Menachem Stark went missing two nights ago, after he left his office in Williamsburg, NY,

… from which he ran his seedy empire — which once included the notorious Greenpoint Hotel on Manhattan Avenue, a flophouse so decrepit and drug-filled, the feds seized it in 2005. … Stark’s irate tenants complained of squalid living conditions, and opponents of his development projects indicate he had several enemies. …

“[W]e think he’s a scammer,” said one law enforcement source. “And he f–ed over a few people.”

It seems likely that one of his enemies settled the score — in an unbelievably brutal manner. Yesterday afternoon, Stark’s body was found smoldering in a dumpster.

The father of eight died of suffocation, sources said. His body suffered severe burns to one hand and below the waist; it is not clear if he was set on fire before or after his death.

It’s a shocking crime that NYPD homicide detectives wanted to investigate while the evidence was still fresh. Unfortunately, the police probe slowed down dramatically last night and today. That’s because most of Stark’s relatives, acquaintances, and associates are observant Jews who refrain from using electricity on the Sabbath — which means that for about 24 hours, they refused to answer phones and doorbells.

In other words, the same religion that Menachem Stark claimed to live by may help his killer(s) escape justice.

It is the most ironic Sabbath story since the one from last September, about the New York heroin ring whose members devoutly shut down their drug-dealing business for the duration of the weekly Jewish observance.