Former Bridgeport Resident Convicted Of Making Threats Against Yale: U.S. Attorney

NEW HAVEN, CT — A federal jury in Bridgeport today found Mandel Bidone, 34, formerly of Bridgeport, guilty of mailing a threatening communication, according to David X. Sullivan, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut.

Sullivan said that according to the evidence presented during the trial, in April 2022, while he was incarcerated in state custody, Bidone filed a civil complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut against “Yale New Haven Inc.” and other defendants alleging that he had undergone an illegal clinical trial administered by Yale University and, as a result, was seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

In October 2022, Bidone’s complaint was dismissed as frivolous, Sullivan said.

The U.S. Attorney said that in March 2023, Bidone mailed another civil complaint for money damages and other relief to the U.S. District Court’s Clerk’s Office in New Haven.

"The complaint, handwritten and separated between eight envelopes, contained many of the same allegations as in the first complaint," Sullivan said. "But included additional language at the top of the first page within each envelope some variation of the following: 'If the District Court dismisses this case or looses (sic) any one of the pages of this complaint, Mandel Bidone will purchase an illegal firearm and discharge it on Yale’s campus aiming for the students and staff until his is gunned down.'"

During the investigation of this matter, the U.S. Marshals Service learned that Bidone sent letters to the City of New Haven, the New Haven Police Department, and a local news affiliate discussing his complaint and repeating his threat against Yale, its students, and faculty, the federal prosecutor said.

Bidone, who is detained pending sentencing, faces up to 10 years in prison on the charge of mailing a threatening communication.

This investigation has been conducted by the U.S. Marshals Service, with the assistance of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Yale Police Department, and the New Haven Police Department.

— By Ellyn Santiago, Patch Staff