A brutal crime against an innocent victim occurs in New York once more today.
The proprietor of Ray’s Candy Store in the East Village, Ray Alvarez, 90, was savagely attacked by thugs on Tuesday and left with a black and swollen eye, a cut on his face, and other injuries. Alvarez returned to work the following morning despite the assault.
Alvarez, an Iranian-American who was born in the US and opened Ray’s in 1974, immigrated here in 1964 to live the American Dream. Because of the store’s fame, Wikipedia maintains an entry for it.
The New York Post reports:
The brutal assault on Tuesday left Ray Alvarez with a black eye and a severe cut on his face, but he claims it would never have happened if there were more police officers patrolling the area, which other neighbors say has become more dangerous.
Alvarez told The Post on Thursday, “There is a lot of crime because there aren’t enough cops.” Police used to monitor the area on foot, going up and down. No more.
According to police, a stranger who asked the East Village veteran if he wanted to buy a package he was carrying randomly attacked him at about 3 a.m. on Tuesday.
The surrounding business owners are concerned about the city’s rising crime rate.
The Post continues:
It is a sign of the neighborhood’s declining quality of life, according to locals and business owners.
Joe Ali, the owner of the adjoining East Village New Deli, remarked, “No safety.” This is bad. This results from defunding the cops and other s-t of this nature. It is absurd.
The situation is “becoming worse and worse,” Ali continued.
He told The Post, “I anticipated the administration to do a better job, but they’re not doing it. “The next day, you’re going to come out. You can steal, you can stab, you can do anything.”
The attack on Alvarez, according to longtime resident Lori Solomon, was “simply horrible.”
“I have no idea what to say. She added, “I don’t know where this person’s humanity is. There is no excuse for doing this to anyone, so why not a 90-year-old man?
Two suspects have been detained, according to a police announcement made on Saturday that included video footage of the assailants. Ray Alvarez, 90, who was the victim of a vicious beating and whose injuries were so serious he now needs to eat via a straw, told The Post, that Luis Peroza, 39, and Gerald Barth, 55, were detained. According to the sources, Barth and Peroza, who are both from the East Village, are believed to have been involved in a crime spree that included Alvarez Avenue A shop.
