A knife-wielding con got close enough to Diddy to press a makeshift blade to his throat, the rapper’s best friend has exclusively told Daily Mail.

Lifelong pal Charlucci Finney claims an inmate armed with a shiv snuck into Diddy’s New York jail cell and could have murdered the shamed hip hop mogul in his sleep.

‘He woke up with a knife to his throat,’ said Finney, revealing previously unreported details of the chilling close call inside the notoriously violent Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

‘I don’t know whether he fought him off or the guards came, I just know that it happened.’

Finney, who has known Diddy – real name Sean Combs, 55 – for more than three decades, believes the brush with death was a warning rather than a genuine murder attempt.

‘If this guy had wanted to harm him, Sean would have been harmed. It would only take a second to cut his throat with a weapon and kill him,’ he said.

‘It was probably a way to say: “Next time you ain’t gonna be so lucky”. Everything is intimidation. But with Sean it won’t work. Sean is from Harlem.’

Diddy’s lawyers raised the threat of violence on several occasions during the Bad Boy founder’s federal sex trafficking trial.

Defense attorney Brian Steel told the court that in one instance an MDC inmate wielding a shiv – a makeshift knife or razor – was stopped by a guard.

The culprit was trying to earn ‘prestige’ by hurting Diddy, Steel said.

The Grammy winner has spent the past 13 months languishing inside the grim lockup which is plagued by drug abuse, violence and understaffing.

Diddy’s lawyers want him to serve the remainder of his 50-month sentence for prostitution offenses at the much safer – and cushier – FCI Fort Dix in Hanover Township, New Jersey.

They’ve written to Judge Arun Subramanian urging him to recommend the low security facility to the Federal Bureau of Prisons so their multi-millionaire client can attend a drug rehab program and enjoy better access to his family.

A transfer would come as a massive relief for record producer Finney, 60, who was an-ever present at Diddy’s eight-week trial wearing t-shirts and caps emblazoned with ‘Free Puff’.

He suffers sleepless nights worrying that his famous pal, a father of seven, will be targeted by clout-chasing inmates.

‘Sean has kept a lot of this stuff to himself because he doesn’t want to worry his family. But if you’re in jail and you’ve been charged with anything sexual it’s not a good place to be,’ Finney said.

‘The prisoners take it personal. They look at it like, it could have been my mom, my auntie, my daughter. They try to get what they call prison justice.

‘And you have to understand, we are not talking about a regular person. We’re talking about Diddy.’

In July Diddy was cleared of sex trafficking and racketeering charges that could have landed him behind bars for life.

He was found guilty instead of transporting male escorts for debauched, drug-fueled sex parties – known as ‘freak offs’.

On the eve of last month’s sentencing Diddy wrote to Subramanian asking for a ‘second chance,’ claiming he was attending self-improvement classes and teaching business acumen to fellow felons.

‘I’m proud to say I’m working harder than I ever have before,’ he wrote. ‘I’m committed to the journey of remaining a drug-free, non-violent and peaceful person.’

Diddy’s lawyers argued the year he had already spent locked up in ‘inhumane’ conditions – starved of sunlight, exercise, clean drinking water and forced to sleep in dorm-style accommodation within two feet of other inmates – was sufficient punishment.

But Subramanian dished out a four-year sentence and a $500,000 fine, blasting the I’ll Be Missing You hitmaker for his ‘savage abuse’ of his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.

Diddy wasn’t convicted of any offense against Ventura despite being filmed beating her on hotel CCTV, but the judge decided he could nevertheless be held liable for ‘acquitted conduct’.

It was a crushing blow for the once-powerful rap producer known for his chart-topping hits and decadent white parties attended by the biggest names in showbiz.

Finney concedes that Diddy – scheduled for release in late 2028 – made some egregious mistakes but pins the blame squarely on a secret drug habit.

He sells a clothing range preaching Diddy’s innocence and takes to the streets of New York each week to collect signatures for a petition calling for his release.

‘All this stuff that came out, the drugs and the abuse, I wasn’t privy to that. Neither were his children. Around us Sean was a lovable caregiver, a father, brother, a best friend,’ Finney insisted.

‘The sex trafficking didn’t stick because the jury was smart enough to understand that this was not sex trafficking. This was a guy and his girlfriend freaking off. That’s it. Period.

‘I’m confident he’s gonna do whatever it takes to make sure he’s still Sean Combs when he comes out. He’s not gonna lose a step. Sean is unbreakable.’

The White House denied claims Monday that President Donald Trump was preparing to commute Diddy’s sentence.

It said there was ‘zero truth’ to the TMZ report ‘which we would’ve gladly explained had they reached out before running their fake news’, a spokesperson told Daily Mail.

The debunked report came hours after Diddy’s lawyers filed a notice to formally appeal his conviction and sentence.