New York City Police Announce Arrest Of Seven In Horrific Homophobic Series Of Attacks; Ages Of Suspects Range From 16 To 23 Years Old

The New York Times City Room is reporting that NYPD have arrested seven men in the Bronx who had made it their mission to find and attack two teenagers and a 30 year old man they thought to be gay, the men, part of a gang called the Latin King Goonies, who range in age from 16 to 23 years old, were arrested Thursday and Friday and charged in a series of bizarre and horrific attacks that began last Sunday. According to police, in the early hours of Sunday, members of the gang abducted a 17 year old male off the street, took him to an empty apartment and coerced into confession that he had performed sex acts on a 30 year old man. The boy, who was trying to join the gang, was “thrown into a wall, made to strip naked, hit in the head with a beer can, cut with a box cutter and sodomized with the wooden handle of a plunger,” according to Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. Later Sunday evening, the gang grabbed a second 17 year old male, took him to the same apartment, interrogating him about contact with the same 30 year old male. They then lured the 30 year old male to the apartment under false pretences, forced the 17 year old to him hit repeatedly and burn him with a cigarette. The gang then hit the 30 year with a chain, sodomizing him with a small baseball bat. While being held hostage, they took his keys, went to his apartment where they robbed his brother of $1,000 and two debit cards. Kelly added that “These suspects deployed terrible, wolf pack odd of 9 against 1, which revealed them as predators whose crimes were as cowardly as they were despicable.” Commissioner Kelly also said that the attackers attempted to clean the crime scene, ripping rugs and flooring, painting the walls, and dousing the vacant apartment in bleach, crime scene detectives however able to collect evidence. “One of them described it as, quote, ‘The cleanest crime scene I’ve ever seen,’” said Kelly. “Lots of bleach and paint were used to cover the blood shed by their tortured prey. They even poured bleach down the drains. They could clean, but they couldn’t hide.” In addition to the seven arrested, police continue to search for two more suspects.