“The attackers forced the man to strip to his underwear and tied him to a chair, the police said. One of the teenage victims [who’d been sodomized with a toilet plunger] was still there. The ‘Goonies’ ordered him to attack the man. The teenager hit him in the face and burned him with a cigarette on his nipple and penis as the others jeered and shouted gay slurs, the police said. Then the attackers whipped the man with a chain and sodomized him with a small baseball bat.” That’s the nytimes.com‘s description of the kidnapping and assault on three men in the Bronx. Four years later a court’s sentenced the leader of the assault [Idelfonso Mendez, above] to 14-years in prison. As for his eight accomplices . . .
Also convicted in the attack was David Rivera, 24, who pleaded guilty to one count of burglary in the first degree after admitting that he took cash, credit cards and a television from the home of a victim. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Nelson Falu, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of robbery in the first degree for threatening a victim with a baseball bat and taking personal property. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Elmer Confresi, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted gang assault in the first degree and received four years in prison.
Jose Dominguez, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted assault in the first degree and was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.
And Ruddy Vargas, 26, pleaded guilty to a count of robbery in the third degree and was sentenced to two to six years in prison.
The three victims all received life sentences, if you know what I mean. Which could well have been avoided if one of them had been exercising his natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms, and shot one or more of his attackers. As he would have had every legal right to do. If he hadn’t been in New York City, that is.
Quite why members of the LGBT community don’t see it that way is beyond me. No matter how many hate crime laws are in effect, no matter how severe the penalties for violating them, no matter how effective the police are at arresting, prosecuting and jailing offenders; no matter how much sensitivity training is given to the general population, LGBTs will always be a target of violence.
Defend your gun rights, defend yourself. That is all.
You’re getting better at cutting through the bullshit there my friend.
The last line is the perfect one.
I could think of some suitable punishment for these animals, but I think it is illegal in just about every country in the world.
And the esso bee will be out in five and a half. Why was no one charged with SEX CRIMES? TORTURE? CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY?
The DA’s office should be hauled up on charges and thrown in the same prison.
I agree. Burglary…really? Robbery….really? Not even aggravated? WTF?
I know right? This is some pretty sick shit.
It reads more like something that would happen in BFE India than the ‘States.
Didn’t some NYPD officers do something very similar to this to some Haitian immigrant back in the late 1990s? As I recall that case, those cops sodomized that guy so violently with a broken broom stick handle that they ruptured not only his colon, but his bladder, too. It’s getting harder and harder to tell the bad guys from the good out there.
We have all these nifty hate crime laws now-why weren’t they used?
They only count on ofwg’s. Only ofwg’s can hate, you know. Not having a problem with these thugs being blown to bits is no comfort to them, if it comes from people like us.
Not actually knowing, or really caring, I’m gonna assume that ofwgs refers to old fat white guys, which I am. Not guys, as I am only one, and do not speak for others. Pardon me for not being offended in the least, but I must point out that you are not endearing yourselves by deliberately insulting those you recognize to be powerful.
That said, I have no problem whatsoever with any LGBT people, it is way far out of my business, and I think those who spend their free time dreaming up ways to persecute people because of their sexual preferences, WHATEVER those might be, need to be asked, repeatedly, just why they care. Do they have designs on those people? Is there lust in their hearts? What, exactly, is their interest? I have none. I am not “for”, I am not “against”, it is simply none of my concern.
OTOH, I think it would be just peachy if these individuals had been armed and had defended themselves. Though the preferable result would be that we knew nothing about it, they then walked away.
” I am not “for”, I am not “against”, it is simply none of my concern.”
If you don’t care about other people’s sexual lives, you might be a Libertarian. 😀
The NYC PD and DA have always hated minorities, but not as much as they hate the LGBT community. All the way back to the riots in Hell’s Kitchen. This must have really made their collective head explode – what to charge the scary brown kid with, since they couldn’t rig something up against the victim. Couldn’t be a hate crime too – that would have made it a Federal beef that couldn’t be tied up in a neat little package and sent to Ossining for a few years.
Straight up, Jus Bill.
The fact that any of those people got less than 30 years for such a blatant act of domestic terrorism is a travesty.
Damn straight! And where were the “hate crimes” charges?
Not all states have sexual orientation as a protected class for the purposes of hate crime distinction, but NY does. So it’s a damn good question, actually.
should get at least 15 for that ‘do alone.
God bless the Pink Pistols group. Love their slogan, “Pick on Someone Your Own Caliber.
Ha!
Absolutely! I must, though, also wonder why no Federal beef, such as a Civil Rights violation charge? The mind wobbles…
Because there wasn’t a gun involved and that wouldn’t give Morgan something more to come on the news about.
Move along, move along, nothing to see here… Just some kids having fun, move along.
Hey, a Guy open carrying at Starbucks! Get ’em!
+ a 1, followed by some zeroes.
Bravo Robert, bravo.
Most crimes against someone else involve some kind of hatred or malicious intent. Labelling an assault as a “hate crime” and treating it as more severe than a “regular crime” is an affront to victims.
More than that, it’s an affront to the very idea of equality.
That too
It also creates an unconstional system of protected classes (if you create a penalty designed to deter criminals from commiting crimes against a specific group then your not exactly providing equal protection are you?
Anti-hate-crime legislation doesn’t provide more serious penalties based on classification of the victim, but rather on the primary motive of the attacker.
Under existing hate-crime laws (were they ex post facto) Reginald Denny could go after the black mob that pulped him – were their identities generally known.
These laws are universally applicable to any ethnicity or class.
Reginald Denny explicit forgave his primary attacker and asked that he not be prosecuted. Of course Denny had, by that time, serious brain damage caused by that very attacker.
Your sentiment is accurate in the way hate crime laws are enforced. Which is not how they should be, or are supposed to be, enforced.
Think of hate crime laws like terrorism laws. If a terrorist beheads an American citizen in Times Square in broad daylight, should that be treated as a normal homicide? His intent is to strike fear into all Americans, so effectively an additional crime was committed against the American people, besides the crime of murder against the victim. Hate crime laws are supposed to do the same thing.
If you commit a violent act against another person and your sole motivation was their race, creed, sexual orientation, etc, you have not only committed that crime against that person, but also against that entire race, creed, sexual orientation, etc. If this was enforced in this manner, I think they are perfectly acceptable.
Motivation should be all that is taken into account. The fact that an attacker is also from a “protected class” should be irrelevant. Every class should be protected equally. However not every violent offense is going to have the same motivation or intent. I believe certain motivations warrant stronger punishment, as the intended victim is more than just the actual physical victim. It’s the victim, and everyone else like the victim.
The problem with this is that “creating fear” is pretty hard to define. Crime doesn’t consist in what the victim felt at the time, still less what society might feel. It’s about what the perpetrator did.
I am sure I am missing this somehow, let’s just say it straight without the dodges. Are you saying that a black man who commits a crime against a black man should be convicted of a “hate crime”? Because that sounds seriously stupid to me.
Yet they don’t hesitate to use it, selectively. Why not in this instance? Ask the pussies in the DA’s office.
“why not in this instance?”
Because the perp’s name is Idelfonso Mendez. You do the math.
Didn’t work for George Zimmerman. Are you saying it’s the name, and only the name?
Well, the name is a strong clue. Zimmerman sounds like somebody from Minnesota.
Imeipssrve brain power at work! Great answer!
[Howls]
It’s not about the nature of the victim(s), but rather the motive of the attacker.
Hatred is now considered a more reprehensible motive than revenge, greed et cetera.
I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but it kinda makes sense.
An assault is an assault. Intent should only speak towards if it was an accident or not – did you intend to do something or not? If you meant to be an aggressor and attack someone, it shouldn’t matter why.
Intent is important because it is relevant to how dangerous is that person to society in general.
Except revenge nearly always involves hatred.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any telepaths who can find out what the perp’s intentions were, notwithstanding it’s irrelevant. The perp did harm to the victim, a crime was committed. Pretending to know what’s inside somebody else’s head is one of the major contributors to the violence and extreme government we’re seeing today.
What about those that are Haters and Attackers of Liberties?
Are they not more henious because they pervay an outward impression of sovereign good will?
Maliciousness at is highest level, is it not?
That turd cutter’s gonna be more like a turd hula hoop soon, pal.
As a gay person who is also a firearms instructor, I couldn’t agree with you more.
No only do we get sterotyped politically, but some do what they can to fit the sterotype — if you’re gay you MUST be liberal.
I’m glad I live in a state that hasn’t yet completely been taking over by haters of self-defense.
BTW – what’s the proper gun to wear at one’s wedding?
I suspect the gay=liberal thing is less of an issue in places where those labeled conservative aren’t as anti-gay. Chicken and egg argument, I guess.
Depends on your style and whatever fits under your tux!
Traditional wedding or modern?
Traditional: SxS shotgun, bolt action rifle like a Mauser, lever action, anything nickel plated.
Modern: Beretta 92 INOX full sized, a nice 1911, SIG, H&K, anything that’s modern and you’re proud of. Modern would be anything designed after 1970.
I dunno, a shotgun? 😀
Shotgun
For the father of the bride.
Oh, Hell, absolutely! What was I thinking? The father of the bride should give her away carrying a plain old double barreled shotgun. Add some bling, well, sure. But while you wear your stainless 1911 with bone/ivory grips, sweet daddy should carry a shotgun.
Ain’t no bride in this wedding….
I laughed much harder than I should of at this.
Hey, if there’s two people involved (or more), SOMEBODY has to have a father! If not hire one! There should be an observer/guest carrying a double! Those involved should opt for their prettiest big pistols, and definitely NOT under the tux.
I apologize if the “bride” nomenclature offended.
” If not hire one! ”
Rates available upon request.
Seems like there must be a perfect response for this question, but dammit, it eludes me.
Traditional: .38 Special in shoulder rig.
Modern: Beretta 92 holstered in small of back.
בהצלחה
Its a polished stainless 1911 for me, ivory grips and all, but I suppose it depends on what else you’re wearing. . .
What a bunch of wimps. Are you gay, or what? Clearly, open carry, stainless, bone grips, and inlay if you can afford it. ie, gaudy! When will you ever get the chance again? Unlike the cake, you KEEP the damn gun! I recommend a .45, but caliber would be your choice.
And my best wishes to you and your intended!
I’m leaning towards my 10mm 1911, but concealed.
It is defiantly a BBQ quality gun, but neither of us are OC fans.
We do occasional go through the ritual of “does this holster make me look fat?”
“It is defiantly a BBQ quality gun, but neither of us are OC fans.”
What’s a “BBQ quality gun?”
(“Honey, do these pants make my ass look fat?” “Hmmm… no, I don’t think it’s the pants…”
or “Honey, do these pants make my ass look fat?” “Oh, Gawd, yes! They’re awful! Get out of those pants immediately!)
A BBQ gun is the nice gun you wear to show off. If your EDC is a IWB-carried GLOCK, but you’re going to a BBQ where you can open carry, then you wear the pearl-handled engraved 1911 in the sexy OWB leather holster.
I will never understand why some people think it is ok to treat another human being in this manner.
It’s what happens when your moral compass is calibrated by the thugs you hang out with, while your mother is strung out on crack and your father is nowhere to be found.
Father. HA. That’s a good one!
I understand your confusion. There are people who are born to be assholes. They tend to act out in places they do not expect to be challenged by someone with the ability to kill them. Get armed. End of problem.
Assholes? REALLY? Those people are MONSTERS, not assholes.
“There are people who are born to be assholes.”
Please refrain from insulting the human anus. That’s the locus of your Root Chakra, you now.
You guys are killing me.
Shit like this. Like this and like those stories of people who see their entire families get brutalized in their own living rooms. It’s sickening at its face, sure, but as Farago points out, it’s also sickening that there are so many people who insist that we should let the cops protect us. The cops sure as hell didn’t come to the rescue of these poor souls. One guy with a gun on his hip, or even a Mossberg in the closet could have put this crap to a quick end. It’s so maddening that even these kinds of stories aren’t enough to convince people that guns just might be useful.
This happened to people I knew. New Year’s Day, 2000. A scheduled NYD party. Mid-day, no guests had arrived. Two guys came in, took them to the basement, tied the couple up, and the two little girls. A neighbor came by because the door was open. The monsters sent the mom up to send the neighbor away. She could have said, “everything was fine, while shaking her head and mouthing “help!” But she didn’t. She did as she was told.
And she and her husband had to watch their girls’ throats get cut, before theirs were. And the guys set the place on fire, to try and cover their tracks. They didn’t, though.
that my friend is a horrifying story.
The Commonwealth executed one of them, within two years. The other got life without possibility of parole.
Only 14 years? And only burglary? What about murder?
I sense the presence of legal shenanigans. Either there were some serious weaknesses in the case or the urban yoots were allowed to plead down in exchange for some favor or other.
One of the many points in favor of flying bullets: they don’t accept plea bargains.
+10 specially the last part
Plea bargains.
It’s what you get when the prosecutors are overwhelmed with case loads, or lazy, or both.
Umm, it would seem, reading the linked article, that there was no murder charge because none of the victims died.
Eh…details.
I agree on all counts. Legal shenanigans start from a different point when the perp was shot dead on the spot. The only person responsible for the safety of yourself and your loved ones is YOU!
Small typo “no matter how effective the police are are arresting,” I think you meant are at.
A well placed bullet is exactly what these guys needed, of course if that happened I’m sure these guys would have been the victims of a horrible horrible crime. I mean if a person used a death stick to protect themselves or others they are surely evil, especially if they were using a high capacity magazines. Probably would have been spun off as a bunch of innocent friends trying to play a prank and got shot down in their prime.
You forgot “…and they were just beginning to turn their lives around.” Right, Rev. Al?
Aspiring rappers?
All laws and regulations are selectively enforced. Like it or not, this is the way things are. The Hate Crime laws are rarely enforced unless the perpetrator is a white male. I’m not saying this to stir the pot, it’s a statistical fact. If these guys were some rural white good ole boys, this would be the lead story for every media outlet in the English (and Ebonics) speaking universe. These guys should have been prosecuted for every charge that even remotely applied. Hopefully these guys will endure some of the same treatment they dished out while incarcerated. The cruelty and lack of conscience it takes to do something like that, and knowing that the world is full of such sadistic predators, this is the exact reason that decent law abiding folks should all be armed and trained. Forget being a victim, lets take the fight to them!
“I’m not saying this to stir the pot, it’s a statistical fact.”
As a matter of fact, it’s undeniable.
Boy that coffee sure smells good, doesn’t it??
“Quite why [any] members of the LGBT community don’t see it that way is beyond me.”
The same might be said of Jews, neo-pagans, ordinary black folks in some warmer parts of this country, native Americans et cetera.
I can easily understand why some Statist “uplifters” might wish to disarm the American people, but not why any significant segment of We the People should wish to disarm themselves and their neighbours. Not at all. No siree.
The generation who watched and cheered Matt Dillon and Lucas McCain as kids grew up to despise the armed citizen. How dat?
My head shaketh, even as the corpus of Jefferson doth gyre with great rapidity.
This begs the question: Why did they not get a similar sentence to Justin Volpe? Not to say he should have gotten less time but why did they get 16, or 4 when he got 30. When we discuss disparity in treatment between LEOs and RUS this comes to mind. I would be fine with Justin getting 50 or 60, but this should have been treated as a conspiracy and the sentences should have just about matched each other in the 30 year range.
The other upside if this had been a DGU would be that (in at least some states) if one of the thugs had been shot and killed all the others would be guilty of murder. Seems like a simple solution to me.
I guess since Idelfonso Mendez is wearing a cross…his sins are forgiven. Frack that.
Forgiven only by G-d. Not the state.
Don’t confuse a symbol on a chain with a broken heart and contrite spirit of a pentatent soul.
these sentences are a pathetic amount of time for what they did. but even more pathetic is the sentences that the Dodger fans got that beat up Brian Stow. one guy got 4 years and the other got 8. Brian Stow suffered way worse and longer lasting injuries than the victims of this article.
I find it impossible to gel what sounds like false imprisonment, sodomy, and mayhem with 14 years for the ring leader. I really do have to wonder, absent some very large holes in the case, if there isn’t some bias based on the victim. If these guys had done this to a woman they would have had life without on the top count and the co-conspirators would be looking at a gracious offer of 25-life. Something smells on this one, I hope someone (hello journalists) will follow up on this and find out how exactly these guys got off so lightly after such a hideous crime.
beause if a woman was involved – Hello! war against women! Misogyny!
Women are entitled class and so yes, if this was a woman they’d all be in chains shuffling off to the rock pile before the evidence was cold.
Y’know, Mina… I think this is true.
We need to all get a grip on who pays for extended prison stays. It is US! Courts are telling us as clearly as they can, they cannot protect you! When presented with this kind of evil, it is YOUR duty to kill it. For that, you must prepare. Not AFTER, since the likelihood of a single instance is remote, the chance of multiple instances is unfathomable. I’ve been ready for 40 years, no problem yet (knock on wood). Most will never have the need, but if all were ready, very soon none would ever have the need. Robbery, rape, kidnapping, etc would not be fun for the criminal class if they were ALWAYS confronted with an armed victim. Spread the word! Gun up!
Armed gays don’t get bashed. Gays dependably vote Democrat. Democrats are the party of civilian disarmament. Because of Democrats, gays are unarmed. Because they are unarmed, gays get bashed. Second verse, same as the first.
Cognitive dissonance in all its glory.
No kidding, right? It’s so twisted I can barely wrap my head around it.
Yet they continue to vote and behave like Democrats.
Hey, Ralph!
I ain’t gay, and I ain’t black, but I know you speak the truth about gays, and the same applies to blacks. Being free means being able to take care of your own business. If you are, or if you think you are, in a group which people may wish to harm for no reason, it is incumbent on you to be prepared to take care of your own damn self. If time permits, call 911, of course. But right here, right now, it is up to YOU. Are you ready?
If there is one reason to carry a gun to defend yourself it is this: people are disgusting and violent.
Better to have it and not need it then to have it and not need it.
“Better to have it and not need it then to have it and not need it.”
Huh. There’s a difference?
I live this saying, it is my favorite. I discovered it the first time I went down centerline in a dressage test (at a show) without my whip on a horse with a vicious sense of humor.
How can you tell if a horse has a vicious sense of humor?
You live with him for 6-10 years. Riding a horse at a high level 4-5 days a week for an hour or more per ride, you get to know him pretty well.
Did he snore?
Mr. Ed uses the telephone.
He lives in my backyard. I live with him. I do not sleep with him.
haha. too much wine …
better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it!
that’s better 😉
It’s better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick. 😉
Oh, OK, William. You can be syntax deputy. 😉
He just loves to pull my ponytail.
Sounds like your pony needs to be a little more assertive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqZ4UUDoZGs
You have a PONYTAIL? 😀
I have taught four gay friends the way of the gun at my expense. Three men and one woman. Two have since bought a gun and carry every day.
Reach out to these people. They are our natural allies.
+1
Yet another reason why ol’ Wayne needs to step down and let some new blood into the NRA.
This battle will be won through minorities and targeted groups like gays. Fudds and OFWGs don’t face as many people per year who would like to do them harm just for who they are. We should bring people who really understand the need for self defense into the fight for freedom.
meh. I say don’t reach out to any “specific” groups .. just keep broadcasting the truth and like moths to a flame those who seek truth will find it.
All of them should have been shot.
I keep telling all my GBLT buddies this myself. This is the perfect example, really.
I, myself a gay Hispanic, was the target of a hate crime as well. As I’ve stated before, the Police also tried to pin the assault on me as well because they themselves were homophobic and heavily anti-gay as well. Nothing came of it and it left me wondering just how much it happened.
I quickly turned into a single issue voter after acquiring my trusty Makarov literally a day afterwards, and I do so proudly carry and try to spread to the community the fact that the 2nd Amendment is there to protect us, not what the Leftists want us to believe.
Want to hear something interesting?
I am not gay but I know what it feels like to be gay and hated. “How is that?” some may ask.
Well, in the past I was living in West Virginia – born and raised on the West Coast. The good ol’ boys in West Virginia who dabbled in meth and had 3 teeth all assumed I was gay and treated me accordingly – probably because I used correct grammar, bathed, and didn’t have 3 kids by my mid 20’s.
I hear you man. I didn’t start carrying every day until I faced that kind of mindless, knee jerk reaction hate from people just based on their perception of how I looked.
It was a hell of a thing.
Pink Pistols is an LGBT group dedicated to the notion of armed self defense, so some of them do get it. I am surprised, Mr. F, that you haven’t heard of them.
Defensive flamethrower use is a more apt title…or it should’ve been.
I follow this site regulary,…for this reason.
I may not agree with the lifestyle choices of some in this world, but NO LIFESTYLE CHOICE warrants THAT KIND OF TREATMENT FROM ANYONE. They are human beings. Absolutely disgusting that people are capable of doing this to others. That’s absolutely horrid.
Robert Farago, I’m disappointed in you. How dare you shame the victim.
Anybody know if the victims in this case are now gun owners, having gone through such a horrific ordeal?
It’s NYC, dude. Unless you’re the mayor or a celebrity, no gun for you. Maybe a stick. Maybe…
I’ve thought about putting a gay pride sticker on my car in the hopes of luring some of these homophobes out of the woodwork to potentially save this from happening to someone. Whether or not that’s wise is up for debate.
Unwise.
Anyone else notice the Crucifix around the Accused’s neck? What a sham. I guess the Jury didn’t fall for it. Thankfully.
What a horrific story!! I have always wondered, what it is that makes the LGBT community as a whole, so anti-2nd Amendment??? What else can it be but a product of conforming to the two-party political system? I mean, obviously it makes sense that LGBT rights would be at the top of the priority list for those that are directly effected by that, and of the Democrats and the Republicans, its obvious which party would be favored but that doesn’t mean that you have to fall in line with everything the freaking party stands for!! It seems to me, there has never been a group of people more perfect for (and probably deserving of) libertarian principals. It’s time to break the two-party cycle!
+100,000