Green’s Threats to Slay Wife Related in Court : Crime: A friend testifies that the tax preparer proposed that the two men kill each other’s spouse.

An Encino tax preparer accused of having his estranged wife murdered, offered to kill the wife of a friend if the man, in return, would kill his wife, the friend testified Tuesday.

William Schiffbauer said Melvin Green, 56, made the offer in a telephone call in July, 1990, after Green first asked Schiffbauer how much he would charge to kill Green’s wife.

Schiffbauer said he jokingly put the price for the murder at $5 million, but after Green then made the suggestion that they kill each other’s wife, he became alarmed that Green might have been serious.

Three months later, Anita Green, 42, was shot to death by an unidentified motorcyclist who has yet to be caught.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kent Cahill maintains that Green arranged to have his wife killed because he was upset that she was having affairs with other men, that she was seeking a large divorce settlement from him and that she had information that could ruin his business.

Schiffbauer was one of several people who testified in Los Angeles Superior Court that they heard Green say, in general, that he could “have anyone taken care of,” and specifically, that Green could have his wife killed.

The Greens’ former maid, Angela Ramos, testified that she heard Green tell his wife that she could leave whenever she wanted, but “she won’t live to spend any of his money.”

Gilbert Mershon, an accountant who occasionally worked for Green, said that Green once told him that if his wife tried to take his property as part of the divorce settlement, he would kill her.

“He said he could go into the desert and get a biker . . . I told Anita that he said you would be getting out of your car and someone would ride up behind you and blow your head away,” Mershon said.

Anita Green was shot to death Oct. 25, 1990, after she pulled into the parking lot of her husband’s office in North Hollywood. According to police, Anita Green was followed by a motorcyclist who wore a visored helmet. The motorcyclist parked his bike, walked up to Anita Green as she was getting out of her car, and shot her once in the head. He then sped off.

Green’s attorneys, Gerald L. Chaleff and Arthur B. Alexander, said outside the courtroom that any threats Green may have made were done in jest.

“He’s a blowhard,” Alexander said.