(Image via GoFundMe)

Savyon Zabar aka Big Ben, the former owner of the longtime gay NYC club Escuelita — which catered to Latin lovers — was found strangled and beaten to death in his Upper West Side apartment Wednesday.

The 54-year-old allegedly took a massage from a regular masseur of his, who then reportedly left the apartment saying that Ben had tried to have sex with him. This declaration struck Ben's roommate as odd, so he checked on Ben and found his body.

The masseur is at large.

Police noted his death was not immediately characterized as murder because his large size (400 lbs.) made it hard to see he had been strangled.

The NYP did its typically sensitive treatment on the story:

(Screen grab via NYP)