STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) – The man accused of being the “dinnertime bandit” who broke into wealthy homes while owners were inside is worried that organized crime figures might try to harm him because he cooperated with federal authorities decades ago, his attorney said Wednesday.

Alan W. Golder’s attorney, Howard Ehring, said he doesn’t want to ask yet for a reduction in Golder’s $3 million bond because he has concerns about Golder’s safety if he’s moved to another prison with fewer safeguards.

“He believes that the organized crime syndicate of the area still more or less has a beef with him,” Ehring said before Golder’s appeared in Stamford Superior Court, where he had originally planned to ask for a bond reduction.

A telephone message was left with a prosecutor who has declined comment on the case in the past.

Golder, 52, was extradited from Belgium last year after nine years on the run. According to an arrest affidavit, he told his brother in 1997 that he fled because he thought he was being followed by “the feds or the mob.”

Golder faces nearly 40 felony counts, including burglary, larceny, robbery and kidnapping, in the break-ins that occurred in the 1990s. He has pleaded not guilty.

Authorities estimate nearly $1 million in goods were taken in the burglaries in the upscale towns of Greenwich and Darien.

The Greenwich burglaries began three months after Golder was paroled in 1996 after serving 15 years in prison for the 1978 murder of Long Island, N.Y., real estate developer Lawrence Lever. Lever was fatally shot by Golder’s accomplice during a break-in at his home.

Golder cooperated with federal authorities around 1980, providing information on the largest jewelry theft ring in the region, Ehring said.

He agreed to go into a witness protection program, but was still threatened and beaten up at the time, Ehring said.

Ehring filed a motion Wednesday asking the court to order the state to turn over the witness protection agreement.

He said the agreement might offer details of Golder’s whereabouts that could provide an alibi.

Alfred Vincinere, a retired Nassau County, N.Y., detective who arrested Golder in 1980, said Golder’s concerns are legitimate.

“He did give up quite a few people,” Vincinere said. “We did get a capo to go to jail. I don’t think he’s too happy.”

Ehring also filed motions challenging the testimony of a victim of one of the burglaries who identified Golder in a photo lineup and based on a sample of his voice. He says the process was too suggestive and violated Golder’s rights.

Golder denies he committed the burglaries and contends former associates have blamed him to save themselves, Ehring said. He said other groups were committing such burglaries at the time.

Golder also questions the legality of his extradition, though he has not filed a formal challenge, Ehring said. He is due back in court March 5.

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