Retired police officer Nicholas Tartaglione found guilty of killing 4 men who disappeared in 2016
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Nicholas Tartaglione, a retired suburban police officer, was found guilty Thursday of killing four men.
After a three week trial and two days of deliberations, a jury convicted the former Briarcliff Manor police officer for drug trafficking conspiracy, and murder and kidnapping in furtherance of the conspiracy.
The U.S. attorney said Tartaglione killed Martin Luna, Urbano Santiago, Miguel Luna and Hector Gutierrez, who all disappeared on April 11, 2016.
Martin Luna, who was strangled, was targeted for a $200,000 drug debt. The other men were with him and allegedly shot dead to stop them from talking.
Their bodies were found buried at an Orange County farm rented by Tartaglione.
Prosecutors said two men, bodybuilders Joseph Biggs and Gerard Benderoth, aided Tartaglione. Biggs testified at the trial, but Benderoth died by suicide when police tried to arrest him in 2017.
Tartaglione's legal team said the others were framing him and there will be an appeal.
"Nick was disappointed. He had great hope that he'd be exonerated. As everyone knows, guilty verdicts are what proceeds every wrongful conviction reversal. So he remains hopeful that the system will one day vindicate his position, which from day one has been he's not guilty," said Tartaglione's attorney Bruce Barket.
Tartaglione once shared a cell with Jeffrey Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. He faces life in prison when he is sentenced in October.