Before he died in prison, convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein was reportedly attacked in his cell, extorted by his cellmate and slipped a handwritten note into a book.
That's according to Miami Herald investigative journalist Julie K. Brown, who initially broke the story that led to the first arrests of Epstein and his chief accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell. In a Thursday post to her Substack entitled "Why I don't believe Jeffrey Epstein Killed Himself (Part 2)," Brown delved into Bureau of Prisons records about an apparent suicide attempt that took place not long after he arrived at New York City's Metropolitan Corrections Center in the summer of 2019.
Brown alleged the Bureau of Prisons never fully investigated the suicide attempt, and asserted from available evidence that the convicted sex trafficker had instead been attacked by an inmate. She noted that child predators are at the bottom rung of the prison hierarchy, and that Epstein had a target on his back due to the volume of reporting on his crimes. Epstein's cellmate ["bunkie" in prison parlance], Nicholas Tartaglione — who Brown described as a "violent ex-cop-turned-drug-dealer — denied playing a role in the assault.
"Just 13 days after he arrived at MCC, he was found laying on the floor of his cell, with a piece of fabric around his neck," Brown wrote. "The very first story he told prison officials was that his cellmate tried to kill him."
However, Epstein later changed his story to say that he didn't remember the details of the attack. Eventually, an incident report attributed his injuries to "self-mutilation." Tartaglione was also accused of threatening to harm Epstein unless he paid him. Eventually, some details of the attack were apparently "expunged," according to Brown.
"Inmate Epstein also stated that his Bunkie also tried to extort money from him and stated that if he didn’t pay him, he would beat him up," an incident report read. "He stated this has been going on for a week…he went on to say that his Bunkie told him that if he beat him up, because of the charges, the officers would not report it and because of this he was not comfortable telling officers about the prolonged threats and alleged attempts to extort him."
Brown further observed that Epstein told his prison psychologist that "suicide was against his religion," and that the child predator's attorney said she "did not see a despairing or despondent person" around the time of his death. Epstein's brother, Mark, continues to maintain that Jeffrey Epstein didn't take his own life, as does Maxwell. Brown also reported that there is a reference to a "note" hidden in a book in Epstein's cell in the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Epstein files release – the details of which remain unknown. Bruce Barkett, who is Tartaglione's lawyer, apparently has knowledge of the note, though he has not yet commented on it.
"BB [Barkett] visited NT [Tartaglione] and NT told him JE [Jeffrey Epstein] left him a note in his book. Asked guard if NT could go retrieve it and guard said no," a Bureau of Prisons summary of the exchange read. "BB told NT to give it to give it to next lawyer that visits him."
"The assault/attempted suicide remains one of the most suspicious aspects of Epstein’s death," Brown wrote. "A lot of material pertaining to his time in MCC has yet to be released by the DOJ."
The DOJ is more than a month past the statutorily imposed date to release all remaining documents pertaining to Epstein, per the Epstein Files Transparency Act that Trump signed into law in November. The DOJ stated earlier this week it would be releasing more files soon.
