Nicholas Tartaglione: former police officer and former cellmate of Jeffrey Epstein sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 4 men

CNN
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A former New York police officer and former cellmate of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein has been sentenced to life in prison for the murders of four men, prosecutors said.

Nicholas Tartaglione was sentenced Monday to four consecutive life terms for the 2016 kidnappings and murders of Martin Luna, Miguel Luna, Urbano Santiago and Hector Gutierrez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a Press release.

Tartaglione, who was described by Williams as “a former police officer turned drug dealer,” was convicted in April 2023 of 11 counts of murder, four counts of kidnapping resulting in death, one count of kidnapping conspiracy and one count of drug conspiracy.

“Unfortunately, the life sentences were mandatory given the convictions handed down at trial,” Inga Parsons, Tartaglione's lead attorney, said in a statement to CNN. “We are appealing and will continue to fight to demonstrate Nick’s innocence.”

Tartaglione shared a prison cell with Epstein at the Metropolitan Federal Correctional Center in New York and had been moved before Epstein's suicide in August 2019, CNN previously reported.

The former officer was one of the first people FBI agents sought to question after Epstein was found dead in the facility's special housing unit.

According to prosecutors, Tartaglione suspected Martin Luna of stealing money from him and planned to confront him at an in-person meeting, to which Martin Luna was accompanied by his nephews, Miguel Luna and Santiago, and his friend from the Gutierrez family.

During the meeting, which turned out to be a “death trap,” Tartaglione tortured Martin Luna then forced one of his nephews to watch as he strangled him to death with a tie, according to a statement from Williams following at sentencing.

Tartaglione and two of his associates then took Miguel Luna, Santiago and Gutierrez to a secluded wooded area, forced them to kneel and fatally shot them in the back of the head before burying their bodies in a mass grave, it says. the press release.

“Nicholas Tartaglione brutally and senselessly murdered Martin Luna for money, then mercilessly executed Urbano Santiago, Miguel Luna and Hector Gutierrez simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Williams said in a press release after the conviction.

CNN's Emma Tucker and Sabrina Souza contributed to this report.