“Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!!” A judge just released what is claimed to be Epstein’s suicide note, and it was hidden inside a graphic novel

A federal judge has officially released a note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein, shedding new light on a document that remained hidden inside a graphic novel for years. As first reported by the New York Times, Judge Kenneth M. Karas of Federal District Court in White Plains, New York, made the note public following a petition from media outlets to unseal it. The document had been sealed as part of the criminal case involving Epstein’s former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione.

The discovery traces back to July 2019, shortly after Epstein was found unresponsive in his cell with a strip of cloth around his neck. He survived that incident but was later found dead at age 66 at the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan. Tartaglione, a former police officer from Briarcliff Manor, New York, who was awaiting trial on a quadruple murder charge, said he found the note tucked inside a graphic novel after Epstein was removed from their shared cell.

“I opened the book to read and there it was,” Tartaglione said, noting that the message was written on a piece of yellow paper torn from a legal pad. The note begins with the line, “They investigated me for months — FOUND NOTHING!!!” and continues, “It is a treat to be able to choose one’s time to say goodbye.” It then reads, “Watcha want me to do — Bust out cryin!!” and concludes with the words “NO FUN,” underlined, followed by “NOT WORTH IT!!”

The note’s authenticity has never been formally verified

The Justice Department has stated it had never seen the document, even as it released millions of pages of Epstein-related records. A two-page chronology surfaced during that records review suggesting that Tartaglione’s lawyers had authenticated the note, though the documents did not explain how that process occurred. The note became entangled in a legal dispute among Tartaglione’s own defense team, which led to it being placed under a court seal to protect attorney-client privilege, amid a broader pattern of sensitive court filings drawing renewed public scrutiny in recent weeks.

When the request to unseal the document was filed, the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan did not contest it, acknowledging a strong public interest in the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death. Tartaglione, now serving four life sentences following his 2023 conviction, had previously said he handed the note to his lawyers because he thought it could be useful if Epstein continued to claim he had been attacked. Following the July 2019 incident, Epstein initially told jail officials that Tartaglione had assaulted him, though he later said he never had any issues with his cellmate.

The New York City medical examiner officially ruled Epstein’s death a suicide, but the case has drawn sustained scrutiny over significant security failures at the facility. A Department of Justice Inspector General report detailed serious misconduct by jail staff, including the falsification of count slips and round sheets. Investigators found that staff failed to monitor Epstein, left him with an excessive amount of bed linens, and did not assign him a new cellmate after a previous one was transferred. The facility’s security camera system also had long-standing operational failures, leaving no recorded footage from the period leading up to his death.

The FBI’s separate criminal investigation found no evidence that non-Bureau of Prisons actors contributed to Epstein’s death. A child’s witness statement playing a pivotal role in an unrelated murder trial has drawn attention this week to how courts handle testimony in high-profile cases, with a six-year-old’s account proving central to a separate ongoing proceeding. The Justice Department has since agreed to implement Inspector General recommendations to address the staffing and management failures identified at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.