Want to Read. In 1987, hit man Robert Bobby Young shot powerboat mogul Don Aronow in his Mercedes sports car. He served his sentence for the Aronow murder in Oklahoma, at the same time he was incarcerated in federal prison for cocaine trafficking. By 1956, at the age of 28, thousands of new tract houses in northern New Jersey had made him a millionaire. "The police had to solve this. In 1966, he founded Magnum Marine and in 1967 proceeded to win his first World Championship driving two 27' Magnums, a single engine inboard and a triple engine Mercury-powered outboard. When the cheerleading coach broke the news to Katrina Kohel that she was the only one left on the cheer squad, Kohel was determined to compete anyway. Lillian Aronow in Miami, FL | PeekYou You have to look elsewhere. Lillian Crawford Obituary (2004) - West Palm Beach, FL - The Palm Beach You can use this space to go into a little more detail about your company. Kramer had a business dispute with Aronow after buying the latter's USA Racing Team but was forced to sell it back to Aronow after the Customs Service refused to do business with him. Suddenly, its creator found himself in the powerboat business. They had three children: Michael who was a star athlete at the University of Florida until he was severely injured and confined to a wheelchair in a car accident in 1970. Follow . Lillian Aronow - Historical records and family trees - MyHeritage Size and Printing Options. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, City mourns Buffalo firefighter Jason Arno as investigation into fatal fire launches, Buffalo firefighter makes 'ultimate sacrifice' in blaze that may have sparked backdraft, Sabres place Alex Tuch on injured reserve; top-line winger's status is uncertain, Paula's Donuts to move Clarence store that faced backlash for tax breaks to Amherst, Chad Hall's departure from Buffalo Bills to Jaguars remains a bit of a mystery, Vandal damages 'brokenhearted' Russell Salvatore's tribute park in Lancaster. But if the murder was a message, Aronow seemed to take it to his grave with him. "I do what I enjoy," he told a reporter. He regarded this marriage as a part of his success story, boasting: "I'd never be married to a beautiful woman like Lillian if I hauled garbage for a living." Lillian Crawford A Wilhelmina fashion model and socialite Who Is Ben Aronoff Aka Don Aronow From Real Life? Wikipedia Info On In June he was sentenced to another 10 years for a failed helicopter escape from a prison yard in 1989. Others did not. "It looks to me like a crime of passion," said Crouse, who knew Aronow for over 20 years. Left open is the question of how much Bush knew -- or, hopefully, didn't know -- about Aronow's drug involvement. If convicted of the first-degree murder charge, Young could receive either the death penalty or life imprisonment, with a mandatory minimum of 25 years. Aronow quit boat racing in 1970. Palms West Funeral Home, Royal Palm Beach. Aronow, 59 at the time of his murder in 1987, was a handsome, jet-setting Miami speedboat racer and designer of the sleek racing craft known as the cigarette boat. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. She is Contributing Writer to Girls on Tops, co-host of the Autism Through Cinema podcast, and runs the blog and podcast Listen to . Some of his boats ended up in the hands of leading drug syndicates. ", Theodoli, explaining why he was convinced that the killing was unrelated to Aronow's boating business, said: "The symbolism of Don getting killed in this street is so obvious that it's stupid . They have two sons, Gavin and Wylie. Don Aronows first job was as an usher, working nights and weekends at the old Kingsway theater in Brooklyn. His technique was to establish a company's reputation by winning races (the world offshore powerboat championship twice and the U.S. championship three times), then sell the company for enormous profit and open a new one next door. Nearly a decade later, two men pleaded no contest to charges related to Aronow's killing. Talk about what services you provide. In June 1984, he was one of 21 Americans freed by the Cuban government under a deal worked out by Jackson, then a presidential candidate. Magoon described the lean, ruggedly handsome Aronow as a charismatic person who was both a mans man and a womans man.. I was the first to reach him. He rushed to his window as the gunman was making his getaway in a dark blue Lincoln Continental. Lillian can be reached by phone at (305) 345-8835 (Nextel Communications, Inc). Describing his friends life as a mixture of triumph and tragedy, Magoon added: Don died as he would have wished--with his boots on and with front-page headlines. He would behave as if he didn't given a damn about anybody. You have permission to edit this article. In 1984, he was released along with 21 other Americans in a deal engineered by civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. "Don was to offshore speed boats what Ben Franklin was to electricity," remarked an admiring Customs official. One of their horses--named Don Aronow--won more than $200,000 in prize money. 'Basically we've no good, solid evidence to go on.'. The possibilities seem as varied as his life, which friends portray as a constant quest for excitement in the form of women, money, success and, above all, speed. Is Speed Kills a true story? What we know about the real-life Don Aronow . He rushed to his window and saw the gunman making his getaway in a dark blue Lincoln Continental. Lillian Crawford, 24 years his junior. I took him out of the car. Sources close to the case report that William George Walton, a co-defendant and "major controller" with Young in a Colombia-to-U.S. drug conspiracy, will testify against Young. Lilla Crawford. Lean, handsome and rugged, Aronow was described by Magoon as a charismatic person who was both "a man's man" and a "woman's man.". His father owned a gas station and then a taxi company which collapsed during the Great Depression. A child of the Depression, Aronow, 59, founded several of the world's hottest speed-boat manufacturing companies. It contains an amazing blend of breathtaking photographs, fascinating anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories of Aronow's personal and professional life. "They had done deals together after the USA Racing Team deal. Police continue to explore a possible link between Aronow's murder and the August arrest of marina owner Ben Kramer on drug smuggling charges. One of the meetings detailed in the Oklahoma indictment placed him in the Miami area just four days before Aronow was murdered. After campaigning his boat "The Cigarette" around the world with mechanic Norris "Knocky" House as his cockpit companion, he won his second World Championship in three years, and third consecutive United States Championship while becoming only the 2nd American in history to win the UIM Gold Medal of Honor (Gar Wood was America's first UIM champion). In 1953, he established his own construction company, the Aronow Corporation which quickly became one of the largest construction companies in the state. Young was arraigned July 3 on a charge of first-degree murder. EN. Saccenti was a boyhood friend of Aronow's from Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, N.Y., a marine mechanic who Aronow brought to South Florida to work with him at the Cigarette boat factory. . To be fair, Bush was hardly the only powerful person to be taken by Aronow. by The Slim Aarons Prints Collection From: 225. Young was found to have a revolver and $75,000 on him. Choose an option Limited Estate Stamped Open Edition. His father, a taxicab owner whose family came from Russia, went bankrupt during the Depression. Back in Miami, Young hooked up with a group of dope peddlers who considered themselves a new version of the 1960s Dixie Mafia crime group. Lillian, a former girlfriend . To cut costs, Amazon delays completion of second headquarters, closes retail stores. He has been elected to every powerboating Hall of Fame in existence and as stated above, he and Gar Wood were the only two Americans to have ever received the UIM Gold Medal of Honor. 22 Lillian Marcuson - Model ideas | vintage fashion, 1950s - Pinterest March 3 (UPI) -- A Haitian migrant was found unresponsive aboard a U.S. Coast Guard cutter and pronounced dead after the Coast Guard stopped a vessel carrying 54 migrants off the coast of Florida. Among his customers were the Shah of Iran, King Hussein of Jordan, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Haiti President Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, U.S. presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, and then-Vice President George Bush. On Tuesday, Smith, the retired detective, called Aronows widow, Lillian, to break the news. He would behave as if he didnt given a damn about anybody., He was a great bon vivant , a diamond in the rough, said Jim Wynne, Aronows chief design engineer and inventor of the popular marine outdrive, a device that combines the advantages of inboard and outboard engines. ARONOW'S BOATS GAVE HIM access to a rich . Then came six shots. While there was no direct link to Aronow's Blue Thunder boats, the source said, "These people are extremely vicious, and they don't always need a good reason to kill someone. Aronow, 59, a rich and handsome millionaire among the powerboat set, was killed Feb. 3, 1987, outside his USA Racing office in 188th St, Miami the road dubbed Thunderboat Alley Aronow made famous with his Formula, Donzi, Magnum and Cigarette power boats. He was convicted for the 1984 murder of Dixie Mafia member John Big Red Panzavecchia, in a drug deal gone wrong. "Basically Tallulah Bankhead but more autistic." She/her. Detectives estimate that of the 235 murders last year in Dade County (it has one of the highest homicide rates in the nation), at least 25% were drug-related. "I'll go all out to win," he once admitted. The hobby evolved into a business and by the end of 1962, he had formed the Formula Marine boat company, which he then sold to Merrick Lewis' Alliance Machine Corp out of Dayton, Ohio. Walton told investigators that in 1986 Young showed him a hit list of people that the Colombian drug lords would like to see dead. After divorcing his first wife in 1979, Aronow married Lillian Crawford, a Wilhelmina fashion model and socialite. THE HIGH-POWERED LIFE OF DON ARONOW - Sun Sentinel