Suspect In Horrific Anti-Gay Gang Attack Sues New York City For “Injuries” Suffered En Route To Court Appearance

The Daily News is reporting that the leader of a Bronx gang accused of a vicious gay-bashing attack is looking for a "big payday" for injuries he suffered in a prison bus crash, consequently outraging the families of his alleged victims. Idelfonso Mendez, 24, broke his wrist and hurt his back when a Department of Correction bus taking him and other Rikers Island inmates to court collided with a car in January, the lawsuit filed in the Bronx Friday says. Mendez and other members of the Latin King Goonies are accused of sodomizing a 30 year old gay man and his 17 year old lover with a mini-baseball bat and plunger handle during a ruthless, hours-long attack in October, 2010. Word of the lawsuit sent a cousin of one of the tortured men into a rage. "He shouldn't be allowed to collect one cent!" the cousin told the Daily News. "He did horrible things, and now he wants to get rich over a little wrist injury. It's an insult to the people he hurt. He's just looking for a big payday." No inmates were hospitalized in the January 18 bus crash at 163rd St. and Sherman Ave. - just a block from the Bronx Supreme Courthouse, a DOC spokesman said. The accused gang head’s lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, claims he was "severely injured, bruised and wounded" in the accident. But Mendez, who has two prior arrests for attempted possession of a weapon and criminal facilitation, made his scheduled court appearance after the crash, prosecutors said, and showed no signs of serious injury. He is suing the city, the DOC and the bus driver - as well as the man whose car was struck by the bus. His attorney in the civil case declined comment. "This piece of garbage put people through a lot pain and humiliation," said a relative of another victim. "This [suit] just shows the kind of person he is. He has no shame." Mendez and the other Goonies tortured and terrorized a 30 year old man, his older brother and two teenagers in an abandoned home in Morris Heights they used as a clubhouse, cops said."Is it true you're a faggot?" Mendez asked two of his bound victims before beating and sodomizing them, prosecutors said. In interviews with police, Mendez blamed his cohorts for the attacks, saying the 30 year old victim "looked like he liked it," court papers show. Mendez, who is being held without bond on Rikers Island, faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted. "It will be a sad day if someone accused of this type of crime gets paid while sitting in jail," the outraged cousin said. The city Law Department declined comment.