NYC suspects nabbed in vicious beating of Ray’s Candy Store owner, 90
Two men were arrested in the brutal beating and attempted robbery of the elderly owner of Ray’s Candy Shop in the East Village, police and sources Saturday.
Luis Peroza, 39, and Gerald Barth, 55, were arrested in the sadistic smackdown of the unsuspecting Ray Alvarez, 90, whose injuries were so severe he now has to eat through a straw, he told The Post.
Authorities believe Barth and Peroza, also of the East Village, ran amok in the neighborhood and their spree included Alvarez’ Avenue A shop, the sources said.
Barth, who is no stranger to law enforcement, was arrested Wednesday in connection to the attempted robbery of Alvarez, along with robbery in another incident, sources said.
Peroza was busted and charged with assault Friday, the NYPD announced, hours before he was brought out of the 9th Precinct stationhouse on East 5th Street.
Peroza, dressed in a black hat, dark blue jacket and black pants with red stripes with his hands cuffed behind his back, looked straight ahead and ignored most questions shouted out by reporters.
“Did you do it?” one yelled as Peroza was brought to a black car.
“No,” he replied.
Peroza and Barth allegedly approached one victim, 33, on Avenue C just after 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, and clocked their prey in the head after he refused a demand for money, the sources said.
The thugs ran off empty-handed, the sources said.
Hours later, at 6:20 p.m., Barth allegedly struck a 51-year-old in the head on Avenue B with an unknown object — possibly a rock in a sock — after the victim declined his request for a cigarette, the sources said. Barth made off with that victim’s cellphone.
Barth allegedly pointed a finger at Peroza as the muscle in the unhinged incidents, the sources said.
Candy Store owner Alvarez was randomly attacked around 3 a.m. Tuesday by a stranger who asked him if he wanted to buy a package the stranger was carrying, cops said.
When Alvarez asked what was inside the box, the perp handed it off to another man — and threatened to kill the elderly man, police said.
“They had soda. They wanted to sell it to me. I said no. One punched my head and my chest. One-handed [the soda] to the other guy, ‘Hold this, I’m going to kill this guy,’” Alvarez recalled Thursday, adding, “I couldn’t believe it.”
The resilient store owner suffered broken bones in his face had his jaw dislocated in the attack and is only able to eat through a straw. He fumed the beating never would’ve happened if there were more cops patrolling the neighborhood.