4 am Phone Call From Federal Prison: Epstein's Cellmate is on the Line

An introduction into the twisted saga of Nick Tartaglione and Jeffrey Epstein, examining claims of court corruption and continued cover-ups.

Jun 10, 2024

Last Thursday, at the unholy hour of 4:50 am, I was awakened by a collect call from federal prison. Nick Tartaglione was on the line; he warned we had a tight 15 minutes before the line would abruptly cut us off. The first thing he told me was that he was ready to break his silence. His lawyers had urged him to stay quiet since his arrest—“They always say don’t talk to anybody,” he grumbled—but the silence had gotten him nowhere. His fight for an appeal was just rejected and today he will be sentenced in New York.

Nick’s request was simple: he wants the truth about his story to be told.

Naturally, the subplot is decidedly more complicated. The intermediaries who connected us are characters worthy of their own Netflix series. Inigo Philbrick, the notorious art dealer who was sentenced to seven years in prison for the world’s largest art fraud, had shared a cell with Tartaglione in Brooklyn. Philbrick’s dazzling London-born wife, Victoria Baker-Harber, had spent the last four years with the father of her child imprisoned across the ocean. Both fervently vouched for Nick’s innocence. During COVID lockdowns, Victoria confided, Inigo grew to know Nick better than anyone. “Inigo told me he’d stake his life on proving Nick’s innocence,” she explained, highlighting how Nick had been a rock for Inigo during his darkest days behind bars.

In return, Inigo has dedicated his efforts to helping Nick expose his conviction as a working coverup.

Inigo Philbrick and Victoria Baker-Harbera with Daughter Gaia

The following is what I assembled as a prelude to an extended series. Next chapters will closely examine the missing parts of this tangled scandal and the piece of the Epstein puzzle everyone has stopped looking at.

Who Is Nicholas Tartaglione?

Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer from the quaint town of Otisville, New York, experienced a significant legal setback last week. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas denied his request for a retrial in a federal court in White Plains, effectively ending his fight for a new trial in connection with the brutal 2016 murders of four men.

Tartaglione, now 55, vehemently proclaimed his innocence during our call, distancing himself from any involvement in the drug ring or the horrific killings for which he was convicted. He claimed his take-down was part of a cartel cover-up, made even more complex by his association with Jeffrey Epstein, with whom he had shared a cell just weeks before Epstein’s dubious demise.

A former officer from Briarcliff Manor, Tartaglione was found guilty last year of the murders of Martin Luna, Urbano Santiago, Miguel Luna, and Hector Gutierrez. Prosecutors described the killings as the fallout from a botched drug deal. The victims, lured to a bar in Chester, were brutally beaten, bound, and ultimately killed. Their bodies were discovered eight months later on a property linked to Tartaglione.

In his appeal, Tartaglione’s defense cited judicial errors that allegedly compromised the fairness of his trial, including restricted cross-examination of key witnesses and the admission of prejudicial evidenced. Crucial phone forensics was left out. Judge Karas was unmoved, ruling the trial fair and the evidence too damning.

During our call, Nick briefly reflected on his life before the upheaval: managing an animal rescue farm with over 40 horses, 50 dogs, and 60 cats, all rescued from near death. He questioned the accusations against him, emphasizing his expertise as a K9 officer and his knowledge that cadaver dogs can detect remains long after they are buried. He noted that the property in question was more frequently accessed by Marcos Cruz, a man who had built a cabin there and often stayed overnight to care for the animals or sleep off a drunken stupor.

Contributing Characters

Marcos Cruz: Accomplice to Four Murders

“The series of events began when Cruz, a Mexican citizen working on Tartaglione’s ranch in Otisville, introduced him to his friend, Martin Luna. The two soon became involved in a drug trafficking enterprise. However, the deal soured when Luna claimed his contacts had taken the money without supplying the drugs. Tartaglione believed Luna had stolen the money and sent enforcers to find him. Eventually, Luna, along with his nephew Miguel Luna, his niece’s husband Urbano Santiago, and family friend Hector Gutierrez, were lured to a bar owned by Tartaglione’s brother in Chester, New York. Martin Luna was strangled with a zip-tie, and the other three men were shot in the head. Cruz played a critical role in leading investigators to the burial site of the victims. This evidence resulted in additional arrests and the cooperation of others involved. During his sentencing, Cruz repeatedly apologized and asked for forgiveness from the victims’ families. Judge Karas recognized Cruz as the least culpable of the four defendants and praised his cooperation. Despite his criminal actions, both the government and the victims’ families seemingly forgave Cruz. Defense lawyer Dominick Porco noted that the only one who seemed unable to forgive Cruz was the killer himself, Nicholas Tartaglione.” — The Yonkers Ledger

Gerard Benderoth: The Highway Suicide

Another suspicious factor is the father of four from Stony Point who put a pistol to his head and pulled the trigger after being pulled over by the FBI . Benderoth, a man sought by federal authorities after his name surfaced in the quadruple slaying investigation, according to Nick is the suspected mastermind behind this crime—also an officer who closely resembled Tartaglione in build.

Joseph Biggs: Key Witness in Tartaglione Murder Case, Admits to Murder

“Joseph Biggs testified that he took the gun from Gerard Benderoth under duress when the man known as the ‘White Rhino’ implied Biggs would be shot with the others if he didn’t join in the killing. Biggs said he shot one of the men, handed the gun to Tartaglione, and turned away, at which point he heard two more shots. He believed Benderoth and Tartaglione each shot one of the others because when he turned back around, Benderoth was holding the gun.”

James Comey : “A Conflict of Interest”

Nick didn’t hold back in criticizing the legal proceedings, specifically the controversial involvement of James Comey, the FBI director at the time of his arrest. Comey’s daughter, Maureen Comey, was one of the prosecutors on his case, a fact Nick sees as a glaring conflict of interest. Maureen Comey, if you recall, was also the lead prosecutor in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial.

In His Last Email, Nick Raised An Interesting Point: "The day the jury was to get the case, James Comey showed up to support his baby girl. He was still head of the FBI when I was arrested. Isn't it a conflict to have his daughter prosecute a case her daddy was in charge of?"

The Epstein Effect

Nick’s case is further entangled due to his link with Jeffrey Epstein. Initially accused of trying to harm Epstein, Nick was exonerated from any wrongdoing related to a 2019 incident in which Epstein was found semi-conscious with marks on his neck. Epstein reportedly told guards that Nick had assaulted him. The incident, investigated by the Metropolitan Correctional Center, was ultimately deemed unrelated to Nick. Following this event, Epstein was curiously removed from suicide watch, only to be found dead three weeks later. By August, Epstein’s body was discovered hanging in a separate cell, alone, while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges. The bizarre circumstances of his removal and the deletion of surveillance footage—explained away as a data entry error—left plenty of questions unanswered. When Nick's attorney requested the footage, it emerged that the video did not capture Epstein’s cell but an entirely different tier of the prison.

Officials Explained It Was Due To a Data Entry Error. NPR Reported: "When the prison's legal counsel looked up Epstein's cell number in the MCC computer system to ensure the video would be saved, it showed he was in a different cell and on a different floor than where he was actually housed. Furthermore, officials did not watch the video at the time to ensure it was the correct footage because 'an MCC staff member confirmed that the video had been preserved.' However, the latest court documents state, 'After reviewing the video, it appeared to the Government that the footage contained on the preserved video was for the correct date and time, but captured a different tier than the one where [Epstein] was located because the preserved video did not show corrections officers responding to any of the cells seen on the video.'"

The scandal, shrouded in mystery and inconsistencies, continues to fuel ongoing conspiracies surrounding Epstein’s death, leaving many wondering about the true story behind the tangled web of Tartaglione, Epstein, and the federal justice system.

On The Phone, Nick Explained: "I ran an animal rescue farm. At the time of my arrest, I had over 40 horses, all rescued from slaughter, as well as over 50 dogs and 60 cats, all rescued from abuse or neglect. Every dime I ever made went to the animals, yet I'm accused of murdering men over money. I was a K9 cop, yet they say I buried bodies on the property I owned despite knowing that a cadaver dog can locate a body up to 20 feet down and for years. They also claimed that the property was where I was living. The jury never found out that I owned a home in Mahopac, NY—an hour away from Otisville (where the rescue farm was)—and that the person who had 24/7 access to the property was Marcos Cruz. Cruz and his brother built a mini-cabin on the property with electricity, water, a couch, and a mini-fridge. Cruz often slept there to keep an eye on a particular horse or dog, and he would often crash there when he got drunk after work."

In these new and fragmented communications, Nick vowed to unfold his case here to expose what he says are glaring inconsistencies overlooked that helped secure his fall in the cover-up. He hopes that by sharing the overlooked details of his case, his story will be reexamined by other media outlets that once pursued the story but oddly dropped all interest after his conviction.

Floating Questions & Theories to Consider in the Meantime

The picture of him in a tank top, looking like a thug, was used in every article despite his life and identity being tied to an animal rescue farm.
Comey's daughter was the prosecutor — Did James Comey drop by the courtroom during the trial to ensure everything was going as planned?
Are the people in charge possibly worried about what Nick knows, considering he was Epstein's last cellmate?
After Nick saved him, did he become a confidant to Epstein?
Does Nick hold Epstein's secrets?
This was a case every media outlet followed at one point—now there is radio silence surrounding it. Why?

EDIT: NICK WAS SENTENCED THIS AFTERNOON TO FOUR CONSECUTIVE LIFE SENTENCES