By Ivan Pereira
Prosecutors served Natella Natanova, 39, the sister of Mazoltuv Borukhova, with a notice of indictment Friday during a court appearance. On March 5, Natanova was charged with witness tampering for allegedly warning Dr. Daniel Malakov's brother, Gavriel, to back off during the criminal case of her sister Mazoltuv Borukhova, who was charged with arranging the Oct. 28 murder, the DA said.”You should know if you talk, you will be the next to go,” she allegedly told Gavriel Malakov in Russian at the intersection of 108th Street and 65th Avenue, according to prosecutors.It was unclear if the grand jury's indictment, which was sealed as of press time, involved the tampering charges or new indictments. The indictment will be formally read to Natanova, a stay-at-home mom who is free on $75,000 bail, on March 19, a spokeswoman for the DA's office said.Daniel Malakov, 34, a Bukarian Jewish Uzbek immigrant, was shot twice in the chest while he was dropping off his then 4-year-old daughter Michelle at the Annadale Playground on 64th Road and Yellowstone Boulevard to meet Borukhova, his ex-wife. Borukhova, also an Uzbek immigrant, had lost custody of the girl days earlier during a bitter custody battle with Malakov.Malakov's family, who live close together in Forest Hills, have openly accused Borukhova and her family of being involved with their kin's slaying. In February, Borukhova was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy for allegedly hiring her distant uncle, Mikhail Mallayev, to kill her estranged spouse.Natanova's attorney, Michael Dow, dismissed the district attorney's office for “overinflating” the intimidation charges against his client since the threats were not only reported by Malakov's brother but also were allegedly made in front of her apartment building.”It's a he-said-she-said thing with a man who has publicly said he wants their family in jail,” Dow said outside Queens Criminal Court following Nattanova's first court appearance March 5. “This man is carrying out a vendetta.”Gavriel Malakov declined to comment about the specifics of his alleged encounter with Natanova, but told reporters outside Queens Criminal Court that he was “glad justice was working.”In November, Mallayev was arrested at his suburban Atlanta home after NYPD forensic specialists matched fingerprints on a home-made silencer left at the playground by the shooter to his prints that were on file from a 1994 arrest. He was indicted by a grand jury on murder charges a month later and extradited to Queens in January.During a court appearance March 5, Mallayev's court-appointed attorney, Michael Siff. told Supreme Court Justice Robert Hanophy that his client could not afford a private attorney.”My client does not have any assets of value sufficient enough to meet any fee,” Siff said.Mallayev was part of a limited liability company in the U.S. state of Georgia, according to the office of the Georgia secretary of state, and his neighbors told the New York Post in November that he lived in a large house and drove expensive cars. Siff did not return calls for comment as by press time.Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the Borukhova and her uncle exchanged 90 phone calls in the weeks leading up to the shooting but only made two following it.He also noted that Mallayev deposited $19,800 into several accounts at a Brooklyn bank a week after the shooting. Both defendants pleaded not guilty and could face up to life in prison without parole if convicted.Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
