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"Motivation" Detailed In Latin King Goonies Brutal Anti-Gay Attack
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 29, 2011
Modified Apr 29, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 29, 2011
Modified Apr 29, 2011
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More details have been revealed about the motivations behind the Latin King Goonies anti-gay attack last fall. Nine members of the gang were arrested last year for allegedly torturing three gay men (and injuring another man) because of their sexual orientation. It seems that before the attack, the gang members tried to extort protection money from one of their victims—and when he wasn't able to pay up, they sodomized him with a miniature baseball bat.
According to court records, the gang found out that the 30-year-old victim was having sex with a fledgling member of their crew, and decided to extort him, demanding $2,000 to keep him safe from neighborhood thugs. When he failed to get them the promised money, the gang became furious, and went on a warpath, injuring four people in the process.
They lured the 17-year-old—who hoped to join the gang—into an abandoned house at 1910 Osborne Place, stripped him, slashed with a box cutter, beaten with a beer can, demanded to know the name of a 30-year-old man he slept with, and then sodomized him with a toilet plunger. Then they also beat and sodomized another 17-year-old for hours who admitted to being with the 30-year-old man. Then, then beat the 30-year-old man (forcing one of the 17-year-olds to torture him as well), and beat and robbed the 30-year-old's brother as well.
The alleged ringleader Idelfonso Mendez blamed his cohorts for the sodomy in interviews with police, saying the 30-year-old "looked like he liked it." David Rivera, Nelson Falu, Jose Dominguez, Elmer Confresi, Rudy Vargas, Luis Garcia and Mendez are charged with multiple hate crimes in the assault. The cousin of the 30-year-old victim told the News that the new details "show what scum these guys really are. They are just animals. Even if he'd given them money, they would have done this."
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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