"Watcha Want Me To Do? Bust Out Crying": Epstein Note Before Suicide Attempt

Jeffrey Epstein's alleged suicide note has finally been revealed, in which the convicted sex offender and paedophile appears to claim that federal investigators "found nothing" against him after months of investigation. The unverified and undated note that was made public this week was first placed on the court docket in a case related to Epstein's former cellmate, who claimed he found it after the millionaire sex offender's first suspected jail suicide attempt days before his death. 

The barely legible note, which is not signed, appears to read, "They investigated for month -- found nothing!!!"

"So 16-year-old charge results!" the note appeared to read. 

"It is a treat to be able to choose one's time to say goodbye," it continued.

 "Watcha want me to do -- bust out crying!! NO FUN -- not worth it!!"

ALSO READ: Jeffrey Epstein's Suicide Note? Ex-Cellmate Found 'Time To Say Goodbye' Letter

History Of The Note

Few people had known about the note until Epstein's former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer serving a life sentence for killing four people, mentioned it last year on writer Jessica Reed Kraus' podcast. Last week, The New York Times reported that the note had been concealed from the public for almost seven years. 

Tartaglione claimed he discovered the note in a book after Epstein was found on the floor of their cell at a Manhattan federal jail on July 23, 2019, with a strip of bedsheet around the financier's neck. That was about three weeks before Epstein was found dead in his cell in what authorities concluded was a suicide.

US District Judge Kenneth Karas in White Plains, New York, ordered the release of the note after The New York Times asked him last week to unseal it with other documents in a case involving Tartaglione. The Justice Department did not oppose the request.

ALSO READ: Epstein Had Dirt On 'One Person', No Links To CIA Or Mossad: Former Lawyer

Doubts Over Note's Legitimacy 

"There appears to be a strong public interest in the circumstances surrounding Epstein's death as described in the unsealing motion. That said, because the government has no knowledge as to … the accuracy of the factual narrative described in the unsealing motion, the government defers to the court," the department wrote to Karas earlier this week, indicating that it did not know if the purported note is legitimate.

It is unclear who wrote the note Tartaglione claimed to have found. It wasn't mentioned in the lengthy government reports examining the circumstances of Epstein's death, nor did it surface in the Justice Department's recent release of files on the late financier.

In a written ruling, Karas said he weighed the privacy interests of third parties, including Epstein, before ruling to release the note. He said existing case law suggests that privacy interests of the person who has died, such as Epstein, "are vastly reduced and disclosure of the deceased's information is unlikely to 'work a concrete harm'."

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Epstein's First Suicide Attempt

According to jail records, Epstein had friction marks and skin irritation on his neck from the suspected July 23 attempt. Jail officers said he was breathing heavily but responsive. One officer reported at the time that Epstein said he believed Tartaglione had tried to kill him, according to a memo included in the Justice Department's files.

Jail officials placed Epstein on suicide watch for 31 hours after the incident before downgrading him to psychiatric observation – his status when he killed himself. According to jail records, he denied trying to harm himself, telling a jail psychologist that suicide was against his Jewish religion and that he was a "coward" who didn't like pain.

A chronology included in the files states that Tartaglione told his lawyer about the note four days after the suspected July 23 attempt. The note was later submitted as evidence in Tartaglione's criminal case and was placed under seal amid a dispute over his legal representation.

Both men were interviewed by jail personnel on July 31, 2019, according to jail records.

Epstein said he had never had any issues with Tartaglione, wasn't threatened by him and didn't "want to make up something that isn't there." Tartaglione said he didn't have any issues being Epstein's cellmate, though he said they kept their conversations to a minimum. On July 23, he said, he thought Epstein was having a heart attack because his eyes were open and he appeared to be snoring.

Epstein and Tartaglione shared a cell for about two weeks, beginning soon after Epstein's July 6, 2019, arrest and ending with the suspected suicide attempt. Both were awaiting trials — Epstein on sex trafficking charges and Tartaglione on charges that in 2016 he killed four men, including a man he tortured and strangled over stolen drug money.

Tartaglione, who had been an officer in the Hudson River Valley village of Briarcliff Manor, was convicted in 2023. He is currently incarcerated at a federal penitentiary in California and has petitioned President Donald Trump for a pardon.

Epstein was without a cellmate when he was found dead at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on August 10, 2019. Authorities have pointed to a series of missteps by jail personnel — including browsing the internet and sleeping when they should've been checking on Epstein -- for allowing him to take his own life.

Officials said they found a handwritten note in Epstein's cell at the time of his death, but it didn't appear to be a suicide note. Rather, they said, it appeared to be a list of grievances about conditions at the jail, including about food, showers and the presence of bugs.