By Dan Murphy
As the trial of ex-Briarcliff Manor police officer Nicholas Tartaglione continues in White Plains Federal Court, he and his attorneys are hoping for a miracle to happen so that Tartaglione can avoid the death penalty for murdering four people in a drug deal gone bad.
Tartaglione spent time in the Manhattan Correction Center at the same time that Jeffrey Epstein was also incarcerated there last year. The two shared a jail cell for some of that time, including when Epstein tried to kill himself during the summer and Tartaglione claims he saved Epstein from his suicide attempt.
But the videotape of the Epstein-Tartaglione cell cannot be found and Tartaglione’s attorney has filed a motion calling for an investigation, or evidentiary hearing, to determine how the video disappeared. The video would show, according to Tartaglione, that he acted “appropriately” during the suicide attempt and that he didn’t harm Epstein.
Tartaglione and his attorney are also claiming a conspiracy theory, that the video may have been destroyed deliberately, or mysteriously disappeared by the government. Last December, the U.S. Attorney’s Office admitted that the video no longer existed, and the staff at the correction center had “inadvertently preserved video from the wrong tier.”
On July 23, 2019 at 1:30 a.m., Epstein was found with injuries to his neck at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Some media reports have suggested that Tartaglione might have tried to kill Epstein, to prevent him from testifying against his powerful friends, including two presidents – Bill Clinton and Donald Trump.
Epstein died weeks later, Aug. 10, in what was determined to be a suicide by hanging. Conspiracy theories swirl about Epstein’s death, including his brother claiming that he was murdered. At the time of his death, Epstein had no cellmate and was no longer on suicide watch.
Government prosecutors argued the video isn’t needed since they aren’t disputing the basic facts as spelled out by Tartaglione, and he is not charged with any crimes against Epstein while both were in prison.
Prosecuting the case in White Plains Federal Court is Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. Comey and jurors have also witnessed a slimmed downed version of Tartaglione, who for 20 years has looked like a weightlifting or steroid-using cop when he was a member of the Briarcliff Manor police force.
Tartaglione and his attorney appear to want to use the fact that he was with Epstein in the correctional facility as a bargaining chip in his trial, in which four bodies were found on his property in upstate New York. He has been jailed for almost three years pending his trial because he is considered a flight risk.
Tartaglione left the Briarcliff Police Department on a disability pension and after being suspended for three years after lying about a drunk driving case.
In December 2016, Tartaglione was arrested for the murders of four Hispanic men in the Likquid Lounge bar in Chester, owned by Tartaglione’s brother. The day after his arrest, the bodies of the four missing men were found buried on property that Tartaglione had rented in Otisville, Orange County.
Tartaglione was charged with conspiracy to purchase 5 kilograms of cocaine in a drug deal that went bad and ended up with four men dead or missing. Federal prosecutors and the FBI have said that only one of the men killed, Martin Luna, was involved in drug deals with Tartaglione, and the other three men were not involved but were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Tartaglione has pled not guilty to all of the charges, but earlier this year prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty against him, and last month, corrections officers found an illegal cell phone in Tartaglione’s prison cell. He remains in jail until his trial and verdict.
Epstein and Tartaglione bunked together in prison for two weeks, and Tartaglione’s attorney, Bruce Barket, claims the two became friends. The Special Housing Unit wing of the jail where both were staying has no windows and is infested with rodents, insects and has standing water, according to a complaint about the living conditions by Tartaglione.
Years ago, this reporter lived in the Village of Briarcliff Manor at the same time Tartaglione was a police officer there. One of the local public access channels featured an odd host of his own show. His name was Clay Tiffany.
Tiffany enjoyed taking the local government to task and suing them for violating his First Amendment rights on a few occasions. Yes, Tiffany was a strange character, but he was an honest Briarcliff resident looking out for the public’s good and was no harm to anyone.
After talking about Tartaglione again and again on his cable access show, Tiffany was beaten almost to death by Tartaglione on the shores of the Hudson River after taking a swim in 1999. While Tartaglione was never charged nor found guilty of a crime, Tiffany’s accusations were similar to accusations made against Tartaglione when he was a police officer in Mt. Vernon and Pawling.
While the U.S. Attorney’s Office investigated and found there was not enough evidence to charge Tartaglione with a civil rights violation, he was suspended from the Briarcliff P.D. for three years and was fired in 2009 – the same year he beat Tiffany to near death. Eventually, Tartaglione sued and was put back on the job, winning more than $300,000 in back pay in 2003, and retired on disability in 2008.
Tartaglione was the target of an FBI civil rights investigation for physically abusing several people, including Tiffany. The town settled with the now-deceased Tiffany for $1 million, and Tartaglione settled with Tiffany for $200,000.
The sad story of Jeffrey Epstein never seems to end, with connections to Westchester continuing to linger. Noted Westchester attorney David Boies has taken the cases of several women who have accused Epstein of sexual abuse, and those lawsuits against the Epstein estate continue.
