Miami Herald

September 26, 1996

BOAT RACER TAKES PLEA IN KILLING RIVAL WAS SLAIN IN '87

MANNY GARCIA Herald Staff Writer

JUST IN CASE: Metro-Dade police closed off half of the courthouse's second floor and used SWAT teams as Ben Kramer, who once tried to escape prison, pleaded no contest to killing Don Aronow.

Benjamin Barry Kramer, who once owned a $150 million casino, raced titanic ocean racers and jet-setted the globe with champagne and women, pleaded no contest Wednesday to the 1987 murder of his rival, power boat king Don Aronow.

Kramer, no longer tanned, way out of shape and missing 11 teeth, said he took the manslaughter plea just so he could leave the Dade County Jail.

Kramer, 41, already serving a life sentence on a federal conviction, was sentenced by Dade Circuit Judge Michael B. Chavies to 19 years for killing Aronow. The sentences will run together.

``I've lost teeth in here. I haven't seen a doctor in years,'' Kramer said after the hearing. ``That was the decision -- or don't take the plea and die.''

Kramer appeared in court wearing an aqua-and-orange, cotton-blend Miami Dolphins jump suit -- his favorite team. His ankles were shackled. A chain tied to his handcuffs and wrapped around his waist was secured with a Master padlock.

He occasionally glared across the courtroom at Dade prosecutors Gary Winston and Penny Brill, who alleged that Kramer ordered Aronow killed nine years ago in a business dispute.

Aronow, 59, the millionaire guru of the powerboat set, was gunned down outside his USA Racing office in Northeast Dade. Metro-Dade homicide detectives pursued the ambush slaying for six years, interviewing terrified witnesses, discreet mistresses and mobsters, dopers, spies and snitches.

In 1993, prosecutors indicted Kramer and Robert ``Bobby'' Young, the alleged hit man, on first-degree murder charges. But the case soon soured.

Young refused to turn snitch. Last year, prosecutors let him plead no contest to the hit, a $60,000 job long considered one of the most sensational murders in South Florida. He received 19 years.

The state's key witnesses against Kramer were Melvin Kessler, a defrocked attorney and convicted money launderer, and two jail-house snitches, who would have testified that Kramer implicated himself.

``Time hurt us,'' Winston said Wednesday. ``The murder happened in '87. Our case was always built upon snitches, phone conversations and these links weaken over time.''

A sure sign the state was in trouble: Prosecutors recently waived the death penalty against Kramer.

``Robert Young pleaded and he is the acknowledged killer,'' Winston said.

Defense lawyers Jose Quinon and Kenneth Kukec said their client remains innocent despite the plea.

``It was a plea of convenience,'' Quinon said. ``This is his way of getting out of this jail. He was housed like an animal.''

Kramer's notoriety contributed to his problems. In 1990, he tried to escape by helicopter from the Federal Correctional Institution in South Dade. The spectacular jail break went awry when the helicopter that plucked him from an athletic field snagged on a fence and crashed.

Because of the escape attempt, every time he was walked from jail to the Metro Justice Building, SWAT officers and police dogs scoured the courthouse for bombs, weapons and other devices.

Kramer remained confined to a sixth-floor cell under constant watch by correctional officers -- an arrangement he hated primarily because he detested sharing the wing with Juan Carlos Chavez, charged with killing 9-year-old Jimmy Ryce.

``The conditions are horrible,'' said Kramer, who found some solace in being a frequent contributor to the jail's television sports show.

His expertise: Picking the winners of football games.

Donald Manning, Dade's jail director, had no sympathy for Kramer.

``This is a dangerous individual,'' he said. My main concern is protecting the community and not jeopardizing my officers just to accommodate him. We're glad to be rid of him.''