A retired NYPD detective-turned-private eye was indicted Monday in an alleged failed “shakedown” of a former client whose murder conviction he helped overturn, prosecutors said.
Jay Salpeter, 69, is accused of sending a series of threatening messages over the past three years to Marty Tankleff for additional money for work on his exoneration more than a decade ago, according to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office.
In one of the correspondences between January of 2018 and March of 2021, Salpeter allegedly wrote, “Can you recommend a good lawyer for homicide arrest?” prosecutors said.
In another, Salpeter, of Glen Cove, Long Island, allegedly cracked, “Oh saw great movie last night that you might like — ‘Dead Man Walking.'”
A grand jury indicted Salpeter Monday on charges of attempted grand larceny by extortion and harassment, according to court records.
Tankleff, of Babylon, spent 19 years in prison after being convicted of killing his parents in 1988. In 2007, he was exonerated and released.
He didn’t turn over any money to Salpeter — who worked at the NYPD between 1971 and 1991 and served as a private investigator on his appeal — despite the ex-cop’s alleged extortion attempts.
The private eye’s attorney said in court the issue was a civil matter and denied any wrongdoing by his client.
A judge let Salpeter go with an order of protection and a June 7 court date.