Ex-Westchester Cop Strangled First Of Four Homicide Victims With Zip Tie, Feds Say

Nicholas Tartaglione, the former Hudson Valley police officer facing the death penalty for a quadruple homicide, allegedly strangled the first of his victims with a zip tie, according to federal prosecutors.

Nicholas Tartaglione with a K-9 officer in 2007 when Tartaglione was a member of the Briarcliff Manor Police Department.
Photo Credit: *File*

The four alleged victims, clockwise from top left: Miguel Sosa-Luna, Martin Santos-Luna, Urbano Morales-Santiago and Hector Guitierrez.
Photo Credit: *U.S. Attorney/Southern District*

Zak Failla

09/24/2019 5:00 a.m.

New information has been released regarding Tartaglione, a former Briarcliff Manor police officer, who is accused of murdering four men in Orange County in 2016. It’s the first time prosecutors have detailed how the former cop killed one of his four victims.

According to the indictment that was filed in White Plains Federal Court, Tartaglione killed Martin Luna, 41, Urbano Santiago, 32, Miguel Luna, 25, and Hector Gutierrez, 43, at the Likquid Lounge in the town of Chester in Orange County when a cocaine deal involving at least one of the victims went bad.

Tartaglione's brother reportedly managed Likquid Lounge for a time.

When the men arrived at the bar, it is alleged that they were restrained by Tartaglione and his co-conspirators. The first victim was allegedly strangled with a zip tie, and three others were taken to an Otisville home Tartaglione was residing at and shot them.

Four bodies would be removed from his property the day after he was arrested.

"(Tartaglione) then hit (Martin) Luna repeatedly and eventually put a plastic zip tie around Luna’s neck and pulled it tight, choking Luna, and ultimately killing him," Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maurene Comey and Jason Swergold reportedly said in court papers.

According to court papers, in 1999, Tartaglione was charged with perjury and official misconduct after testifying in court at a DMV license revocation hearing for a friend. Tartaglione was ultimately acquitted at trial, but fired by the village.

In 2003, he sued to get his job back and received more than $300,000 in back pay. He retired from the force in 2008 on disability with a reported annual pension of $65,000.

Tartaglione also had an ongoing legal battle with the late Clay Tiffany, an Ossining resident who hosted the popular public-access TV show, “Dirge For The Charlatans,” sued the village of Briarcliff Manor multiple times, claiming that Tartaglione assaulted him.

Tartaglione had worked as a police officer in Pawling, Mount Vernon, and Yonkers prior to Briarcliff Manor.

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