A rival jeweler admitted to cops that he sent the two goons who held up a Diamond District shop at gunpoint — but said the thugs were only supposed to scare his foe instead of getting greedy and robbing the joint, sources told The Post on Wednesday.
“They wanted to show they had muscle,” a law enforcement source said of the rival Russian jeweler and his associates.
“They have a beef over money and jewelry, and the Russian [whom the victim and his partners] are beefing with sends these two guys over there to scare them.”
They wanted to show they had muscle.
Targeted jewelry store owner Danny Mikhaylov, 33 — who has a long rap sheet, including busts for robbery, burglary and assault — tipped cops off to the scheme by telling them about his foe, sources said.
The cops then went to the other business owner, who ’fessed up, the sources said.
But the rival jeweler insisted that he only wanted to send a message to Mikhaylov amid their dispute over money and jewelry — and that his hired goons must have gotten greedy when they saw the bling and money ripe for picking at Watch Standard Jeweler at 23 W. 47th St., according to the sources.
While holding Mikhaylov, his sister, father and two others at gunpoint — even pistol-whipping the dad — one of the robbers stuffed $500,000 worth of Rolex, Patek Philippe and other high-end watches and $6,000 cash in his bag, sources said.
He then fled with his accomplice.
Mikhaylov denied to The Post on Wednesday that he pointed cops in his rival’s direction.
“Everybody’s a target in this industry,’’ he shrugged when asked why his eighth-floor wholesale store would have been singled out.
The Long Island City resident — who told cops he thought he lost $2 million in the robbery, much more than it wound up being — has twice claimed to be the victim of other heists.
No arrests were made in either case.
Mikhaylov also denied to The Post that he was ever arrested.
“I don’t rip people off. I don’t take stuff from people,’’ the shop owner said.
Meanwhile, the heist’s armed thug may have been daring — but apparently is not very bright.
“The gunman touched a lot of stuff in the store. He didn’t have gloves on,” one of the sources said.
Investigators lifted fingerprints from the shop and were testing them, as well as using facial recognition technology on surveillance video.
Newly released footage showed the dapper gunman before the heist trying to blend into the crowd. After the heist, he’s seen walking quickly off.
One of the suspects ducked into the subway at West 47th Street and Sixth Avenue to escape.
Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton
