DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Courtesy of the New York Daily News
The sister of a Queens doctor accused of hiring a hit man to kill her husband Wednesday screamed at a judge in English and Russian in a vain attempt to be released without bail.
Natella Natanova, 39, begged Queens Supreme Court Justice Ira Marqulis to release her on her own recognizance on charges of threatening a witness.
When the judge set bail at $150,000, Natanova protested, saying she never stalked the witness, but was simply standing in front of her apartment when the man walked past.
“But it’s my house!” Natanova screamed, referring to the location on 108th St. in Forest Hills where she is accused of telling witness Gaviril Malakov, “You will be next to go” if he talked.
The judge ordered her to be quiet and court officers dragged her away while her mother, sister and husband looked on.
Malakov is the brother of dentist Daniel Malakov, 34, who was shot dead execution-style last Oct. 28 in a Forest Hills park in front of his young daughter.
The well-liked dentist’s estranged wife, Dr. Mazoltuv Borukhova, was arrested last month on charges of plotting the murder with her uncle, accused trigger man Mikhail Mallayev, 50.
Investigators believe Borukhova hatched the plan in anger over a judge’s decision to give Daniel Malakov sole custody of their daughter, Michelle, 5.
Prosecutors wanted Natanova held on $250,000 bail, given the charges against her relatives.
“There’s been an ongoing family dispute now for years,” Assistant District Attorney Teri Ann Puliafico said.
Natanova’s lawyer, Michael Dowd, denied she confronted Gaviril Malakov and could not have known he was a witness in the case.
He suggested prosecutors and the victim’s family were unfairly targeting Natanova, whom he described as a homemaker with six children.
He said prosecutors “are squeezing the family in order to solve a murder that they don’t have proper evidence on … [Malakov] is carrying out a vendetta.”
Natanova faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
Meanwhile, a dozen of Daniel Malakov’s relatives packed a different courtroom where Mallayev claimed he was broke and needed a court-appointed lawyer.
Mallayev’s lawyer, Michael Siff, said his client “does not have any assets of value sufficient enough to meet any fee for a case like this.”
Mallayev owns a massive pink home in suburban Atlanta; an electric-blue Chevrolet Corvette was parked in the driveway a few days after he was arrested.
As the victim’s father stared down the alleged killer while an unusual number of court officers looked on, Judge Robert Hanophy granted the application.
After the two hearings, Gaviril Malakov, 33, said he was “afraid” of his former sister-in-law’s family and that it was “very painful” to face down his brother’s accused killer in court.
“When I look at him,” he said, “I can picture how the homicide actually took place.”
