Photo Courtesy of Google
The victim was attacked outside El Paisa bar on Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights.
By Forum Staff
There may soon be a few less Latin Kings on the street, after a Queens grand jury charged six reputed members of the gang in the attempted murder and gang assault of a 24-year-old man in Jackson Heights last October.
“The defendants are accused of viciously attacking and seriously injuring a young man apparently for no other reason than he was not a member of the Latin Kings gang,” said District Attorney Brown. “Gang violence will not be tolerated in Queens County. The defendants’ poor choice in pursuing gang membership and the violence that are a part of that lifestyle have led them to be charged with serious felonies that carry the possibility of lengthy prison sentences.”
Six defendants – Michael (“Menace”) Aragundi, Jonathan (“Butters”) Duy, Jordan (“JCap”) Leon, Wilson (“Suave”) Matute, Luis (“Frosty”) Mayancela, and Luis (“Scar”) Minchala – were arraigned before Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Stephanie Zaro on a seven count indictment charging each of them with one count of second-degree attempted murder, one count of first-degree gang assault, one count of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree robbery, one count of second-degree robbery and one count of second-degree assault.
Each defendant faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted, and all were ordered to return to court on July 10, 2017.
According to the charges, the 24-year-old victim was standing outside of the El Paisa bar, located at 87-05 Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights during the early morning hours of October 29, 2016, when a large group of men, including the defendants, approached him. Seven of the men – including five of the defendants Aragundi, Duy, Leon, Matute and Mayancela – allegedly began punching and stabbing the victim. Although the defendant Minchala did not participate in the assault, he later told police that he was present at the scene to oversee the assault and that he directed other gang members to assault the victim. The victim was holding a cane at the time of the assault and that too was used to beat him. The group of assailants fled the scene after the encounter, leaving the victim bleeding in front of the bar. He was transported to a local Queens hospital, where he was treated for eleven stab wounds and lacerations, including a laceration to the head and two stab wounds to the neck. He suffered additional physical damage including the possibility of permanent nerve damage to his arm, which finds him with numbness in his left arm and hand.
