Killer cop Tartaglione seeks presidential pardon with help of RFK Jr. ally, report says

A former Westchester County police officer who is serving four consecutive life sentences for the 2016 kidnapping and killing of four men is pursuing a presidential pardon, according to a report that ties the effort to Jessica Reed Kraus, an anti-vaccine influencer associated with RFK Jr. and a post-2010s political circle that includes Trump allies. The New Yorker, citing interviews and documents, describes Nicholas Tartaglione, now 57, as working with Kraus to overturn his conviction and gain clemency from the president.

Tartaglione’s case centers on the 2016 abduction and killings of Martin Luna, Miguel Luna, Hector Gutierrez and Urbano Santiago after a cocaine dispute. Prosecutors said Tartaglione abducted the men from a nightclub, killed them, and buried the bodies on his Otisville, New York, property. He was identified during the investigation as a key participant in the slayings, and his attorney has described him as a pivotal witness in the Epstein suicide inquiry, given Tartaglione’s prior cellmate connection to Jeffrey Epstein weeks before Epstein’s death in 2019 at a New York city jail.

Kraus—a former mommy blogger who has built a large following on social media, now presenting herself as a Kennedy ally—took a call from Tartaglione during a New Yorker interview and told him she could help pursue a presidential pardon. The influencer, who has more than 1.3 million Instagram followers and has been described as pro-MAGA, has cast herself in the role of broker between inmates seeking clemency and political figures with influence. Kraus has publicly pursued access to inmate stories for affiliated media projects and has used her platform to push narratives favorable to figures in her orbit.

The New Yorker’s reporting portrays Kraus as a central figure in Tartaglione’s bid for clemency, highlighting her ties to RFK Jr. and detailing a broader pattern of her involvement in chronicling Kennedy’s ascent over the past five years. Kraus, who also associates with Kennedy in public appearances, has been a vocal booster of RFK Jr.’s political and health policy positions. In one instance, Kraus described Kennedy’s work as Health Secretary as part of a broader critique of federal health policy, praising what she characterized as decisive actions that aligned with her views on vaccine policy and public-health governance.

Kennedy, who has publicly endorsed Trump in the past, has been linked, in Kraus’s feed and in her posts, to a shared political narrative that includes opposition to certain vaccine mandates and a reshaping of public-health leadership. Kraus has posted memes and captions urging followers to “examine the facts” about victims’ narratives in high-profile cases, and she has been explicit about her support for Kennedy’s approach to public health and governance. She and Kennedy have appeared together at campaign events, with Kraus sometimes framing the collaboration as a cross-partisan or unity-forward effort.

The Trump-Kennedy dynamic reflected in Kraus’s online activity has drawn scrutiny, particularly given Tartaglione’s bid for clemency and the sensational elements surrounding Epstein’s death and related investigations. Kraus has publicly credited Kennedy’s work and has described him as a transformative figure, while also citing her own role in shaping election-era discourse through social media and media partnerships. Kraus’s posts have drawn criticism for their handling of sensitive subjects and for questioning established narratives around victims’ experiences, raising questions about the influence of social-media personalities on real-world legal processes.

Requests for comment from Kraus were not immediately returned, and Tartaglione’s defense team has kept a relatively low public profile amid renewed attention on the pardon effort. The New Yorker’s reporting, which synthesizes interviews and document review, places Kraus at the center of Tartaglione’s effort to secure presidential clemency, while noting that any pardon remains speculative and would require presidential action and, in some cases, clemency processes that can be lengthy and complex. The report also references Tartaglione’s ongoing insistence that he was framed, a claim his attorneys have used to buttress his appeals for mercy or reconsideration.

This development comes amid broader debates over presidential clemency powers, the role of influencers in shaping political narratives, and the intersection of criminal justice with media-driven campaigns. While Tartaglione’s case is far from resolved, the report underscores how a constellation of figures tied to Kennedy’s political orbit and to Trump-era clemency rhetoric could create new touchpoints in the ongoing discourse over pardons and the limits of executive mercy.

Images used to illustrate the story show Tartaglione in courtroom and on investigative-related contexts, Kraus in public appearances tied to Kennedy and national media events, and a Health and Human Services image connected to Kennedy’s cabinet-era profile. [Images: ]