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A Former Farmhand Of Nicholas Tartaglione Takes The Stand Against Him · The Epstein Chronicles

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  Speaker 1: What's up, everyone, and welcome back to the Epstein Chronicles.
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  The trial of Nicholas Tartaglioni is well underway at this point,
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  and we have heard some pretty interesting testimony already, and
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  today we're gonna talk about some of that testimony that
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  was given by an ex farm hand of Nicholas Tartaglioni.
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  So let's just jump right into the article and let's
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  see what the Lowhud and Jonathan Bandler have for us.
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  This article was published by The Low Hud and the
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  headline drug conspiracy and killings detailed in Tartaglioni Trial. A
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  farm hand of X cop Nicholas Tartaglioni detailed for a
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  federal jerry on Wednesday the felt cocaine trafficking operation that
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  led to the killing of four men in Orange County
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  seven years ago, and how his boss directed him to
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  help bury the bodies on his mountain side property. And
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  right off the bat, you see here that things aren't
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  going well for Nicholas Tartaglioni. When the first witness that
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  comes up to the stand and tells the jury that
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  he was involved in burying the bodies. Yeah, that's not
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  a good look for the defendant. Marcos Cruz said he
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  was not present at the Liquid Lounge in Chester on
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  April eleventh, twenty sixteen, when his friend Martin Luna was killed,
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  but was fully aware of Tartaglioni's plan to lure Luna
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  there that day over a drug debt. He did go
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  to the bar afterwards to identify for Tartaglioni the two
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  nephews and a family friend Luna had brought along. He
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  said he declined when Tartaglioni asked if he wanted to
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  take the three home, saying he told his boss they
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  would only call police if allowed to live. And remember, folks,
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  I want you to keep in mind that this is
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  the man that they thought it would be a good
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  idea to put in a jail cell with Jeffrey Epstein.
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  Cruse said tartaglion later told him he had strangled Luna
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  with a zip tie and that he and two enforcers
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  had shot the other three men at Tartaglioni's property. Tartaglioni
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  is facing drug conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder charges in the
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  death of Luna. His nephews, Miguel Luna, and Arbano Santiago
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  and their friend Hector Gutiadis, whose bodies were dug up
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  December twentieth, twenty sixteen, a day after Cruz led FBI
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  agents to the spot where he had filled in the
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  hole eight months earlier. So this guy is a key
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  witness obviously, and him being part of burying the bodies,
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  moving the bodies, and having material information about the murders. Really,
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  since Tartaglioni right here, I don't even know how his
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  defense is going to try and contend anything besides Tartaglioni
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  is the guy. I guess they can try and say
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  that this gentleman was the mastermind or something like that,
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  but we've seen time and time again that jurys are
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  way too smart for that nonsense. Cruz has pleaded guilty
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  to his role in the drug conspiracy and as an
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  accessory after the fact to the murder of the four men.
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  He is cooperating with prosecutors in the hope that he
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  can avoid a life sentence in prison and maybe even
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  be released on just the six years he has spent
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  in custody so far. Now, I guess that's a conversation
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  for a different time. But if you help a murder
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  investigation and you didn't actually take part in that murder,
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  and you were helping move the body or whatever, do
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  you think that that person should get a significant amount
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  of time shaved off their sentence if they snitch on
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  their buddies. And I'm always torn with that, because we're
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  relying on the word of a scoundrel who is obviously
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  in trouble themselves. But if we didn't rely on the
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  word of scoundrels like this, very rarely would we have
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  witnesses in situations such as this. Cruz spoke in Spanish
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  through an interpreter as he was questioned by Assistant US
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  Attorney Maureen Comy for more than six hours Tuesday and Wednesday. Now,
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  isn't that interesting. Maureen Comy was also involved in the
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  prosecution of Glenn Maxwell, and that's a common theme when
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  it comes to Jeffrey Epstein and his buddies. It seems
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  like a small handful of prosecutors deal with them. So
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  for those of you who are new to the story,
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  you're going to see the same names pop up over
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  and over and over again. Before Cruse took the stand,
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  Comy warned US District Judge Kenneth Carris and the defense
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  that every time Cruz had recounted the story during preparation
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  for trial, he would vomit at a certain point. But
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  Cruse's spewing wasn't limited to just one point, as he
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  repeatedly leaned down to throw up in a garbage can,
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  with a US Marshall, an FBI agent, and in court
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  staff switching out the garbage cans on several occasions so
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  that the odor would not linger. Well, that's a first.
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  I've never heard of a witness on the stand who
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  needed a barf bag. But I guess when you lived
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  through something traumatic and you got to bury bodies or whatever,
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  it can have some long lasting lingering effects. How the
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  operation played out, Cruz told how the drug trafficking operation
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  was hatched in twenty fifteen after he introduced Tartaglioni to Luna.
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  His boss invested about two hundred thousand dollars, which he
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  told Cruz was his life savings. Cruz detailed an elaborate
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  effort to drive the money to Texas, buy the cocaine,
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  drive the drugs to Florida, and sell it there. When
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  the conspirators couldn't find anyone to drive, Cruse said Tartaglioni
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  said his brother would do it. Hotel records showed that
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  Michael Tartaglioni stayed in a residence in in Houston at
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  two points in December twenty fifteen and January twenty sixteen,
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  but Cruz testified that he was unaware of what he
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  was transporting. Oh yeah, I'm sure he had no idea
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  what was in the vehicle. I mean, I know you're
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  trying to keep your boy out of trouble here and all,
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  but let's be real. Nobody's coming out from Yonkers down
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  to Houston driving a truck home and not knowing what's
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  in it. Cruse said his main role was coordinating between
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  Tartaglioni and Luna in hopes both would pay him. So
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  he was playing the middleman. He hooked the two of
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  them up, and he was hoping that he'd get paid
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  on both ends for doing the connect hooking them up together,
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  and then on the back end of making some dough
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  from the cocaine that's being sold. He could offer no
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  specific dates or months of when the drugs were bought
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  and sold, but the records corroborated the testimony of another
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  investor in the drug conspiracy Luna's construction boss, Jason Sullivan.
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  He is also cooperating witness who testified this week that
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  he helped Tartaglioni lure Luna to the bar, knowing he
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  would likely be killed if he didn't come up with
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  the money. And this is a real life example of
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  what I talk about all the time about getting into
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  the drug game and how it's no joke. If you're
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  not ready to go to the lengths that you see
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  these people going to, the drug game is not for you.
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  And I think way too many people look at the
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  narco trafficking game with rosy colored glasses on, thinking it's
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  all about, you know, hot chicks, cars, money, and while
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  all of that obviously comes with it, in the end,
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  it's not worth it. There's only two outs for you
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  here if you get to this level of narcotics dealing.
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  One you're gonna get clipped, or two you're gonna end
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  up doing a long bid. Tartaglioni enraged after things go south.
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  After Santiago finished selling the initial batch of drugs in Florida,
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  Michael Tartaglioni drove all the proceeds back to Houston, Cruise
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  testified Martin Luna lou there to get the money and
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  meet his suppliers, but he called Cruz to say that
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  he had been double crossed and the money was taken
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  and no drugs turned over. The good old double cross
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  And once again, if you're getting into this game and
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  you're doing it cold and you don't have a real
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  hookup or real connect, good luck. Tartaglioni was enraged when
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  he found out and demanded that Luna find the thieves
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  and get the money back. When that didn't work, Cruise
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  and Luna tried a private investigator, Cruiz Testifight, who told
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  them that the phone numbers Luna thought were the thieves
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  numbers belonged to other people. Tartaglioni eventually sent an associate
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  and enforcer of his Joseph Biggs, took confront Luna. Luna
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  and Cruz took Biggs to a trailer park in Middletown,
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  where Luna said relatives of the thieves lived, but they
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  weren't found. So was it a robbery of Luna getting
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  the money ganked from him or did Luna can talk
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  this whole entire plot so that he could take the money. Now,
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  remember we're talking about drug dealers, gangsters, and thieves. There's
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  no honor here. Bigs, a bodybuilder, Cruz knew only as
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  Jay told Luna that if he didn't come up with
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  the money, there would be blood on his hands. Cruz testified.
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  Cruz said that Luna chose to blame him because he
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  hadn't accompanied Luna to Texas. After that, Luna cut off
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  all contact with the others, and Cruz said he never
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  spoke with him again. Tartaglioni decided by then that Luna
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  had stolen the money himself. Cruz testified and sent Biggs
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  and Gerard benderoth an ex cop and former strongman competitor,
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  to find Luna, but they couldn't because at that point,
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  Luna had gone to Mexico to visit his ailing mother.
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  Once Luna was back, Sullivan offered the plan to get
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  Luna to the bar, which was owned by Michael Tartaglioni.
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  He told him there was construction work there and to
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  provide an estimate. The other men were not expected to
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  accompany him. Crew says he saw the bodies. Cruz testified
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  that he asked Tartaglioni if he could be there when
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  Luna got to the bar, but his boss said he
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  couldn't call me. Question why he had wanted that, because
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  I felt if I could talk to Martin, I could
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  convince him to return the money and end all these problems,
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  he answered in Spanish through an interpreter. When Tartaglioni called
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  him to the bar. Later, Cruse said he saw a
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  blue tarp wrapped around what appeared to be a body.
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  He was shown Miguel, Luna, and Gutierrez in a closet
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  and Santiago in the bathroom. Crew said he was scared
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  for his own life, he said, in addition to thinking
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  the men would contact the police if freed, he told
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  Tartaglioni he didn't want to take them home because he
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  thought his boss was testing them. He testified that he
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  watched Tartaglioni and Benderoth carry the tarp with Luna's body
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  into the back of Tartaglioni's car. Later that night, he
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  said Tartaglioni sent him with Bigs and Benderoff to look
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  for Luna's car so they can move it away from
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  the bar, but they couldn't find it. The next day,
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  he said he didn't see the bodies in the large hole,
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  but filled it with dirt and threw out the blue
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  tarp and duct tape that was next to the grave. Yeah,
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  this is damning testimony for sure. When one of your
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  co conspirators is dropping the dime on you like this,
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  you have little to no hope when the jury starts deliberating.
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  Defense Attorney Ada lisen Ring will resume cross examination of
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  Cruise on Thursday. In the short time she had to
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  question him on Wednesday, she got him to acknowledge that
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  he had repeatedly lied to FBI agents when first confronted
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  him on December nineteenth of twenty twenty. Wait a minute,
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  a guy that just got involved in a murder lied
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  to the FBI. Well, that's a shock. In her opening
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  statement last week, lisen Ring argued that Tartaglioni had no
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  involvement in the drug conspiracy or killings, and was set
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  up by the three cooperating witnesses, who each had powerful
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  motives to lie and minimize their own more significant roles
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  in the killings because they face life in prison otherwise.
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  So it's everybody else's fault, certainly not Nicholas Tartaglioni's fault,
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  just ask them. Meanwhile, the prosecution has evidence that's as
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  high as Mount Everest. So we'll continue to follow along
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  with this one because it's very significant as far as
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  the Jeffrey Epstein overall story goes, and it's going to
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  be interesting to see what else comes out at this trial.
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  All right, folks, that's going to do it for this one.
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  All of the information that goes with the episode can
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  be found in the description box.