Menachem Stark, a 39-year-old father of eight, was shoved into a light-colored minivan outside his Brooklyn office late Thursday. His charred body was found this weekend on Long Island.
The Post - which referred to Stark as a "slain slumlord" - prompted a number of angry Tweets, including one from Yaacov Behrman, who wrote, "I am deeply disturbed by the cover of the New York Post, "who didn't want him dead." How about this young boy?!"
Another person tweeted, "It's heart-wrenching that this is leading the @nypost website today. 'Who DIDN'T want him dead?' SHAME ON YOU!"
The lead of the Post story said Stark had "so many enemies that investigators say they almost don't know where to start looking."
"He's a Hasidic Jew from Williamsburg, and we think he's a scammer," the Post quoted one unnamed investigator as saying.
The Post said Stark "left behind a trail of angry tenants from more than a dozen residential properties, mostly in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, along with an untold number of unpaid contractors and angry business associates."
The New York Times also noted that Stark and his business partner, Israel Perlmutter, had defaulted on major loans including a $29 million loan for a 74-unit rental property.
Despite his business troubles, Stark appeared to be well-liked in the tight-knit Hasidic Jewish community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
An "overflow crowd" of hundreds of Jewish mourners gathered Saturday night at an emotional funeral for Stark who had a reputation as a "generous figure," The Forward reported.
"You know they burned him and left him in the trash," one young boy reportedly said in Yiddish before the start of the funeral.
"Horrible," the father said, according to The Forward. "Don't tell your sisters."