| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Latin Kings Idelfonzo Mendez, Nelson Falu, David Rivera, Jose Dominguez and four other men sexually assaulted a teen with a plunger and forced a man to burn his lover with cigarettes before robbing them |
No family or friends to support him in ward, Dominican Nelson Falu, was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison and five of supervised release.
Falu, 21, came from prison wearing a pink shirt and a beard. When Judge Steven Barrett of the Supreme Court of the county asked if he had anything to say before sentencing him, he replied "No."
Back in October of 2010 members of the Latin King Goonies, Idelfonzo “Cheto” Mendez, Nelson Falu, David Rivera, Jose Dominguez and four other men ranging from ages 16-23 drug a 17 year-old recruit they suspected to be gay into a Morris Heights apartment.
| Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.  |
| Nelson Falu appeared in court wearing a pink shirt and a beard |
They repeatedly asked him, "Are you a faggot." When the men didn't get the answer they wanted, they beat him. During the two hour long terrifying ordeal the men raped him with the handle of a toilet plunger--taunting him with questions like, "Do you like this?" According to the victim, as "Cheto" slid the plunger in-and-out of his anus he asked, "Are you a fag?"
After the beating the men offered to take the teen to the hospital, but the emotional damage had already been done.
"It gets me angry that they beat me because these were my friends. We were like family. We went to church together. They just turned on me," the 17-year-old said in an interview with the New York Post.
"They told me the beating was not personal," he said, as the gang offered to let him remain a member. "It was just that I violated one of the rules.”
During the assault the boy falsely admitted to having sex with "La Reina," the 17 year-old male's house whom he was seen coming out of. A short time later the gang attacked La Reina, his boyfriend, and Reina's brother. During the 10-hour long attack Reina was brutally violated. His lover was forced to burn his nipples and penis with a lighted cigarette, and he was sodomized with a plastic baseball bat. The men were bombarded with homophobic slurs, and robbed before the savage attack ceased.
"Although he has been found guilty of first-degree robbery, this case involves a number of attacks," the prosecutor told the judge Theresa Gottlieb, meaning that, in accordance with Falu, we chose this class B felony, which is greater than the assault.
The agreement was made possible because the victim did not want to go to court and relive what happened, so several alternatives were discussed according to the degree of participation of each offender.
"Most of the lawyers in this case we thought we had chances at trial, but that was a risk that my client did not want to run," he told Martin Goldberg output, counsel of the convict, who was facing 20 years in prison.
"Many witnesses, including those who were to be called by the prosecution, took part in the assault coerced, because if they did they would be attacked as victims," said a legal representative. Two other gang members accepted plea deals back in June, while the others are awaiting sentencing and some are still negotiating to see if they reach an agreement.
Back in 2010 New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the incident sickening.
"Like many New Yorkers, I was sickened by the brutal nature of these crimes and saddened by the anti-gay bias that contributed to them," Bloomberg said.
"The heartless men who committed these crimes should know that their fellow New Yorkers will not tolerate their vicious acts, or the hatred that fuels them."
The first 17 year-old who was attacked said that he was not gay, hinting towards him falsely admitting that he was to avoid further torture. He vowed to never associate himself with the thug culture for the rest of his life. "Gangs are no good for anyone," the teen said. "Being in a gang will get you nowhere."
Now at the age of 21, hopefully he has remained with that mindset.