What you should know
- The four men were found buried on the property of former New York City suburban police officer Nicholas Tartaglione, who was convicted of the murders.
- The bodies were found in December 2016, about eight months after the four were killed in Otisville, about 70 miles north of Manhattan. At trial, defense attorneys argued that Tartaglione had nothing to do with the murders and that the government was using him as a convenient scapegoat.
- Tartaglione gained further notoriety as a former cellmate of Jeffrey Epstein, before the disgraced financier killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting sex trafficking charges.
A former suburban New York police officer turned drug dealer was convicted on Thursday of the strangulation death of a man and the execution-style murders of three others.
Nicholas Tartaglione was convicted in federal court in White Plains after a three-week trial that took place nearly four years after he was a cellmate of notorious financial and sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein. It took the jury a day and a half of deliberations to find Tartaglione guilty of all the murder, kidnapping and drug conspiracy charges he faced.
The bodies were found in December 2016, about eight months after the four were killed in Otisville, about 70 miles north of Manhattan.
US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that Tartaglione planned the murders after he suspected one of the victims, Martin Luna, of stealing money from him.
The prosecutor said he tricked Luna into meeting him at a bar in what became a “death trap” for the man, two of his nephews and a family friend he had brought with him. Prosecutors said in court papers that Tartaglione took Luna’s body to his ranch in Otisville, while his accomplices took the other three men “alive and tied up” to the same location.
“What followed could only be described as sheer terror, as Tartaglione tortured Martin and then forced one of his nephews to watch Tartaglione strangle Martin to death with a bridle,” Williams said.
The prosecutor said Tartaglione and two associates then carried the other three men to a remote wooded area, forcing them to kneel before shooting them in the back of the neck and burying all four of them in a mass grave. Prosecutors said Tartaglione shot one of the three remaining men.
“Tartaglione’s heinous acts represent a larger betrayal, as he was a former police officer who was sworn to protect the very community he devastated,” Williams said.
He said the conviction will ensure that “Tartaglione faces life in federal prison for his inconceivable murder of four men.”
At trial, defense attorneys argued that Tartaglione had nothing to do with the murders and that the government was using him as a convenient scapegoat. Defense attorney Bruce Barket said his client was “deeply disappointed” with the verdict and planned to appeal.
“As everyone knows, a guilty verdict is the first step in finding someone wrongfully convicted. He hopes he will eventually be exonerated because he is not guilty,” Barket said.
In July 2019, Tartaglione shared a Manhattan jail cell with Epstein when the wealthy financier was placed on suicide watch after he was found with bruises on his neck. Epstein hanged himself weeks later while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Tartaglione retired after serving as a police officer at Briarcliff Manor, Mount Vernon and Yonkers, among others.
Judgment is scheduled for October 31. Tartaglione faces life imprisonment.