Scary stuff:
Full report: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/101009/world/us_gang_hate_crime
NY officials visit site of anti-gay gang torture
1 hour, 28 minutes ago
By Verena Dobnik, The Associated Press
NEW YORK, N.Y. - The abandoned home that served as a clubhouse — and allegedly a torture chamber — for a street gang accused of trapping and brutalizing three gay men sits in a neighbourhood where homosexuality is both common and tolerated, residents said.
Gay men and women lived openly, and while neighbours were disturbed by some past violent behaviour by the group of young men alleged to have been involved in the attacks, some said they hadn't previously targeted homosexuals.
"I was friends with all of them," said Natty Martinez, a gay 16-year-old who lives in the Bronx neighbourhood.
"They were chill. There was no beef," she said. "I had no idea they had no heart."
New York City leaders continued to express outrage Saturday over the attacks, which police say took place over several hours on two nights. Seven suspects were arrested on Thursday and Friday. Two more were still at large.
Police said the nine members of a gang that called itself the Latin King Goonies went berserk after hearing a rumour that one of their new recruits, a 17-year-old, was gay.
Investigators say the teen was stripped, beaten and sodomized with a plunger handle until he confessed to having had sex with a 30-year-old man who lives a few blocks away.
Then, the group grabbed a second teen they suspected was gay and tortured him, too. Finally, they invited the 30-year-old to the house, telling him they were having a party. When he arrived, they burned, beat and tortured him for hours. The attack included sodomizing him with a miniature baseball bat, police said.
Full report: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/101009/world/us_gang_hate_crime

