A federal jury in New York started hearing testimony in the murder case of a former New York officer who is accused of masterminding four deaths — one with a zip tie, and three with bullets executed-style — in an operation to obtain drugs money.
The bodies of all four men were discovered on the property Nicholas Tartaglione (a former New York Police Officer), whose trial began Thursday and is expected to last a month at U.S. District Court White Plains.
Defense attorneys argued that Tartaglione was not involved in the murders and was being used as a fall guy by the government.
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Tartaglione was also a former cellmate at Jeffrey Epstein. This happened before the disgraced financier committed his suicide in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting sex trafficking charges.
This undated photograph shows Nick Tartaglione, a former Briarcliff Police Officer in New York.
Prosecutors claim that Tartaglione lured Martin Luna to a bar believing Luna had stolen money for the purchase cocaine.
According to the government, Luna was accompanied by two other victims — a friend of Luna’s and two nephews who had nothing whatsoever to do with the drug operation. Luna was then strangled using a zip tie and taken to Otisville ranch, 70 miles north of Manhattan.
RETIRED NY POLICY OFFICER IS CHARGED WITH KILLING FOUR MENS IN A DRUG DEAL
Tartaglione’s associates took the three men alive and bound to the property. They shot them in the back of their heads. Tartaglione is accused by the prosecution of killing one of the victims.
The bodies were buried eight months after their death. Investigators found them in December 2016.
Three of Tartaglione’s associates will be expected to testify for the government. Defense attorneys claim that they are doing this to gain favor with U.S.prosecutors in their own cases. The fourth associate, also a former officer of the police force, committed suicide.
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After suffering a five-year-old injury, Tartaglione was forced to retire from the Briarcliff Manor Police Department.
