CNN  , — ,
According to the prosecution, Jeffrey Epstein‘s past cellmate and former New York police officer was given a life sentence for the murder of four people.
According to a news release, Nicholas Tartaglione, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams, was given four consecutive life sentences for the 2016 robberies and murders of Martin Luna, Miguel Luna, Urbano Santiago, and Hector Gutierrez.
Tartaglione, who was described by Williams as” a former police officer- turned medicine dealer”, was convicted in April 2023 of 11 works of crime, four counts of kidnapping resulting in death, one count of kidnapping plot and one count of cocaine crime.
” Unfortunately, the life sentences were mandatory given the convictions at trial”, Inga Parsons, lead attorney for Tartaglione, said in a statement to CNN. ” We are appealing and will continue to fight to show Nick’s innocence”.
Prior to Epstein’s suicide in August 2019, Tartaglione had been relocated to a prison cell opposite him at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.
The former officer was one of the first people FBI agents sought to interview after , Epstein was found dead in the special housing unit , of the facility.
According to prosecutors, Tartaglione suspected Martin Luna had stolen money from him and , planned to confront him during an in- person meeting, to which Martin Luna brought along his nephews, Miguel Luna and Santiago, and his family friend Gutierrez.
During the meeting, which turned out to be a “deadly trap”, Tartaglione tortured Martin Luna and then forced one of his nephews to watch as he strangled him to death with a zip- tie,  , according to a statement from Williams  , following the conviction.
Then, according to the statement, Tartaglione and two of his associates brought Miguel Luna, Santiago, and Gutierrez to a far-off place, forced them to kneel, and fatally shot them in the back of the head before burying their bodies in a mass grave.
In a press release following the sentencing, Williams wrote that” Nicholas Tartaglione brutally and senselessly murdered Martin Luna over money, and then ruthlessly executed Urbano Santiago, Miguel Luna, and Hector Gutierrez simply because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Emma Tucker and Sabrina Souza both contributed to this report on CNN.
