Nick Tartaglione Pt. 2: Who is WILLIAM YOUNG?

New case involving investigator Young reveals another possible set up in the Catskills

Update on Nick + New Source Introduced!

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What’s New:

As of March, a Catskills man is fighting to overturn his conviction—alleging that a police investigator was obsessed with his girlfriend.

Why should this concern us?

Because the officer in question is the lead investigator under scrutiny in Nick Tartaglione’s case.

If you’ve been following along, you know that Tartaglione—Jeffrey Epstein’s former cellmate (recklessly deemed “cop killer” by press at the time)—was convicted in a trial riddled with inconsistencies and glaring errors, leading to what many believe to be an unjust imprisonment.

And at the center of it all?

Investigator William Young.

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Quick Recap

In Westchester County, NY, former police officer Nick Tartaglione was convicted of the murders of Martin Luna, Miguel Luna, Urbano Santiago, and Hector Gutierrez—allegedly the result of a drug deal gone bad. The bodies were discovered on a property previously linked to Tartaglione nearly eight months after the four men disappeared.

After a grueling seven-year legal process, Tartaglione was sentenced to life in prison in 2024. Throughout it all, he has staunchly maintained his innocence, claiming he was caught in the crossfire of cartel warfare—a claim made all the more complicated by his proximity to Epstein in the weeks leading up to Epstein’s highly contested death.

I have agreed to help Nick prove his innocence. Week by week, I’ll be debuting new evidence to support it.

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A Refresher on the Cast of Characters Involved in the Case:

1. Nick Tartaglione — Former K-9 police officer, who ran an animal sanctuary on the property where the bodies of the four murdered men were found eight months after their disappearance.

2. Gerard Benderoth — The man Nick suspects is the actual mastermind behind this crime; a father of four who physically resembled Nick, who killed himself upon being pulled over by the FBI.

3. Marcos Cruz — Worked for Nick on the property where the bodies were found; claimed during the trial that he introduced Nick to his friend Martin Luna, the two began a drug enterprise, and Nick had Martin and the three other victims murdered after the deal soured. Confessed to the murders and led police officers to where the bodies were buried.

4. Joseph Biggs — A key witness in the case who admitted to firing one of the shots; claimed to have turned away for the others, which he believed were fired by Benderoth and Nick.

5. James Comey — FBI director at the time of Nick’s arrest; father of Maureen Comey, one of the prosecutors in Nick’s case.

6. Maureen Comey — Was also the lead prosecutor in Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial; Nick views her involvement in the trial against him as a significant conflict of interest re: her father’s role in the FBI.

7. William Young — Lead investigator for the New York state police who worked directly with the FBI and Maureen Comey on the case.

Cast of characters / Gerard Benderoth

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Now

In the quiet town of Fallsburg, New York, a new story of alleged police misconduct and personal vendettas is unfolding.

Colone R. DaCosta, currently serving time at Groveland Correctional Facility, is fighting to overturn his drug conviction, claiming he was framed by former State Police Senior Investigator William Young Jr. According to DaCosta, this wasn’t just a case of overzealous policing—it was personal.

At the center of his allegations is Rose Steingart, DaCosta’s girlfriend, whom Young had known since she was a teenager. Court filings reveal that Steingart had once been a babysitter for Young’s family, and he maintained an unsettling interest in her for years. When Steingart moved in with DaCosta, Young allegedly used his power to intimidate him, including a traffic stop where he threatened DaCosta, warning him to “stay away from Rose” or face severe consequences.

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Excerpts Pulled from the Frank Report

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DaCosta refused to comply. Not long after, a police raid on his home resulted in drug-related charges. He claims the warrant for the raid was built on false information from a nonexistent informant and was signed by Investigator Christina Sanfeliz—a close associate of Young. The warrant affidavit, he argues, was based on two alleged drug transactions that lacked critical documentation, including logged buy money or recorded serial numbers.

The deeper we get into DaCosta’s case, the more disturbing the details become. Legal records highlight a series of procedural irregularities—missing chain-of-custody documentation for evidence, withheld lab reports, and a glaring absence of judicial verification of the supposed informant. His defense attorneys also failed him. One urged him to plead guilty without even reviewing the case files. Another allegedly withheld key evidence.

Meanwhile, the system that put him away has begun to crumble. Judge Frank LaBuda, who signed the search warrant, has since retired following his own legal troubles. Investigator William Young was forced to resign after his inappropriate communications with Steingart came to light. Yet, despite these revelations, DaCosta remains behind bars.

His appeal challenges the validity of the evidence and the conduct of law enforcement officials who built the case against him. His fight is not just about his own freedom—it’s about exposing a justice system that, when left unchecked, allows personal vendettas to masquerade as law enforcement.

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“Worse luck for Young, though he tried desperately to win the affection of the teenage girl he wanted since she was 12, she was not interested. After the police picked up her boyfriend, the girl left the Catskills and their peculiar form of justice and went to California.

Meanwhile, DaCosta remains imprisoned at Groveland Correctional Facility in Sonyea, NY.

Frank Report will have much more to report on the quaint mountain interplay between law enforcement, councilman, judges, and their brothers and the teenage girls they covet.

To be continued.” — The Frank Report

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As for Nick:

I recently spoke with a source close to Nick — we’ll call her Ms. W from here on out — who shared incredibly detailed insight into the complicated machinations of this case.

I highly encourage you to listen to all audio clips in full.

1. The Catskills Case:

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Watch Closely . . .

Frame One: Camera angle from the auto body shop next to the diner parking lot, showing the Equinox these guys drove up in and left before walking to the Liquid Lounge, about two blocks away. Watch the timestamps—at 18, 19, and 20 seconds, the doors open, but then the video skips to 23 seconds. You don’t see who gets out or them walking away. It picks up again at 24 and 25 seconds, but the footage is clearly cut. At the trial, they claimed it malfunctioned.

Frame Two / Zoom: If they’re certain it was the four guys walking up to the bar, why cut the footage of who gets out of the car? They also never mentioned meeting that black car in the salon parking lot. At the police station, they discussed another camera angle we never got to see.

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In the second clip, Ms. W breaks down William Young’s involvement in corrupting evidence in the trial — from deleting and creating files on Marcus Cruz’s phone to pressuring him out of a murder confession, threatening to deport Cruz’s wife and throw his children in foster care. Even after it became clear Nick Tartaglione was not the mastermind of this crime, William Young doubled down to create the narrative that ultimately put Nick behind bars. Ms. W also highlights how bizarre it is that this pre-trial took seven years—all while Nick sat in jail. Perhaps most chilling of all, she breaks down the video footage discrepancies of the night in question that were curiously not mentioned in the trial.

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2. Where We Left Off — Interrogation:

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3. Crime Settings:

In this second clip, Ms. W goes into further detail about the various settings pertinent to the crime, as well as the timeline of events that took place both on the day in question and the day the bodies were discovered. The details—and errors presented in the trial—are truly shocking.

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Further links to visit to get more information/context for the case and its surrounding cast of characters:

• Justice.gov

• Case Text

• Frank Report

• Art Voice

• Initial HIH Report

• Additional HIH Report

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Up Ahead: Nick’s account of Jeffery Epstein / his first impression / his failed suicide attempt / his reputation after