And I can tell you, the day he was murdered there were phone calls to the King of Jordan, the King of Spain, George Bush. And he eventually became aggravated with the business. (ABOVE) TICKET TO RIDE: Don Aronow and his son, Michael, cruising off Miami with the Beatles before their iconic 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan show. Don Aronow has actually been married twice in his life. Don was a native of New York who, through to his financial savvy and driving prowess, eventually came to command the Miami waterways. That was just his personality. In reality, Don had already amassed a million dollars before relocating to Miami with his family. A world-champion boat racer who enjoyed wild success in business, he was also an unapologetic playboy and fabled bon vivant. Ben establishes his automotive empire in the film after relocating to Miami and changing his perspective to win. He succeeds in a number of major motor races and rises to the position of speedboat tycoon. He dont speak too much English, hes trying to explain something, something serious. I think hed really be proud of the boats. Aronow said Let me see. Then he took the watch by the clasp, banged it on the table, and threw it in a glass of beer. During the day were asked to patrol their race course during events for emergency rescues, a Coast Guard official told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. With his first wife, Shirley Goldin, he has two sons and a daughter. WebClaudia is a New York artist and ex-wife of real estate developer Martin Kimmel. There was a jumpiness, an electricity in the air, too not unusual on the street known locally as Thunderboat Row, Performance Street or Gasoline Alley. He would have a succession of ladies that would appear. Nearly 60, he talked of taking up racing again. Sure enough, I moved there on a Monday and he was murdered that Tuesday.. Katheryn Winnick and John Travolta in Speed Kills ( Source : imdb ) Ben and his wife Emily also had a son named Andrew. The Captain tracked down a motley crew prepared to spill the beans. Youre a businessman, too. Michael, Donalds eldest son, thought his dad was a hero. But they [blew] a clutch and had nothing left. Gavin and Wylie are their two sons. Check Out Christopher Brineys Unseen Summer I Turned Pretty PhotosYoull Be Surprised! Collecting his children from summer camp, and not returning to the family home, the 34 year-old arrived in Florida with a $2 million retirement fund. They had two sons, Gavin and Wylie. Still subject to a non-compete agreement with Cigarette which hed bought back, then sold again in 1982 Aronow was forbidden from producing deep V monohulls. Aronow: After he was working with the family for a few years he went off on his own and started building homes, then shopping centers, industrial parks, all over northern New Jersey. Don was the only person who gave me more than a platitudehe gave me a job, this was December of 86. The University of Florida standout athlete Michael was the one who suffered serious injuries in a vehicle accident in 1970. He later got married to Lillian Crawford, a model for Wilhelmina who was 24 years younger than he was. The business was established in 1953 and immediately became one of the biggest construction firms in the region. [1][2] In 1959, at age of 32, the now-millionaire Aronow moved to Miami with his family, where he began racing boats as a hobby.[2]. Peters: The upstairs apartment above his office was kind of famous. His face flushed with excitement, Don Aronow launches into another one of his stories. He went to 188th Street in Miami and decided he wanted to put a plant there. It was from here the hit man opened fire, three bullets striking the powerboat star. Brown: At Cigarette he had an intercom in his office and he used to boff his secretary there and if you needed him you just hit him on the intercom! Brown: He was also the best boat salesman in the history of the world. It was testimony to the Theodolis diplomatic instincts that this would not become their fate. After years of delight, his prosperity is abruptly ended when he is discovered dead in his automobile. Michael Peters One of the first issues I had to deal with when he hired me [in the early 1980s] was [notorious Haitian dictator] Baby Doc [Duvalier, who was a client]. On February 3, 1987, Aronow was murdered in his car at the end of 188th Street in North Miami Beach where his boat companies operated. The boat coasted in fourth. Don would compete with people his size, said Michael Peters. Donalds second business venture was Donzi Marine, which he founded in 1964 and later sold to Teleflex Inc. in the middle of 1965. I just did you a favor.. WebIn 1964, Brownie worked for Don Aronow at Donzi Marine, the first real sport boat builder. Meanwhile, Kramer had been convicted of massive marijuana smuggling and money laundering, receiving multiple prison sentences including life without parole. I went over there and he had holes all over him. I was a little hesitant to move to Miami, because my view of it was straight out of Miami Vice. The Row was island-like, bounded by water on three sides. Further reading. Saccenti: Don used to come and see me when I was hurt, one of those You need anything let me know, kinda things. Aronow's mechanic was busy prepping their twin-engined Magnum. Jackson said it was the best in the world. Speed Kills Story Based On Motorboat Racer Don Aronows Real Life, Ben Aronoff Wikipedia: John Travolta Portrayed Don Aronows Character, Who Is Ben Aronoffs Wife? Nobody really knows [what happened], the only thing for sure is that Dons gone. Performance boats attract a lot of characters. One of those characters was a racing boat driver and drug smuggler called Ben Kramer. Aronow won the World Powerboat Championship in 1967 (hed go on to win it once more and the US championship three times), and in 1968, he sold Magnum. A tough, athletic, Jewish kid from Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, New York, by the age of 21, Aronow was married and about to start a career in his father-in-laws New Jersey construction company. The murder fell awkwardly between the sort of extravagant statement killings orchestrated by Colombian cocaine kingpins and the kind of professional contract hit carried out by killers keen to hide their tracks, or at least ensure a clean escape. After Don Aranow was killed by a gunshot in Miami in 1987, his story was told in the 2009 documentary Thunder Man: The Don Aranow Story and in the 2018 film Speed Kills. He was about outdoing the other guy, no matter what you were doing., Bob Saccenti He was a great guy and a great businessman. Of the World's most recognized racing boat companies, Don Aronow established five; Donzi, Formula, Magnum, Cigarette and A violent criminal named Bobby Young was fingered as the hitman, and his employeraccording to the courtswas Ben Kramer. Within a year of its creation, Donzi Marine gained recognition on a global scale, making it an immediate success. Leaving his office that afternoon, Aronow was making for his North Bay Road residence, a 1929 Spanish-style waterfront mansion undergoing renovations, 30 minutes drive away. Given this unpromising start in life, the seven-ton, 11.9-metre Blue Thunder vessels acquitted themselves well. "And they're entitled to spend it any damn way thay want.". "Sure a lot of older men have bought my race boats to drive up and down the Intracoastal on weekends," Don Aronow admits. At the time, Saccenti was recovering from a horrific crash on Lake Erie. ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Another witness tried to follow the Lincoln as it fled but could not catch the killer(s). And he never would backpedal later or change things. Don Aronow is also quite proud of his lovely wife Lillian. Jackson said it was the best in the world. About his second son, David, nothing is known. Made quite a lot of money on it in spring of 1964. WebI think it was at this point that Don discovered that he was Jewish. Whereas Don Aronow was more brash, assertive more resolutely a mans man. Some men had told his father that he'd lost it. They become friends and Johnson told my father about the Miami-Nassau race, which my father became really interested in. Don Aronow with his wife Lillian and son Gavin. At that time, NE 188th Street was a weed-strewn, low-rise strip. Miami claimed the nations highest murder rate at 70 per 100,000 residents, and this years pace has been even higher. What are the core values of superyacht builder Sirena Yachts? You gotta do your homework. They had three children: [1] Michael who was a star athlete at the University of Florida until he was severely injured in a car accident in 1970 and used a wheelchair after that. Also read:Wally Tatomir: Death And Obituary What Is The Cause Of The Equipment Manager&Death? You can talk to anybody [about that]. Brown: Our friend Stu Jackson worked for Thunderbird and he received a gold Rolex when he retired. It was into this volatile, heady mix that vice president George HW Bush President Reagans lieutenant in the White Houses war on drugs unwittingly stepped. I cant imagine that, though, he was pretty easy to find. Don Aronow: The King of Thunderboat Row, 1994, by Michael Aronow He was larger than life. The beginning of the film tells the tale of Don, who relocates to Miami in order to win every prize. Some people bad-mouth him, Oh he did this, he robbed that, well thats shame on you. He retired and moved to Florida 10 years later -- a millionaire in his early 30's, his fortune spawned by the thousands of tract homes Aronow had built and sold throughout northern New Jersey. [1] He had two elder sisters, Sylvia and Lillian. I never thought anybodyd actually do that, but by God they did. Phil Lipschutz The saying he had [about Cigarettes famed Mistress model] was, Every man should have a Mistress. And that certainly described Don, too., Allan Brown Hed fuck your wife in a second. [A tough, athletic, Jewish kid from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, by age 21 Aronow found himself married and about to start a career in his father-in-laws New Jersey construction company.]. Next, he started Donzi, named after himself, again on NE 188th Street. Allan Brown He started Formula from scratch and sold it to Thunderbird in about a year. How Did He Die? Aronow evidently stopped his car willingly; he was found with his foot pressed fully down on the accelerator, the 5.6-litre Mercedes engine racing wildly hed put the car in neutral, almost certainly to engage whoever was inside the Lincoln. After divorcing his first wife, Shirley, with whom he had three children, Aronow married Lillian Crawford, a Wilhelmina fashion model and socialite. He competed in the race in April 1962 and led until the end. I didnt hear shots, with the air conditioner and sewing machines going on, but somebody came and got me. If the real motive for Aronows murder was him turning informant, surely others (on the wrong side of the law) were potential suspects, too? We considered Formula to be a utility boat. Aronow sold the company (and Brownie) shortly after its inception (and a couple of big offshore wins). Brown: Everybody has their own idea about why he was in Miami. But Aronow may have possessed a darker side that even he could not outrun and in the end, he wound up as nothing more than a target for an assassins bullet. She was once married to renowned developer Martin Kimmel. Yet deep V monohulls were now reaching 160km/h. The full breakdown of his net worth at the time of his passing is still unavailable to the general public. Who is this guy? asked an arriving first responder. A certain Ben Kramer, who came from a seemingly good home on the Intracoastal Waterway between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, started smoking pot at school and began selling it. It reported Miamis Federal Reserve branch to have amassed a currency surplus of $5 billion, mostly in drug-generated $50 and $100 bills, or more than the nations 12 Federal Reserve banks combined. The associated crime could strike anyone. As director of the CIA, hed also interacted with Aronow, recalling how Don came and offered to help our country. 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