A former NYPD officer who was once Jeffrey Epstein’s cellmate will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murders of four men after a federal judge slammed him for caring more about animals than the victims he murdered.
Nicholas Tartaglione, 56, was sentenced to four life sentences for orchestrating the kidnapping and murder of Martin Luna, 41, Luna’s nephew Urbano Santiago, 35, Miguel Luna, 25, and close family friend Hector Gutierrez, 43.
Federal prosecutors said he buried the body in a shallow grave on his property in 2016.
During the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas called Tartaglione a ruthless “monster.”
Karas also accused the former Briarcliff Manor officer of “caring more about animals than the victims” after his lawyers cited his client’s efforts to save cats, dogs, pigs, skunks and horses. journal
The news was reported.
“Nicholas Tartaglione brutally and senselessly murdered Martin Luna over money, then mercilessly executed Urbano Santiago, Miguel Luna and Héctor Gutierrez for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said U.S. Attorney Damien Williams for the Southern District of New York. He said in a statement.
Prosecutors said Tartaglione killed Martin Luna because he believed Luna had stolen about $250,000 from him that was meant to be used to buy cocaine.
Martin Luna was lured to a bar in Chester where he was confronted by Tartaglione, who restrained him and beat the ex-cop for more than an hour before choking him with a zip tie when he refused to reveal where the money was.
Prosecutors said Santiago, Miguel Luna and Héctor Gutierrez, who were with Luna at the time of the confrontation with Tartaglione and witnessed the murder, were shot once in the back of the head.
The four victims were subsequently buried in a mass grave in a secluded area of his property, where they were discovered eight months later.
Tartaglione was briefly held in the same cell as pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein at the now-closed Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Epstein told his lawyers that the former police officer “assaulted” him in his cell.
Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in 2019 ahead of his sex trafficking trial in a death that was ruled a suicide.
Tartaglione was convicted of murder and kidnapping by a federal jury last April.
On Monday, Martin’s sister, Celia Luna, said she will never forgive Tartaglione and is “praying and hoping” he stays out of prison, according to the Journal-News.
“Animals on the streets have kinder hearts than this person,” she said.
