FL FL - Daniel Goldman, 17, Surfside, 28 March 1966

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Daniel Jess Goldman

New Clues Uncovered In 1966 Kidnapping Of Danny Goldman
March 27, 2013 11:44 PM By Jim DeFede

URFSIDE (CBS4) – March 28 1966 – Aaron and Sally Goldman were awakened by an armed man looking for $10,000 the couple supposedly had hidden in their home. When he didn’t find the money, the intruder took the Goldman’s son, Danny, telling the parents that if they wanted their child back – they would need to come up with $25,000.

[...]

“There was never a recovery of Danny dead or alive,” said Paul Novack, a former mayor for Surfside. “There was never an arrest made, and there are very few cases like that in the history of the country.”

[...]

Novack believes the $10,000 that gunman was looking for was money the Goldmans were supposedly gathering to ship Danny out of the country so the boy wouldn’t have to sign up for the draft the next day when he turned 18.
But when the intruder didn’t find any cash, it turned into a kidnapping.

An attorney by day turned dogged detective at night, Paul Novack dug into the case discovering long lost reports and statements taken from two career criminals. One pointed at a fellow named Joe Cacciatore.

Chicken Cacciatore, as he was known, was an accomplished thief and burglar closely aligned with mob boss Santo Trafficante Jr.

[...]

But as Novack learned, the Dade County Sheriff’s Office was notoriously crooked in the Sixties.

In fact, one of the Dade Sheriff’s deputies in charge of the Goldman investigation was eventually indicted in an unrelated case six months after the kidnapping.

“He was indicted with Joe Cacciatore for jointly committing burglaries,” Novack said.

[...]

... police are now wondering if Danny’s old girlfriend might somehow hold the answer.

Because of Novack, Miami Dade Police have reopened the case and they have questioned Sharon several times in recent weeks.

(more at the link)

The Charley Project profile provides more detail.
 
Non-Family Abduction from Surfside, Florida since March 28, 1966

Age: 17 -- Height: 5'10" -- Weight: 165 lbs -- Hair Color: Brown -- Eye Color: Brown

Daniel's nickname is Danny. He has a dime-sized vaccination scar on his upper left arm, a 3-inch moon shaped scar on his right ankle, and a 2-inch scar on the right side of his lower back.


The day before his 18th birthday, Daniel was abducted at gunpoint from his Surfside, Florida home. An unknown man bound Daniel's parents and demanded $10,000. They told the man they did not have the money on them. The man then woke up Daniel, bound him, and drove away with him in Daniel's car. He said he wanted a ransom of $25,000. He said he would kill Daniel if the price, which would double after 24 hours, was not met. He promised to call with delivery instructions, but never did. Daniel has never been found.


NamUs #15001

SurfsideKidnapping.com - What happened to Danny Goldman?
 
I remember reading about this case previously.

According to this former editor/reporter (quoting from the website Bessie linked above) ""The links and 'coincidences,'" its website says, "are rather amazing." It goes on to state that "people of national historic significance had at least peripheral and previously unknown connections to the case.""


http://keysnews.com/node/44633
 
$25,000 would be a lot for many people today to scrape up so fast, let alone in 1966 -- using an inflation calculator, that amount would be equal to more than $180,000 today!

Given what the family was trying to do with Danny, I might have thought the whole kidnapping was staged. It's possible the parents had connections, even mob ones, and tried to use them out of desperation to get their son to Canada (the medical glove only made in that country). I'd imagine a generous amount of money would have had to change hands. Then perhaps something went wrong, as these things so often do. Or, maybe the family knew all along where Danny was and simply pretended otherwise, so that he wouldn't face charges due to avoiding the draft.
 
Bumping for Danny as we approach the 55th anniversary of his disappearance
 
I wonder what, if anything, they've found over the years that would help the case.

Published October 7, 2012

Guest Post: Paul Novack on the 1966 Danny Goldman Case

Extensive research into archived media records, law enforcement records, and court records, together with interviews and re-examination of stored evidence, unearthed viable leads. A DNA sample was identified and located, audio and video and documentary records from the scene of the crime were obtained, and a comprehensive timeline was developed. The “posse” uncovered, discovered, compiled and analyzed so much information that in response, the case was re-opened by the Miami Dade Police Department, Homicide Bureau, Cold Case Squad in May 2012, and in September 2012 is now also an active case with NAMUS, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. The case has also now been reported to INTERPOL.
 
rbbm.
https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/article256924647.html
'' Most South Floridians likely have no idea who Goldman was or his horrible end. But one local attorney and a group of five Miami Beach High grads who knew Goldman from school and the neighborhood could not forget about the case that shook up their the years of their youth. They became volunteer sleuths and worked the case for 10 years, uncovering a Mafia connection and much more.''

''Impressive work. And homicide detectives agreed. In a video clip, Miami-Dade Det. Jonathan Grossman of the cold-case unit said that, while working the case, they contacted the lead volunteer sleuth, attorney Paul Novack, a former Surfside mayor, and the “volunteer investigation team,” as Novack calls them. They “provided critical information” that helped identify a man named George Defeis as Goldman’s kidnapper. Defeis is long dead. A partial fingerprint, a handicapped gait to his walk and the taxi he took to the crime scene all helped build a case against Defeis years later, Goodman explained in the video.''
 
April 23 2022
danny3-e1650718337158.jpg

CRIME HUNTER: How childhood pals solved 1966 cold case mob murder | Canoe.Com
''Now, his high school buddies believe Danny was murdered and dumped in the Atlantic Ocean off Miami within a day or two of the kidnapping.
It appears that Danny’s dad, Aaron Goodman, was investigating suspicious activity at the bank where he worked. His friends are convinced Danny was murdered by the Mafia to keep him silent on a massive fraud.''

''Danny’s five friends were inspired by a heartbreaking letter from his mother Sally, begging that her only child never be forgotten.''
“It says that she hopes that if people keep the memory alive, that hopefully one day somebody will hear something or see something and will have some answers,” Paul Novack told The Miami Herald.''
danny5-e1650718457133.jpg

Low-rent Brooklyn mobster George Defeis has been named as the killer. HANDOUT/ MDPD
 
I have the impression and as they say above it is possible that his parents have planned all this it is also possible that Danni recognized his kidnapper and got scared and decided to kill him because if his parents paid the bail surely he would say who the kidnapper was... Maybe they threatened his family and he agreed to go with them... whatever it is, rest in peace danni
 

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