After his murder, Richard shot the Italian auto pistol his father bought for Frances into a swimming pool and collected the shell casing, which matched the shell casings at the scene of his death and the shell casings in the glove box of Frances’s vehicle, Novack explained.
After Joseph’s murder, Richard shot his father’s Italian auto pistol into a puddle and collected the shell casing, which matched the shell casings at the scene of his father’s death and the shell casings in the glove box of Frances’ vehicle. (Paul Novack/Miami-Dade Police)
Richard had long suspected that his stepmother was behind his father’s murder.
“He and his brother and sister came to the house the day after the murder. Frances told them to pack up and leave,” Novack said. “She said, ‘This is my house now and you have to leave.'”
Other evidence that Novack helped organize and presented to the Miami-Dade Police Department included a bloodstain pattern analysis of blood found in the Cadillac and on Frances’ clothing, a lack of injuries to Frances’ despite her claims that she was with a gun beaten, contradictory statements and more.
In May, Miami police officially linked Frances to her husband’s murder.
Other evidence Novack helped organize and presented to the Miami-Dade Police Department included a bloodstain pattern analysis of blood found in the Cadillac and on Frances’ clothing, (Paul Novack)
“The crime seems to be Frances taking matters into her own hands. We have information that she had tried to hire a hitman but the contract was turned down,” Novack said. “(S)he would have paid $10,000 for a hit.”
Frances shot Joseph DiMare four times in the head that night in 1961 with the gun he bought her.
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Miami’s organized crime scene may have helped Frances cover up the crime.
At the time, Miami “had had a lot of shootings…bombings, and there was a battle for control of industries like illegal gambling, prostitution, counterfeiting, all sorts of activities,” Novack said, adding that there was a large northern mafia present who were vacationing in the area.
Frances told police that night in 1961 that she and her husband were stopped at a traffic light when two suspects drove into their Cadillac Fleetwood, forced her to drive to a nearby address, and then pistol-whipped her until she lost consciousness. (Paul Novack)
“Organized crime had a significant impact in the community, in law enforcement agencies, and in the major banks and large corporations,” he explained.
After DiMare’s murder, Frances hired attorney William Chester, who “had organized crime connections and … had been involved in other murder cases going back to the early 1950s,” Novack explained.
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According to Novack, Chester became a major developer in Palm Beach County, funded by retirement money.
A former Florida governor also sided with Frances after DiMare’s murder “and would tell the police and the media that Frances was a devoted wife, a good wife, there is no reason to suspect her of anything, and they would should all leave her alone,” the lawyer explained.
Joseph DiMare spent the next six decades sending letters to law enforcement officials criticizing their investigation and condemning his stepmother, which Novack said only made matters worse for his family’s efforts to get justice.
Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business. Email tips to audrey.conklin@fox.com or on Twitter at @audpants.
