Nicholas Tartaglione: Jury convicts ex-cop of 'heinous' murders of 4 men in drug deal
WHITE PLAINS - A federal jury convicted former police officer Nicholas Tartaglione of murdering four immigrants on Thursday as part of a cocaine dealing scheme.
Tartaglione faces life in prison without parole when sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Kenneth Karas. A potential death penalty decision for murder had been taken off the table.
The 12-member jury, a day into deliberations, convicted Tartaglione of all counts. The charges included drug-trafficking conspiracy, multiple murders, and kidnapping in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Tartaglione convicted of strangling, shooting men over drugs
Tartaglione was convicted of killing Martin Luna, his nephew Miguel Luna, his niece's husband Urbano Santiago, and family friend Hector Gutierrez. All four disappeared on April 11, 2016, after Luna was lured to the Likquid Lounge, a bar in Chester owned by Tartaglione's brother, over a drug debt and brought the others with him.
The prosecution contended Tartaglione's two enforcers, bodybuilder and school security guard Joseph Biggs of Nanuet and former Haverstraw police officer and strongman competitor Gerard Benderoth, restrained the men at gunpoint.
Prosecutors told the jury that Tartaglione then strangled Martin Luna with a zip tie and his body and the three other men were brought to Tartaglione's property in Mount Hope, where Biggs, Tartaglione, and Benderoth each shot one of the men in the back of the head.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said, “Martin Luna, Miguel Luna, Urbano Santiago, and Hector Gutierrez were beloved fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons."
The murders resulted from Tartaglione suspecting Luna had stolen $200,000 from him as part of a planned cocaine purchase. Tartaglione, a bodybuilder, had been illegally selling steroids.
Williams said Tartaglione then devised a scheme to confront Martin at a meeting at a bar in Orange County.
"Unaware he was being lured into a deadly trap. Martin tragically brought his two nephews — Miguel and Urbano — and a family friend — Hector — to the meeting," Williams said. "What occurred next could only be described as pure terror, as Tartaglione tortured Martin, then forced one of his nephews to watch as Tartaglione strangled Martin to death with a zip-tie."
"Tartaglione and two of his associates then transported Miguel, Urbano, and Hector — who were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time — to a remote wooded location, forced them to kneel, and executed them with gunshots to the back of the head," Williams said.
Tartaglione then buried all four victims in a mass grave on property he rented.
"Tartaglione’s heinous acts represent a broader betrayal, as he was a former police officer who once swore to protect the very community he devastated," Williams said. "Most of all, we thank the victims’ families for trusting law enforcement to find their loved ones and see that justice was done.”
During closing statements on Wednesday, Tartaglione's attorney Bruce Barket argued to a federal jury that three government cooperators - Biggs, Jason Sullivan, and Marcus Cruz - lied on the witness stand and set up the former police officer in the murder of four immigrants, a defense lambasted by the prosecutors.
"The witnesses have been molded," Barket said, adding he wasn't accusing the prosecutors and investigators of framing Tartaglione. He told the jurors that they could disregard a witness's entire testimony if the jurors felt lies were told.
Defense case: Tartaglione was the 'perfect fall guy' in quadruple homicide, ex-cop's defense says
'Evidence is devastating': How prosecutors won the jury
Lead prosecutor Maurene Comey told the jurors the case is open and shut and backed by powerful evidence of Tartaglione's guilt. She said he masterminded the murders and cocaine dealing with his steroid sales.
"Three witnesses told you how the defendant took part in the kidnapping conspiracy, and four murders," she said. "This evidence is devastating because it's the truth — Nicholas Tartaglione is guilty."
Comey said the three men weren't scripted and their initial interviews were recorded. She said defense attorneys and prosecutors were present. She said Tartaglione would have to be the most unlucky person since all the evidence pointed to him.
"The defendant thought he could get away with murder," she said of Tartaglione. "In his mind, who is going to miss four Mexicans?"
The three cooperating witnesses could benefit from their testimony with a lesser sentence for their crimes or time served when sentenced by Karas. Comey told the jurors that the judge alone determines sentencing and the prosecution would write a letter on their behalf if they told the truth. She said that would have been the case if Tartaglione had been acquitted.
Tartaglione sold steroids, ran a dog rescue operation
Tartaglione worked most of his career in the Briarcliff Manor Police Department but had shorter stints in Mount Vernon, Yonkers, and Pawling police departments. He had retired on a disability in 2008 and augmented his $65,000 annual pension by selling cars and steroids and running an animal rescue operation.
Prosecutors contended the drug trafficking conspiracy was hatched in June 2015 on Tartaglione's rented property on Old Mountain Road in Mount Hope. Luna was visiting his friend Cruz, a ranch farmhand, and brought along his employer, Jason Sullivan, who owned a construction company. Tartaglione had begun growing marijuana on his property but Luna suggested he could get access to cocaine.
Luna made arrangements to buy cocaine in Texas and have it sold in Florida, where Sullivan had moved by the end of the year. In December, the plan went into effect with Tartaglione giving Cruz $200,000 to give to Luna as the initial investment. At the time, Tartaglione was hoping to buy the Mount Hope property.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Swergold, during his closing arguments to the jury, used phone and hotel records and testimony from Cruz and Sullivan to detail the trafficking plan. Tartaglione's brother, Michael, drove the money to Texas and the drugs to Florida once Luna had picked them up. In Florida, the cocaine was kept at Sullivan's home and sold by Santiago one kilo at a time in late December and early July.
Defense attorneys argued Sullivan's financial problems and proximity to the drugs made him the more likely ringleader of the conspiracy. Swergold countered that Tartaglione "was at the top of the operation. He's not in the weeds; he's not doing the day-to-day."
When all seven kilos were sold it was decided Luna would use the proceeds to get more cocaine and the trip to Texas was repeated. But he reported on the night of Jan. 17, 2016, that when he turned the money over, his contact left and never returned with the drugs.
Tartaglione initially believed Luna's account, Swergold said, and tried to help him recover the money. But when Luna cut off communication, Tartaglione sent two hulking enforcers, bodybuilder and school security guard Biggs and ex-cop and strongman competitor Benderoth, to find him.
They were unable to locate Luna, but Tartaglione eventually got Sullivan's help in luring Luna to the bar. Sullivan told him there was a roofing estimate to be done there.
Surveillance tapes, testimony illustrate tale of killings
When the men got to the bar, they were restrained by Biggs and Benderoth, and Tartaglione arrived and confronted Martin Luna where he was tied up in the bathroom. Biggs said he heard Luna choking and soon looked in to see his body lying on the ground. He said Tartaglione got a tarp from his car to wrap the body, and drove it to the Mount Hope property and he and Benderoth drove the three others there.
Swergold led jurors through surveillance video purporting to show the men arriving at the bar with Tartaglione showing up a short time later. Later, the video showed men appearing to put a large object into Tartaglione's car and him driving away. It also showed Benderoth's car going to the rear of the property to pick up Biggs and the three captives, and then leaving the area moments later.
Biggs testified that the three men, still bound by duct tape, were forced to kneel on the ground. He said he shot one of the men after Benderoth threatened him, gave the gun to Tartaglione, and heard two more shots as he turned away. Prosecutors contend that both Tartaglione and Benderoth shot the remaining captives because Biggs said it was Benderoth who held the gun when he turned back a moment later.
Tartaglione and Biggs dug a hole for the bodies and filled it in partially, and Cruz helped Tartaglione finish filling the hole with dirt the next day.
Tartaglione was arrested on Dec. 19, 2016, and the bodies were unearthed the following day after Cruz led state police investigators and FBI agents to the clearing on the mountainside.
Biggs, Sullivan, and Cruz have all pleaded guilty in the case and cooperated with the prosecution in hopes of leniency from a sentence of life in prison. Swergold acknowledged each had done bad things, some "truly horrible", but it didn't mean they weren't telling the truth.
And if law enforcement was framing Tartaglione as the defense contends, Swergold said, they could have stopped the investigation once he was arrested instead of rounding up the others and charging them as well.
Steve Lieberman covers government, breaking news, courts, police, and investigations. Reach him at slieberm@lohud.com. Twitter: @lohudlegal.
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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Federal jury convicts ex-cop Nicholas Tartaglione of murdering 4 men
