Allan Brown He started Formula from scratch and sold it to Thunderbird in about a year. [3] Kramer was already in prison on a life sentence with no possibility of parole following 1988 and 1989 convictions for drug smuggling and gun charges, as well as receiving a 1990 conviction for a failed escape attempt by helicopter from a federal prison near Miami.[4]. Claudia, his daughter, is an artist in New York. Also, said Peters, the Coast Guard drivers were left drowned in the wake of the offshore racers and the cocaine runners, who just had a different mentality come race time.. Aronow's boats won over 350 offshore races and he was a two-time world champion and three-time U.S. champion. The persona of John Travolta After relocating to Miami, Ben develops swiftly as a racer, motor designer, and businessman. So he commissioned a design from Michael Peters that split a V in two to create a catamaran. Dream Symphony: Inside the 10-year build of the world's biggest sailing yacht. Katheryn Winnick and John Travolta in Speed Kills ( Source : imdb ) Ben and his wife Emily also had a son named Andrew. Performance boats attract a lot of characters. Young died in prison in 2009 after steadfastly refusing for years to testify against Kramer. That one time, Don said, Alright kid, Ill see ya, and walked out the door. The same year he almost killed himself when his race boat hit a wave off California, shot airborne and slammed into a helicopter hovering overhead. "And all of a sudden I was in the powerboat business.". Little Don couldn't understand how all his father's taxicabs could get lost at once. He built this entire street. Airlifted to a nearby hospital, Don Aronow was dead within the hour. The couples newfound happiness doesnt last long, though, because Ben is killed soon after at age 59 in what seems to be a job. On the afternoon of February 3, 1987, a man claiming to be Jerry Jacoby walked into Aronows Thunderboat Row office exhibiting strange behaviour. Lipschutz: I never had any inkling that Don was involved in something illegal. But Aronow may have possessed a darker side that even he could not outrun. The rest of NE 188th Street is covered with blocks of expensive condos promising comfortable waterside living. Bobby Young, the convicted shooter and the man who might have provided definitive answers, died in jail in 2009. It was a big building and obscured the Donzi plant you couldnt see [Donzi] from Highway 1 anymore! They had two sons, Gavin and Wylie. He started hosting Sunday afternoon brunches at the new home, sometimes for 50 or 60 people, with only Skip and Joanne Allen, of Southern Boating, and my wife and I as the token Christians. After purchasing Aronows USA Racing Team, Kramer and the latter got into a business dispute, but after the Customs Service refused to do business with him, Kramer was obliged to give it back to Aronow. Don Aronow, powerboat racing champion and founder of Magnum, Cigarette and Donzi, continues to fascinate as doeshismysterious death,discovers Daniel Pembrey. Like others who bought a boat company from Aronow, the Theodolis had reason to be wary. Brown: Shirley was his first wife. 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. Bob Saccenti Don used to come and see me when I was hurt one of those You need anything, let me know, things. In 1948, he married Shirley Goldin [1] [6] who he had met while working as a lifeguard on Coney Island. Michael Peters concludes, If you want to find anything comparable today, you need to look elsewhere, maybe to the final frontier Blue Origin, SpaceX, Bezos and Musk. He pauses. Due to Dons business relationships with some of the riskiest figures in the field, his name was changed to Ben Aronoff. Itinerary: Between the Bays in Anguilla and St Martin, Why this 38m yacht is the perfect new year purchase, A closer look at Benettis new 85m futuristic concept Project ORO. [3] Ben Kramer, winner of the 1986 American Power Boat Association Offshore Championship, pleaded no contest to manslaughter in 1996. The weather was cold and he was getting ulcers and he said, I cant do this anymore. We collected some of the best. Adam Kimmel, the menswear designer and spouse of The Glass House actress Leelee Sobieski, is the son of the ex-couple. Guys wanted to be him. After Aronows brief visit with Saccenti, he got back in his white Mercedes and began to pull away. Aronow was murdered in his car at the end of 188th Street in North Miami Beach on February 3, 1987. He was a great dad and a great husband. In these circumstances, it would have been extraordinary if the drug cash hadnt found its way into Thunderboat Row and its fabled go-fast boats. Miami claimed the nations highest murder rate at 70 per 100,000 residents, and this years pace has been even higher. The secret to happiness is taking risks. If the real motive for Aronows murder was him turning informant, surely others (on the wrong side of the law) were potential suspects, too? Some people say he was hiding from the mob. Besides the states weak case, there were other, more fundamental doubts over whether Kramer had arranged to have Aronow shot. In 1948, he married Shirley Goldin, [1] [6] whom he had met while working as a lifeguard on Coney Island. Youre a businessman, too. Members of the Bee Gees were neighbours on both sides. Aronow sold the company (and Brownie) shortly after its inception (and a couple of big offshore wins). A certain nostalgia colours memories of the 1970s as a time of the gentlemanly marijuana business. Aronow was born in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn,[1] the youngest son of Russian-Jewish immigrants[2] Herman and Ruth Aronow. Your request appears similar to malicious requests sent by robots. Money comes and goes. Aronow was now with his second wife, Lillian Crawford a model, Palm Beach heiress and ex-girlfriend of King Hussein of Jordan. Peters: It could have been anyone from drug runners, to business partners, to jealous husbands. Next, he started Donzi, named after himself, again on NE 188th Street. 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. The people who killed him were found out almost a decade after the fact. Don was the only person who gave me more than a platitude he gave me a job. Once Aronow was able to formally open his new company, he started Cigarette Racing Team using his own designs in 1970. The bosss wife would lean over my drafting table with her ample bosom and say, Remember, think sex.. And then one night Aronow and the contessa were driving back from a candlelit dinner in a tiny restaurant high in the Carrara Mountains. How Did He Die? Performance boats attract a lot of characters. One of those characters was a racing boat driver and drug smuggler called Ben Kramer. ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! I told my secretary to call 911. Hes pointing out the door and theres Don in his car, the engine screaming and hes slumped over the steering wheel. Next thing I know, an employee is banging on my door. Peters: He didnt like guys that came in and tried to go toe to toe with him. Lipschutz: The saying he had about [Cigarettes famed Mistress model] was every man should have a Mistress. And that certainly described him, too. For his part, he says the Colombians did it.]. At the time, Saccenti was recovering from a horrific crash on Lake Erie. Bobby Young, a career criminal, acknowledged the occurrence in 1995 and gave a complete confession in 2009, just before he passed away. Katheryn Winnick and John Travolta in Speed Kills ( Source : imdb ) Ben and his wife Emily also had a son named Andrew. I was a little hesitant to move to Miami, because my view of it was straight out of Miami Vice. Some of the most popular types of speedboats were the Cigarette, Donzi, Formula, and Cary. That was just his personality. It was the time of the sexual revolution, and his popularity with women was almost as legendary as his boating exploits, although some women were more circumspect. He was right out of a Hollywood script. His social group was pretty much divided along the same ratio. The guy would say, I want a 28. And Aronow would say, Oh no, were all sold out. And the guy would keep pushing, I wanted one all my life. And Don would say, We dont have any 28s, but Im building a 35 for myself and I could sell that to you. That was classic Aronow., Allan Brown Every boat he sold was built for himself. He went to 188th Street in Miami and decided he wanted to put a plant there. It was just one of the unusual clients Aronow had dealings with: oil-rich Arabs, Princess Caroline of Monaco and the Shah of Iran. 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. WebProfile of Don Aronow murder on TV show Expose hosted by Tom Brokaw Saccenti: He was a great guy and a great businessman. Brown: Don was so reckless with shit like that. It had to do with his father's taxicab company. Check Death Reason HOw Old She Was? Brown: Hed fuck your wife in a second. How much does it cost to charter a Below Deck yacht? Nearly 60, he talked of taking up racing again. A guy would come looking at a boat with a girl, and the guy would ask How much? And Don would go, Seventy grand. The guy would say, Thats too much. And Don would say every time, I think you should go get a Bayliner then, this is way too much boat for you. And the guys would be ripping their pockets open trying to give him money! The boats tend to be smaller, more sedate, more family-oriented. Don Aronow with his wife Lillian and son Gavin. (Captains note: more about Dons, er, appetites, later.) "So I decided to do a little construction on the side.". But he could tell something terrible had happened. Additionally, Travoltas earlier fame did not contribute to the films success. There are about 70 people out there who think they have a boat Don built for himself!, Michael Aronow By 1966, my dad had sold Donzi to Teleflex. He was an alpha male, like the male lion you see on safari. Barely had he begun to win before he sold Formula to Thunderbird Boats. Michael, his oldest son, was one of the best athletes at the University of Florida. Furthermore, there were witnesses plenty of them, if not always consistent in the details they shared with police. by The Captain | Oct 12, 2021 | Articles | 0 comments. He raced his 8.2-metre Maltese Magnum all over the world. Hes the only person Ive ever known like that. A world-champion boat racer who enjoyed wild success in business, he was also an unapologetic playboy and fabled bon vivant. I never thought anybodyd actually do that, but by God they did. Some people bad-mouth him, Oh he did this, he robbed that, well thats shame on you. 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. Most of the guys ran stock boats. The American-Puerto Rican crime drama film Speed Kills is based on the real-life boat designer and racer Donald Joel Aronow, who started Magnum Marine in Florida in 1966. Your access to this page has been blocked. When you shook his hand that was the deal. Retired President Lyndon B. Johnson owned several 16ft. Donzi speedboats on his Texas ranch with which he would race his Secret Service agents. It was testimony to the Theodolis diplomatic instincts that this would not become their fate. They had two sons, Gavin and Wylie. And every new [Cigarette] that I do, I drive right by his house with it, just so he can see. Around one-third of the regions murders were believed to be related to drugs. He has three childrenMichael, David, and Claudiawith Shirley Goldin, his first wife. Those two managed to make you feel like you were the centre of their world. (ABOVE) CRIME SCENE:A violent criminal named Bobby Young (right) was fingered as the hitman, whose employer according to the courts was Ben Kramer (left), Bob Saccenti [Kramer and Aronow] were both wealthy, and if it was over money, thats a shame. In 1948, he married Shirley Goldin, [1] [6] whom he had met while working as a lifeguard on Coney Island. Saccenti: He used to say youre never gonna make a lot of money building boats. His social group was pretty much divided along the same ratio. I dont think it ever ran again. Writer: (to Aronow) Tell me about your earliest memory. A kid was going to start a boat company in Florida, he had bought a boat in California, and he asked Aronow and me to drive it and see if it was any good. A pattern emerged whereby Aronow would sell his companies and then seek to eclipse them. Barely into his forties, Aronow was now a famous, feted and very wealthy man. What Happened To Don Aronow? That was on my to-do list: Deal with Baby Doc. "I'd never be married to a beautiful woman like Lillian if I hauled garbage for a living," Aronow adds. His father said it had to do with something called the Depression. Bush had long been an admirer of Aronows sleek vessels and had equally been disarmed by the man himself. It lets you transport your luxury car up to the safety of your own unit, even as crime rates have dropped. Actor John Travolta as Ben Aronoff in the 2018 crime drama Speed Kills. The Beatles, Don Aronow, and his son Michael cruise off Miami before the bands iconic 1964 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. So does Jordan's King Hussein -- and Haiti's President Baby Doc, fugitive financer Robert Vesco, British tabloid tycoon Sir Max Aitken, King Juan Carlos of Spain and Evil Kneviel. "It won big," Aronow says. "And they're entitled to spend it any damn way thay want.". Don Aronow is also quite proud of his lovely wife Lillian. He had first wanted to get into motor racing as a hobby, citing his rich status from running the Aronow Corporation, a construction company. 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. I just did you a favor.. 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 kid was going to start a boat company in Florida. Today, Thunderboat Row is a transformed, gentrified enclave. 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 result was the 8.5-metre 007, named after the gathering cinematic phenomenon. 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. He says the Colombians did it. 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