By Ivan Pereira
Mikhail Mallayev, 50, of Georgia, pled not guilty to charges of second-degree murder in the killing of Daniel Malakov. Malakov was shot twice in the chest by an unidentified gunman Oct. 28 as he took his daughter, Michelle, to Annadale Playground on Yellowstone Boulevard and 64th Road to visit his ex-wife, Dr. Mazoltuv Borukhova.
“I want justice for my Daniel. He is the killer, I know it,” said Malakov's father, Khaika.
Police tracked fingerprints on a makeshift silencer left at the scene to Mallayev, whose prints were on file for a 1994 arrest in Brooklyn. Mallayev, who is a distant uncle of Borukhova's, was arrested Nov. 17 in Georgia, indicted by a Queens grand jury in December and extradited to New York Wednesday night, police said.
Queens prosecutors said he told Georgia investigators he was in the borough on the day of the shooting, after initially denying three times that he was in New York during the time. Assistant District Attorney Brad Leventhal said Borukhova called Mallayev's cell phone 65 times between Oct. 21 and Oct. 26.
Borukhova, who had lost custody of Michelle days before Malakov was shot, did not return calls for comment. The judge remanded Mallayev without bail.
Nearly 75 of Malakov's friends and relatives, members of a tight-knit community of Bukarian Jewish Uzbek immigrants in Forest Hills, cursed Mallayev as he was led out of the courtroom. A hearing is set for Tuesday to discuss a motion to place Mallayev in a lineup in front of parkgoers who witnessed the shooting.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
