Ultimately, neither money nor gossip in Little Guyana holds sway over proceedings in the homeland, where the case appeared to be breaking down last month. The key witness who heard Mr. Bisram give the order to kill Mr. Narinedatt recanted. But then a judge was suddenly dismissed from the case, and proceedings started anew.

Mr. Bisram’s aunt, Ms. Pariag, and his Guyanese lawyer, Mr. Datadin, said they feared that because of his political connections to the People’s Progressive Party, Mr. Bisram is being targeted by Guyana’s party in power now.

Mr. Gallucci, Mr. Bisram’s New York lawyer, suggested that were Mr. Bisram to be extradited, his life would be in danger. He told the State Department that he will file a petition contesting the Brooklyn judge’s ruling, which could take another two months — or longer. By then, he said, a Guyanese court might even throw out the charges against Mr. Bisram for lack of evidence.

Mr. Narinedatt’s family believes Mr. Bisram is trying to buy his freedom. Mr. Bisram’s family distrusts the Narinedatt family’s motives.

“We don’t feel for them because they are lying,” said an uncle, Anand Pariag, at the courthouse. “They are making the story up to get a payback.”

It would seem that the two sides were irrevocably divided.

And yet they were also related.

“I know them all,” Kristendat Pitam, 53, the widow’s father, said in the Brooklyn federal courthouse for the extradition hearing. He was leaning in the hallway after the proceedings, gesturing to the cluster 20 feet away. “I grew up with them. They are my cousins.”

He went over to Mr. Pariag, who was visibly surprised by the gesture, and shook hands. He went to another of Mr. Bisram’s aunts and they exchanged pleasantries.

“That’s your family, that’s what you do,” Mr. Pitam said. “I am supporting my family too.”