General Marek Papala (center)

Andrzej Z., aka ‘Nightingale’, will no longer testify against Edward Mazur, the businessman suspected of commissioning murder of the former chief of police General Marek Papala.

"I don't know who killed Marek Papala, who planned this murder and who commissioned it. I don't know Edward Mazur, I have never met him," the former head of Pruszkow mafia said in court.

Andrzej Z., along with Ryszard B., is accused of complicity in the crime and faces prison term. The gangster is also accused of inducing Artur Zirajewski, alias ‘Iwan,’ into killing of General Papala, offering him 40,000 USD. 

During the interrogation Andrzej Z. admitted that he had taken part in a meeting with Edward Mazur, who was looking for a hit man to kill the “head honcho”. ‘Nightingale’ explained that he met the influential businessman from the US because he wanted to get the head of Pruszkow mafia aka ‘Pershing’ out of prison and expected Mazur to help him. However, Andrzej Z. retracted his testimony in court, claiming that the previous statement was forced by the Prosecutor’s Office.

It was also revealed in the court that the FBI had informed Polish investigators about Edward Mazur’s trial to discredit Artur Zirajewski, a man who testified against him and later was found dead in prison hospital. Mazur allegedly tried to bribe several people to testify against Zirajewski’s account of events.

Police chief, General Marek Papala, was murdered while parking his car meters away from his Warsaw apartment in 1998. It took Polish authorities several years to apprehend Andrzej Z. and Ryszard B., but police were not able to establish, concretely, who commissioned the murder. The top suspect is Edward Mazur, whom Polish authorities unsuccessfully tried to extradite from the US. (mg/jn/mmj)