Federal prosecutors said on Monday that a former suburban New York police officer who turned drug dealer and planned the killings of four individuals in 2016 had been sentenced to four consecutive life terms.
In 2016, Nicholas Tartaglione believed that a man was stealing from him. He tricked the victim into stepping into a trap, and then he and others killed the man and three of his companions, according to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office.
“Nicholas Tartaglione brutally and senselessly murdered Martin Luna over money, and then ruthlessly executed Urbano Santiago, Miguel Luna, and Hector Gutierrez simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams stated.
In April 2023, Tartaglione, 56, was found guilty by a jury on 11 charges of murder, 4 counts of kidnapping that resulted in death, 1 count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and 1 offense of conspiracy involving drugs.
About 20 miles north of New York City, in the village of Briarcliff Manor in Westchester County, he had worked as a police officer.
Prosecutors said that Tartaglione had tortured Martin Luna, whom he had suspected of stealing $250,000, before strangling him with a zip tie.
Williams claims that after that, he led the three other men—Luna’s nephews Miguel and Urbano Santiago as well as a family friend Hector Gutierrez—to some woods and made them kneel. Then a bullet to the back of each of their heads was fired.
It so happened that those three individuals were with Martin Luna at the time of the kidnapping. In a sentencing letter, prosecutors described Tartaglione’s crimes as “monstrous” and stated that they were slain “because they witnessed Martin’s murder and were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
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According to authorities, Tartaglione’s property in Otisville, upstate New York, is where the remains of the four men were interred. The bodies were located in December 2021 by an FBI task group.
On Monday, Tartaglione was found guilty and given four consecutive life sentences. Inga Parsons, his lawyer, stated that they are filing an appeal and will keep up the battle to prove Tartaglione’s innocence.
Tartaglione filed a move for a new trial in March, claiming that his attorney made mistakes and neglected to object to significant evidence. According to Tartaglione, he is innocent.
Records indicate that the court turned down the request for a fresh trial.Prosecutors stated that Tartaglione, a former police officer turned body builder, provided steroids to other body builders in the Hudson Valley region, including to Joseph Biggs and Gerard Benderoth, two individuals who helped carry out the kidnapping and killings.
Prosecutors claim that Biggs, Tartaglione, and Benderoth shot one of the three individuals they had made to kneel.
“Under Tartaglione’s direction, Urbano, Miguel, and Hector were forced out of the car and onto their knees at gunpoint. Then one by one, each was executed,” prosecutors stated. “The terror the last victim to die must have felt borders on the incomprehensible.”
The relatives of the four victims reported their disappearance to authorities while they were still unaccounted for, and this eventually resulted in the FBI task group discovering their bodies.
Benderoth is no longer with us. Biggs entered a guilty plea and was given a sentence of more than 16 years in jail in April.
Jason Sullivan and Marcos Cruz, two additional males who entered guilty pleas, were also involved. Cruz was sentenced in November to time already served, and Sullivan was given a 10-year prison term last week.
