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Man Charged In Murder Of Former Nightclub Owner Savyon Zabar On UWS

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A man was arrested and charged Friday with the murder of a nightclub founder and New York LGBT community icon on the Upper West Side.

Daquan King, 23, of the Bronx, was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Savyon Zabar, 54, in Zabar's West 81st Street apartment last week.

There were no signs of forced entry, and nothing was taken from the fourth floor apartment where Zbaar was found strangled around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 4, 1010 WINS' Al Jones reported last week.

Zabar -- known as 'Big Ben' -- was the former owner of the now defunct Chelsea nightclub Esquelita.

A neighbor, Jonathan, said Zabar had a big heart and was a good friend.

"I used to help him you know like ah, you know, just doing errands. I don't know. He was a really good friend for sure," he said last week.

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