Ten charged with NYC hate crimes to appear in court

Violent attacks

by Marisa DeCandido (NCC News)

Oct. 14, 2010, 6:44 p.m.

The ten men charged with assault, sexual abuse, and other hate crimes appeared in court Thursday morning. They are accused of anti-gay attacks in the Bronx last week which severely injured four people.

The men, members of the Latin King Goonies gang, allegedly beat and sodomized one 17-year-old gang recruit who they believed was gay. They also beat another 17-year-old, a 30-year-old and his brother, police said.

This is the worst case of anti-gay violence in recent memory, police said.

A new campaign

After this and a string of other anti-gay attacks, New York City officials released a new campaign to increase the city's level of tolerance: "Love Love. Hate Hate."

One hope is that the city's new campaign will help curb these hateful attacks across the state, Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said.

"We're going to continue our efforts on the educational front and address these instances as they occur," Mulvey said.

Photo courtesy of the New York Times