A man who Tuesday described himself as Dzhokhar  Tsarnaev’s "best friend" took the witness stand in US District court to testify against him on behalf of the prosecution. But his testimony was blasted by the defense, which suggested it was compromised by a deal made with the government 

Stephen Silva said he had known Tsarnaev since 8th grade. The two attended Cambridge Ridge and Latin, smoked dope together, and chased girls – in his word

They were tight. So on the witness stand, Silva said he had no problem lending his Ruger-9 mm pistol to Tsarnaev months before the Boston Marathon bombing.

Prosecutors said Tamerlan Tsarnaev used the gun first to kill MIT officer Sean Collier and then during the shootout with Watertown police. 

Silva admitted to selling molly, heroin, and weed, and said he procured the gun to protect his business.

For months, Silva said, he tried to get the gun back from Tsarnaev but “the defendant," as he referred to his former "best friend”, made excuses for why he could not return the weapon.

Silva recounted the shock and disbelief he felt when he saw pictures of Tsarnaev on TV the day the FBI identified him: April 18, 2013.

Silva said he was gripped with paranoia. His first thought was to get rid of his cell phone.

Police traced the Ruger-9 mm to Silva, who was later arrested for selling drugs to a confidential informant.

Silva—who was supposed to be sentenced this week under mandatory drug laws—instead took the witness stand.

I asked Silva’s lawyer, Jonathan Shapiro, why his client was never charged in connection with the killing of Sean Collier, or the attempted murder in connection to the shoot-out in Watertown, from where the Ruger was eventually recovered by police: 

"That has never been an issue,” Shapiro said, “ because the government has not charged him with having had anything to do with the shooting or the bombing. And it’s clear that from the timing involved, this was months before the bombing took place, that he lent the gun to Dzhokhar… because Dzhokhar told him he wanted to use it for a rip-off."                                                             

And in return for testifying against his former friend what is the government giving Silva, I asked Shapiro:

“He’d be looking at probably a mandatory minimum service of five years.”

Was it a coincidence that the man who sold Tsarnaev the weapon linked to the killing of Collier was picked up by a “confidential informant” posing as a customer in the months after the Marathon bombing?

“I’m not going to speculate,” said Shapiro. “In this particular instance, the confidential informant was actually an undercover police officer who are often used in sting operations in drug cases and so on. Now in this case, there was a sort of convergence of the bombing case with his own case and so one can speculate as to whether there was any intent to do that or not.” 

During cross-examination by defense attorney Miriam Conrad, Silva said, "I'm hoping to get the best deal I can possibly get.”

Silva admitted that he has lied about various aspects of his relationship with Tsarnaev.

Under questioning, Silva also admitted that he told Rolling Stone magazine that Tsarnaev never discussed religion.

Silva also said that his friend had once told him “you don’t want to meet my brother”—suggesting that Tamerlan, the eldest sibling, was someone to be feared.

This is the very case that the defense is attempting to make to the jury—that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was intimidated by a domineering and frightening older brother