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Video released of gang beating
The Latin Kings taped the beating of member Alexander Perez Valdez.
By REBECCA CATALANELLO
Published September 21, 2006
TAMPA - Before Alexander Perez Valdez was beaten by his fellow brothers of the Latin Kings gang, leaders of the tribe held a trial. In newly released video from that "trial" and beating, the voice of Michael Victor Lugo can be heard warning the gang members present that loyalty means never lying. "There's no room in our nation for a liar," Lugo announces. "There is no room in our nation for deceit." In the often static-filled video, a beating begins. The crown tattoo on 23-year-old Valdez's shoulder - the mark that signifies his membership - is ordered to be removed. "This brother is no longer a King," a voice says. "Anyone caught representing with him is cut out of the nation." The video was released by a judge Wednesday in response to a motion by the St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune that it be made public and included with other public court documents associated with the case against Lugo. Lugo, 28, faces charges related to the May 20 kidnapping and beating of Valdez of Town 'N Country. Valdez became the object of the gang members' ire, apparently after issuing an order to hurt gang member Neftali Rodriguez, 25, a.k.a. "T.C. Chino," without proper authorization from gang leaders, according to the material released. The May 20 meeting was recorded surreptitiously by a prosecutors' confidential informant. In it, gang leaders accuse Valdez of having then lied about issuing the order. DeeAnn Athan, Lugo's attorney, said her client disputed Valdez's account to detectives of the May 20 events. The events on the tape differ from those Valdez shared with detectives in a tape-recorded interview on May 20. In the recorded beating, Valdez is heard whimpering and crying. In his statement to detectives, he says he told Lugo to kill him. Lugo is being held at the Orient Road Jail in lieu of $800,000 bail.
[Last modified September 21, 2006, 01:07:03]
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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