Four-foot 2-inch City Councilman Tony Soares urged voters to “stand up for the little guy” when he ran for City Council in November, but less than two months since he won a seat on the city’s governing body, somebody appears to want to squash the little guy. The outspoken city councilman and administration critic says that somebody threatened to kill him in a message left on his voice mail on Dec. 22. ‘Soares, you’re dead,” says a man on a tape that the councilman has turned over to police. “You keep f—ing with the wrong administration; you’re f—ing with the wrong people, you’re dead.” Despite the reference the caller makes to the administration of Mayor Anthony Russo, Soares said he was confident that the Mayor had not directed anyone to make the call. “Maybe it’s a fan of the administration, but I don’t think it’s a directive of the Mayor,” Soares said. “The mayor’s not a stupid man. There are people more of a threat to the mayor than I am. I don’t believe Anthony Russo would do that, and I’ve said that all along. He’s too smart for that.” Not funny Soares confirmed a rumor that some time after he filed the police report, his former campaign treasurer, Carmelo Garcia, claimed that he had been the one to leave the threatening message, but Soares thought he was kidding. “[Garcia] said it later on, after I filed the police report that it was him, but I thought he was joking when he said it was him,” said Soares. “All I know is, the voice on that tape is not Carmelo Garcia. I do not believe the person on the tape to be any friend of mine.” “I made a police report with the full belief that it was real,” continued Soares. “It was quite embarrassing if someone was playing a joke. Anyone who knows me knows I hate practical jokes. If I call and imitate somebody, it’s one thing, but a death threat is another. If it is a prank, I’m angry and relieved at the same time.” Garcia said, in an interview last week, that he did not leave the threatening message for Soares. “I didn’t do that,” said Garcia. “I don’t know who could be doing that. It could have been a Russo tactic, but I really don’t know.” When asked whether he had ever told Soares that he had left the threatening message, Garcia promised to call right back, but never did. Soares said that the police were investigating the call and that he had not received any more information about it from them. “I have not been updated by the detective bureau as to the status,” said Soares. “I hope it was a prank. I hope it wasn’t real. I am also angered if it was a prank, because it is not something you fool with. I’ve been pretty edgy about it.” Even though Soares said that he did not believe that the mayor was behind the death threat, he did say that he thought the mayor may have tried to make him look bad after he reported the incident to the police. “From the very first time that I talked to the mayor about this, he said that he thought it was a friend of mine,” said Soares. “Whatever has happened since I reported it to the police was only put out there to make me look bad.”