A federal judge allowed overnight Thursday the release of an alleged suicide note written by convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein that had remained sealed for years as part of the criminal case of his former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione.
Tartaglione said he found the note in July 2019 after Epstein was discovered unconscious in their cell with a strip of cloth around his neck. Epstein survived that apparent suicide attempt but was found dead weeks later at age 66 after killing himself at the Manhattan detention center where he was being held.
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Purported Jeffrey Epstein suicide note found by ex-cellmate Nicholas Tartaglione
(Photo: US District Court Southern District of New York)
“They investigated me for months — FOUND NOTHING!!!” Epstein allegedly wrote at the start of the note, before saying charges were still filed against him over events from many years earlier.
“It is a treat to be able to choose one's time to say goodbye. Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!!” the note said. It ended with the underlined words “NO FUN,” followed by: “NOT WORTH IT!!”
The note was released after a decision by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, New York, who is overseeing Tartaglione’s case. The ruling came after The New York Times petitioned the court to unseal the document and published a report in which Tartaglione described the note and how he obtained it.
The Times stressed that it had not authenticated the note, which was added to court records Wednesday night in the United States.
The document remained hidden from the public even after the U.S. Justice Department released millions of pages of Epstein-related documents in recent months, a move described as unprecedented in scope. According to the Times, a search of those documents did not find a copy of the note, and a Justice Department spokesperson said the agency had never seen it.
The search did uncover a mysterious two-page chronology describing how the note became tied to Tartaglione’s complex legal case. According to that chronology, Tartaglione’s lawyers authenticated the note, though it did not explain how.
Tartaglione, a former New York police officer, shared a cell with Epstein while awaiting trial in a quadruple murder case. In recent phone interviews with the Times from a California prison, he said he found the note inside a comic book after Epstein was removed from the cell following the apparent suicide attempt.
“I opened the book to read and there it was,” Tartaglione said. He said the note was written on a piece of yellow paper torn from a legal pad.
The New York City medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide. In the years since, revelations about serious security lapses at the jail have fueled numerous theories about the circumstances of his death and whether he was murdered.
After the July 2019 incident, when prison officials asked Epstein about red marks on his neck, he initially claimed Tartaglione had attacked him and said he was not suicidal. Tartaglione has long denied attacking Epstein. Epstein later told prison officials he had “never had any issues” with his cellmate.
Tartaglione said he gave the note to his lawyers because he believed it could help him if Epstein continued to claim he had tried to harm him.
Tartaglione was convicted in 2023 and is serving four life sentences. He maintains his innocence and has appealed his conviction.
The note appears to have become part of a long-running legal dispute among Tartaglione’s lawyers. Court records show materials related to that dispute remained sealed to protect attorney-client privilege.
Before unsealing the note, Karas asked parties in the case to state their positions on the Times’ request. The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, which prosecuted Tartaglione, did not oppose the release.
“[T]here appears to be a strong public interest in the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death,” prosecutors wrote to the judge.
Library displaying more than 7.7 tons of Epstein evidence opens in New York
Meanwhile, the world’s first library dedicated entirely to Epstein-related documents has opened in New York under the name “The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room.”
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The Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room in New York
(Photo: Institute for Primary Facts)
The library displays about 3.5 million pages of U.S. Justice Department documents related to the convicted sex offender, including more than 3,700 physical volumes of investigative material and over 7.7 tons of evidence illustrating the scope of Epstein’s crimes. It also features a timeline detailing Epstein’s relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The timeline begins with their reported meeting in Palm Beach in 1987, continues through Epstein’s attendance at Trump’s 1993 wedding to Marla Maples and extends to Epstein’s reported removal from the Mar-a-Lago club in 2007 following an alleged inappropriate incident involving a teenage girl.
David Garrett, the main organizer of the exhibit, said he had concerns about opening the library, particularly after the Trump administration recently indicted former FBI director James Comey.
In addition to the documents, the exhibition includes a memorial installation with candles representing more than 1,200 of Epstein’s victims.
For now, organizers have limited access to the documents themselves to journalists and legal professionals, saying the restriction is intended to protect victims whose names were not fully redacted in the Justice Department’s release. Members of the public can view the timeline and memorial installation by appointment.
The project was organized by the Institute for Primary Facts, a nonprofit intended to promote transparency and accountability in the U.S. government and is based in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood.
Responding to the opening, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump had been “fully cleared of anything related to Epstein” and had “done more for Epstein’s victims than anyone else.”