The FBI descended Wednesday on the upstate home of a rogue ex-cop accused of executing and burying four men after a cocaine deal fell apart.
Former officer Nicholas Tartaglione was behind bars as the feds arrived in five vehicles with tinted windows at his home in rural Bloomingburg, N.Y.
Agents declined to comment as they began searching the property one day after Tartaglione was arraigned for murder, drug conspiracy and a number of additional charges.
The accused killer’s next-door neighbors told the Daily News they spotted federal agents in the rural wooded area over the last month — but never suspected Tartaglione was the target.
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“He was very friendly,” said neighbor Chris Grant, 34. “He told me he was getting married. We talked about the neighborhood, the property, the stuff local people talk about.
“He just seemed like a normal guy.”
Federal prosecutors charged the muscular, drug-addled man was a stone cold killer who murdered his four victims inside a bar, drove their bodies 30 minutes north to his 178-acre farm, and buried them all.
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Authorities using a backhoe dug up four bodies Tuesday from the Otisville, N.Y., farm. (CHELSIA ROSE MARCIUS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
Authorities using a backhoe dug up four bodies Tuesday from the Otisville, N.Y., farm after Tartaglione, 49, was arraigned in federal court. Authorities charged the killings were linked to a deal for 5 kilos of cocaine.
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Tartaglione and his wife bolted from the farm about two months ago, re-settling in tiny Bloomingburg — a Sullivan County village with a population just over 400.
Grant and his wife said the couple arrived in the town in the late spring or early summer. The couple was stunned by the arrest and the gory details surrounding Tartaglione.
“I was just thinking of taking the kids to the house to give them Christmas cookies when I saw this in the paper,” said Robin Grant, 38. “I was like, ‘Wow! This guy is our neighbor.’”
A woman — possibly the arrested cop’s wife — emerged from their two-story, shingled home but refused to answer any questions about the case. Roosters and chickens milled around near a pair of red wooden sheds.
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Asked if she wanted to share her side of the story, the woman replied, “We’ll let you know when we have a side. Look, I have chores, I’m sorry. You can call my lawyer. If you find him, that’s who you can call.”