Results tagged “marcelolucero”

Police are investigating whether a robbery in the town of Patchogue over the weekend was another instance of a hate crime in the town where an Ecuadorian immigrant was allegedly murdered by a group of teenagers last November. The Hispanic man was walking on a street in the Long Island town just before midnight on Friday night when he was approached by three young white men. As they knocked him to the ground while stealing cash and other items, police say that "disparaging remarks were made about the victim's ancestry." Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri told reporters, "It's distressing that it happened at all. Who knows why and who knows the circumstances? I don't know yet." After a group of teens were charged in the beating death of Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero (pictured), the Justice Department launched an investigation into accusations that Hispanic immigrants were being terrorized in the town for months. Some said that the victims' pleas had originally fallen on deaf ears with Suffolk County police.

Yesterday, the Suffolk County DA's office said that a group of teens, already charged with fatally beating a Hispanic man to death last November, had been on a 13-month-long "hate spree," targeting and terrorizing Latinos. DA Thomas Spota said, "All of the defendants participated in what we consider to be a violent and racially driven pastime" and Newsday detailed some of the crimes:

Last July, at least two of the teens beat a Hispanic man unconscious, stealing his money and shoes.

Continue reading "More Hate Crime Accusations for Patchogue Teens"

Two families mourned together in Ecuador yesterday, both having lost native sons to hate crimes that took place only a few dozen miles away from each other up here on the same island, but a hemisphere away from where they were born and are now buried. As hundreds gathered to pay their final respects to Jose Sucuzhañay, the man murdered in Bushwick last week, they were joined by relatives of Marcelo Lucero, who was murdered on Long Island last month. While teens have been arrested in Lucero's murder case, police are still searching for who was behind the attack on Sucuzhañay. His brother told the press, "I am thankful for the time that I had with my brother. This was a crime against all of us, it was a crime against humanity. May it never happen again."

Another attack this week against two Hispanic man in the town of Patchogue in Suffolk County has been chalked up to local teens--possibly ones connected to "The Caucasian Crew," the gang arrested in conjunction with the murder of Ecuadorian Marcelo Lucero. Luis Pichu and Carlos Banegas (a friend of Lucero's from Ecuador) were surrounded by a group of teens Tuesday night, some with skinhead haircuts, who yelled that they wanted "to kill everybody, all Spanish people." And yet another man has come forward and accused two of the members of the group that was arrested in Lucero's attack and murder as being the assailants when he was allegedly beaten badly while riding home on a bicycle last fall. "These people are still out there - they're still hunting," Marcelo's brother Joselo Lucero told the Post.

Before the stabbing attack that would claim their final victim, 37-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero, the Long Island gang known as "The Caucasian Crew" had been out on "beaner jumping" missions for almost a week leading up to it. The Patchogue attacks included knocking one man unconscious after sucker punching him in the mouth and shooting another with a BB gun. Police believe that there are more victims as well who have not come forward out of fears for their safety. Earlier this week, charges against the Caucasian Crew ringleader, Jeffrey Conroy, who is accused of stabbing Lucero were upped from manslaughter to murder.

Newsday reports Jeffrey Conroy, the teen who allegedly stabbed immigrant Marcelo Lucero to death, will now face the charge of murder as a hate crimes charge, upgraded from manslaughter as a hate crime. Conroy and six other teens involved in the attack on Lucero (prosecutors say they were specifically looking to "f--- up Mexicans") were also charged with conspiracy in Lucero's death and second-degree attempted assault related to another attack. Newsday also went to a parents' meeting at Patchogue-Medford High School, which the teens attend. While many spoke of healing the community, one parent yelled, "What are we doing to make sure the media doesn't grab our kids to be interviewed?" and then many parents screamed and confronted the Newsday reporter--who was escorted out even though she was given permission to attend.

A grand jury indicted the seven teens accused of killing an immigrant in Patchogue. All face charges of gang assault as a hate crime--the teens were allegedly targeting Hispanics-- while one was also indicted on charges of manslaughter as a hate crime for fatally stabbing Marcelo Lucero. Last night, over a 1,000 people held a vigil to honor Lucero--and speak out about racism. According to Newsday, Stony Brook University's director of the Social Justice Center Ruth Brandwein said, "This is an unfortunate, terrible tragedy of racism and bigotry that has some roots here. It's time we in Suffolk acknowledge it and move on," while one El Salvadoran immigrant said Nassau County was more tolerant. Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, whose hardline immigration policies prompted two recent editorials in the NY Times and Newsday, called the seven teens "white supremacists." One of the teens, Jose Pacheco, is Hispanic; his lawyer said, "Jose is distraught that some people think he committed a crime against another Hispanic."