Eight suspects have been arrested for a string of anti-gay hate crimes in New York, while a ninth suspect is being pursued. The Latin King Goonies gang, as they call themselves, tortured two teenage boys and one man after discovering a rumor that one of their recruits was gay. They found the alleged gay recruit and then proceeded to strip him, beat him, and sodomize him with a plunger handle until he confessed to the rumor. The Goonies then moved on to another recruit that they believed to be gay and tortured him as well. Then, they invited the man, who one of the recruits confessed to having had relations with, to a house party. When he showed up, they burned, beat, tortured, and sodomized him with a miniature baseball bat (The Berkshire Eagle). The gang then went to the older man's house, tied up his brother, and stole three cell phones, $1,000 in cash and a 52-inch television (ABC News). .
The eight suspects include Ildefonzo Mendez, 23; Elmer Confresi, 23; David Rivera, 21; Steven Caraballo, Denis Peitars, Nelson Falu and Bryan Almonte, all 17; and Brian Cepeda, 16. They were arraigned on hate crime charges. They were seen in the courtroom with their heads down as their relatives wept. The charges they face include robbery, assault, sexual abuse, and unlawful imprisonment as hate crimes. None of the eight entered a plea. Peitars and Caraballo were granted bail at $100,000 bond or $50,000 cash while the other six are being held without bail. Two attorneys, Paul Horowitz and Fred Bittlingmeyer, represented all eight suspects at the hearing, although they do not expect to represent all eight during the entire process (The Berkshire Eagle). .
A ninth suspect, Rudy Vargas-Perez, is being searched for. Vargas-Perez is believed to have taken part in one of the torture sessions that involved slashing the victims with box cutters, burning them with cigarettes, sodomizing them, and forcing a victim to choose between a bat or a pipe to be beaten with.
