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A terrible, brutal robbery on Staten Island: A group of teenagers beat a man to death for $60 on Saturday night. Richard Salinas, a 33 year old father of two, was headed out to buy a phone card for his wife when teens John Messiha, Daniel Betancourt and Travis King attacked him on Van Pelt Avenue. The three teens were charged with crime. One neighbor in Mariners Harbor told the Daily News, "I've lived here 27 years and nothing like this has ever happened."
Salinas had moved from Mexico eight years ago, working his way up from busboy to head chef at the International House of Pancakes on Richmond Avenue. His coworkers said he worked 100 hours a week, and his boss Jhong Kim closed the restaurant yesterday in Salinas's honor. Kim also said he would match the donations coworkers were raising for burial expenses. The public can also call and make a donation - (718) 494-4467.
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A tragedy for this hard working man and his family. I love how one person saying nothing like this has happened before has the media saying that Mariners Harbor is safe. Take a look at realtor.com and see how cheap houses are. Cheap housing in NYC always means one thing... It is not a safe neighborhood.
Anyone out there have any socioeconomic excuses for why these teenage thugs did this? Any?
We really should have alternatives forms of punishment. Everything these guys own and will ever earn in or out of jail (you know they'll get out) should be dedicated to the Salinas family until the widow dies and the kids are put through college.
Mariner's Harbor is right next to where my parents' live, and it's neither a typically "safe" nor an "unsafe" neighborhood. It's fairly heavily ethnic, for Staten Island, and there's far more crime than the parts of the borough typically thought of when non-native New Yorkers hear "Staten Island." However, it's nowhere near the level of an East New York or a Highbridge, but the smaller amount of people on the street make it a bit scary sometimes.
I always hear no opportunity, nothing to do, parents don't care or try to get involved or even model and/or support these activities.
Continually it seems the lack of opportunity. Middle and upper class kids take classes, go to camp, go on vacation, have their own tvs/video games/computers.
Essentially this is a result of the ever widening class difference.
"Lack of opportunity"?? BARF. Compare that to the victim, who left Mexico, learned English, and worked his way up through an IHOP kitchen, probably working 12+ hour shifts. He was most likely far poorer, far less educated, and had far less opportunity than his pathetic assailants, yet he did something with his life. Luckily it looks like they'll charge them as adults....hopefully with 2nd-deg. murder rather than manslaughter.
those goddamn kids should be hung, end of story and the parents who raised (or didn't raise them) should be prohibited from having children ever again. what the hell is going in this fucked up country where kids are committing heinous crimes usually only perpetrated by drug addicts and serial killers? I cant wait to leave this country, through death or other means.
Wow, john, that last line really intensified the bitterness nicely. Entertaining comment! I am left hungry for more.
I have an idea: deport these kids to mexico to serve their time. I know they're american, and probably don't speak spanish. So what. When they're out (assuming they survive), they can try to get back in to this country and work their way back to their families.
I agree with Jimbo..
turn the tables.
"Lack of opportunity"?? is not an excuse. I was and still poor. I'm not an axxhxxx.
This is just terrible. What a frigging waste. It sounds like these kids did it on a lark. How can you be so hateful and heartless at 17?
How can you be so hateful and heartless at 17?
By not having parent's who are properly involved in their lives.
These kids will get a slap on the wrist. Just watch. They'll probably get 7 years, and out in 1. They will be put back in the same society that taught them their anti-social behaviour, and the cycle continues.
I know these kids. Especially Daniel. He has been involved in the church, athletics, is Hispanic himself, and is an overall good kid who made a terrible mistake. There is nothing wrong with their parents. I know Daniels mom raised her children to the best of her ability, and she is suffering just as much as the Salinas family. She lost as well. The kids all made a poor choice that resulted in a terrible tragedy. No one should be hung, nor should any more lives be taken. People are so quick to judge and so eager to seek revenge. Life is about choices. They all made one, and now the courts will decide how to proceed. All we should do is pray. Pray for the loss of a husband and father. Pray for the loss of three children and their futures. Pray for the loss of the parents and families of the children. In times like these, people need to stick together on both sides, and hope that the future will learn from it. Having hate in your heart leads to more hate. And thats what the children of this generation see. Break the cycle.