Former Contractor Who Set Up Quadruple Homicide Sentenced To Prison

ORANGE COUNTY, NY — Jason Sullivan, a former Orange County contractor and an accomplice of former-cop-turned-dealer Nick Tartaglione, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in a quadruple homicide over drug money in 2016.

Tartaglione and two helpers, bodybuilder and school security guard Joseph Biggs of Nanuet and former Haverstraw police officer and strongman competitor Gerard Benderoth, killed Martin Luna, Urbano Santiago, Miguel Luna and Hector Gutierrez and buried the bodies on property Tartaglione was renting in Orange County.

Luna was involved in drug trafficking with Tartaglione while managing Sullivan's construction company. When $200,000 went missing in the cocaine trafficking scheme, Tartaglione thought Luna had stolen it. Sullivan lured Luna to a bar owned by Tartaglione's brother in Chester. Luna arrived with two nephews and a family friend.

The secret unraveled in a year later. Benderoth shot and killed himself after being stopped by FBI agents in Thiells in 2017, TJN reported. Biggs and Sullivan both cooperated with prosecutors and pleaded guilty. Tartaglione was convicted of murder and kidnapping conspiracy in April.

After the trial, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said "Tartaglione tortured Martin, then forced one of his nephews to watch as Tartaglione strangled Martin to death with a zip-tie. Tartaglione and two of his associates then transported Miguel, Urbano, and Hector — who were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time — to a remote wooded location, forced them to kneel, and executed them with gunshots to the back of the head. Tartaglione then buried all four victims in a mass grave."

Sullivan, who had pleaded guilty to drug and kidnapping conspiracies, was sentenced last week, The Journal News reported.

Tartaglione and Biggs face life sentences. Tartaglione has new lawyers who have filed an appeal seeking to have his conviction overturned, lohud.com reported.

Tartaglione's time as a prisoner awaiting trial was full of controversy. At one point he was millionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's cellmate, and there were rumors he had roughed Epstein up, but he was investigated and cleared over Epstein's alleged suicide in his cell.

Tartaglione complained for years about conditions in jail, including filth and bad treatment, and asked several times to be moved, prompting federal Judge Kenneth Karas to demand the Metropolitan Correctional Center fix the problems. SEE: Ex-Briarcliff Cop Says Jail Conditions Worse Since Epstein Died

Tartaglione's time as a Briarcliff Manor cop was full of controversy as well. He was hired by the wealthy Westchester community after stints at Mount Vernon, Yonkers, and Pawling. A confrontation with a village gadfly at a park on the Hudson River reverberated for years of lawsuits. He also fought with the village police department over a case which he had manipulated to get a friend of a friend off a DWI charge. He was a plaintiff or a defendant in four suits with the village. Briarcliff fired Tartaglione over one accusation of misconduct, but Tartaglione sued, won his job back, then retired in 2008 on a disability pension.