He suggested he believed members of the Latin King street gang were acting as phoney government snitches to help the government set him up.
What I tell inmates at the MCC is utter nonsense — what I say here is the truth,” Mandell said.
Though prosecutors did not identify the witness they allege Mandell threatened, Mandell himself named the alleged informant during Thursday’s hearing as North Shore businessman George Michael.
The case against Mandell was built around the cooperation of the undercover informant, who allegedly recorded Mandell as he plotted the abduction and murder, revelling in its gory and sadistic details.
But Mandell alleged it was Michael who was in contact with Latin King members in the MCC, urging St. Eve to take the allegations of witness-threatening with “a pinch of salt.”