Jeffrey Epstein suicide note: Ex-cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione
Weeks before he killed himself in a decrepit Manhattan jail in 2019, Jeffrey Epstein was found alive but with marks on his neck on the floor of his cell.
He then made a startling claim: According to a prison official, Epstein said his cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione had tried to kill him.
Epstein soon recanted, but not before Tartaglione became the central figure in the mystery surrounding the former financier’s injuries.
Tartaglione, then a former police officer awaiting trial in a quadruple murder case, experienced a different version of events. His lawyer said Epstein put a suicide note inside a book.
Tartaglione turned the note over to his legal team, but its existence was little mentioned in later years, even after Epstein’s subsequent suicide, which became the subject of scrutiny from federal investigators and a skeptical public.
On Wednesday, the note Tartaglione said he found was finally made public and unsealed by a judge after being locked in a courthouse safe for years as part of an unrelated legal dispute.
It’s unclear whether the note is real, exactly when it was written, or whether its coded language is meant to be a suicide message, as Tartaglione claims.
Here’s what you need to know about Tartaglione, why the memo remained out of the public eye for so long, and how its release resonates now.
Who is Nicholas Tartaglione?
Tartaglione retired on disability pension in 2008. Authorities say Tartaglione turned to drug dealing and eventually masterminded the kidnapping and murder of four people in 2016.
According to prosecutors, Tartaglione believed one of the men had stolen money from him that was to be used to buy cocaine. The portly former police officer took the man to a bar, tortured him for money and eventually strangled him with a zip tie, authorities said.
Three of the man’s friends and relatives who were there were shot in the head, and all four were buried on Tartaglione’s property, according to prosecutors.
Tartaglione was arrested in December 2016. He was still awaiting trial when he found himself sharing a cell with Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center three years later. Tartaglione was finally convicted in 2023 and was later sentenced to four consecutive life sentences.
What happened during Epstein’s first suspected suicide attempt?
According to jail records, Epstein was found in the cell with Tartaglione around 1:30 a.m. on July 23, 2019. Epstein was later placed on suicide watch elsewhere in the prison. That’s when, the officer added, he sat down and accused Tartaglione of trying to kill him, tried to extort money and threatened to beat Epstein.
The alleged assault by Epstein quickly became public, and within a day, NBC News reported that prison officials were questioning Tartaglione and investigating whether Epstein had been assaulted.
But in an interview with prison staff a week later, Epstein said he had no issues with Tartaglione, was not threatened by him and “didn’t want to make up for something that didn’t happen,” according to records. He said he was not suicidal.
After spending 31 hours on suicide watch, Epstein was downgraded to psychiatric observation. He had no cellmate when he was found dead on August 10, 2019.
Authorities said they found a handwritten note in his cell, but it appeared to be a list of complaints about squalid conditions at the prison, which has since been closed, rather than a suicide note.
Authorities concluded that Epstein killed himself and that the first incident was likely a missed opportunity to take necessary steps to prevent a second suicide attempt.
When did the note first appear and why was it only published this week?
A chronology in recently released Justice Department files on Epstein’s case shows Tartaglione told his lawyer about the note four days after the suspected suicide attempt on July 23.
Prison staff did not mention the memo in a report describing an interview with Tartaglione later that month. “Tartaglione stated that he did not understand Epstein’s purpose and what he was trying to do,” the report said.
Tartaglione said he thought Epstein was having a heart attack.
The note was later introduced as evidence in Tartaglione’s drug murder trial and sealed amid a dispute over his legal representation.
Tartaglione mentioned this in a podcast interview from prison last year, trying to dispel persistent conspiracy theories that Epstein did not kill himself. “It was in my book. When I got back to the cell, I opened my book to read it and there it was,” Tartaglione said.
The memo itself is difficult to parse.
“They searched me for a month and found nothing!!!” he says. “It’s a pleasure to be able to choose the time to say goodbye,” he continues. “Be careful what you ask me to do – Walk out crying!!”
What do Epstein’s accusers think about this?
After seven years of surprising changes and unanswered questions, the document only increases uncertainty and frustration for some of its accusers.
“This is very hurtful to me because I don’t know if Jeffrey Epstein actually wrote this, and if so, when he wrote it,” said actor and model Alicia Arden, who made a police report about herself in 1997 that yielded no results.
Arden also wonders why the memo was released now. His lawyer, Gloria Allred, said Epstein’s victims want truth and transparency, but the note “deepens the mystery.”
Jennifer Freeman, an attorney for the survivors, said the document distracted from efforts to examine the government’s handling of Epstein’s case and hold accountable anyone who enabled it.
“We cannot allow the narrative to be clouded by speculation about whether this note is real or not,” Freeman said.
beyondblue, 1300 224 636; Lifeline, 13 11 14; Headspace (for those aged 12 to 25), 1800 650 890; Suicide Callback Service 1300 659 467.
