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Jeffrey Epstein's ex-cop cellmate says he saved sex offender from hanging, source says
Stephen Rex Brown and Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News
4 hrs ago
Jeffrey Epstein’s cellmate — a former cop charged with quadruple murder — told authorities he came to the perverted multimillionaire’s rescue after he attempted to hang himself, alerting correction officers and possibly saving his life, a source told the New York Daily News on Friday.
A law enforcement source confirmed that the cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, claimed to have helped Epstein after finding him unconscious. Investigators were still trying to determine if an assault had occurred or if the sex offender facing up to 45 years in prison had in fact tried to take his own life, the law enforcement source said.
“You’ve got a guy who is a millionaire who is now living among rats and mold and wants to go home,” the source said.
“This is a disgusting place and the people there, they treat you disgusting. Who wouldn’t be suicidal in that kind of place? You have a silver spoon in your mouth and then you’re put in a cesspool.”
Bruce Barket, a lawyer for Tartaglione, refused to go into detail about the incident but did not dispute the account.
Epstein, 66, appeared to have genuinely believed he was going to get bail and return to his $77 million Upper East Side mansion, a source previously told the Daily News.
He was found on the floor of his jail cell with bruises on his neck early this week while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, sources said Thursday.
Epstein has pleaded not guilty. One of his attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.
Barket said that contrary to reports that Tartaglione inflicted harm on Epstein in the Special Housing Unit of the Metropolitan Detention Center, the two cellmates get along just fine.
“They became more than cordial,” Barket said. “In the short time they were together, they became friends.”
The source also insisted that Tartaglione, 51, had nothing to do with Epstein’s injuries.
“The guy is on suicide watch. You don’t go on suicide watch if you’ve been assaulted, do you?” the source said.
The Bureau of Prisons did not respond to an inquiry.