NEW YORK CITY — A mob boss called “Fat Cat” wants to claw his way out of prison so he can follow a vegan diet, but prosecutors say the convicted killer should stay in his cage.
Brooklyn federal prosecutors filed Thursday a lengthy argument as to why a compassionate release request from Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichols — who copped to hiring hitmen he paid with cocaine to murder his ex-girlfriend — should be denied.
“He has not demonstrated extraordinary and compelling circumstances justifying early release,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace wrote in his missive to federal judge Edward R. Korman.
“Moreover … factors warrant his continued incarceration given the extremely serious offense conduct: multiple murders in support of a violent drug organization.”
Prosecutors described “Fat Cat” as the “the kingpin of the Nichols Enterprise,” a violent gang that, in the 1980s, raked in $100,000 a week selling drugs in Brooklyn and Queens.
Nichols protected his drug-dealing empire with extreme violence that resulted in the death of at least four New Yorkers, among them his ex, Myrtle Horsham, prosecutors said.
Horsham was murdered in 1987 in South Jamaica by four hit men who chased Horsham down the street, shot her five times, then pulled her screaming baby out of her mother’s house, said prosecutors.
When Nichols learned of the hit, he awarded each man $5,000 and 125 grams of cocaine, prosecutors said.
Nichols also ordered the execution of the parole officer who sent him back to prison for violation of his parole, following his 1985 arrest for possession of cocaine, heroin and $180,000 in cash, prosecutors said.
Parole Officer Brian Rooney sent Nichols back to jail a week later, so Nichols ordered his murder, again relying on hit men paid $5,000, the letter states.
One of those hitmen, Perry Bellamy, would also become the target of Nichol’s wrath for ratting on the fat cat, prosecutors said.
Nichols couldn’t get to Bellamy, so he ordered a hitman to shoot his father Maurice in the head, prosecutors said.
The Queens kingpin ordered the murder of Isaac Bolden on Aug. 6, 1986, on a street in Jamaica, Queens, prosecutors said, and was also tied to the death of NYPD officer Eddie Byrne in February 1988, according to a Daily News report.
“Fat Cat” was arrested, charged, tried and — in September 1989 — pleaded guilty to killing Horsham and Bolden, prosecutors said and court records show.
Nichols was sentenced to 40 years, of which he’s served 37, court records show.
In his plea for compassion release, submitted in August, Nichols says his health is suffering in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center because he cannot follow a vegan diet, and that he wants to go to Florida and work in a relative’s catering company.
“Although I try to stay strong, the stress is weighting me down, and has raised my blood pressure,” Nichols writes.
“Since I’ve been moved to this facility, I’ve been denied the right to a Vegan Diet which helps control my Glucose and Prostate levels.”
Nichols also notes he has lost two family members while in prison, his sister Martha and a baby grandson.
“I am now an old man who dreams of going home to be with my wife, children and grandchildren some day,” he writes. “I pray that you will grant this Petition for Compassionate Release, and allow me to go home to be with my family.”