No matter how many times we see or hear stories about thugs attacking the elderly it never ceases to shock us and today's addition to the genre is no different. On Sunday evening two assailants went and beat the crap out of Joseph Naimo and his 74-year-old wife, Linda, on his 81st birthday. The incident, which netted the crooks $18, has Linda in stable but critical condition at Richmond University Hospital with a fractured skull, broken nose and broken jaw.

The Naimos had been celebrating Joseph's birthday in the store they've owned for 50 years, 3J's Variety Store on Victory Boulevard, when they decided to head home around 8 p.m. Not a big deal, since home was just upstairs. But after Naimo opened the exterior entrance to their apartment a man and a woman pushed their way in and knocked them to the ground while demanding money. The Staten Island Advance has photos of the blood still on their doorstep.

"And he just kept on hittin’ and hittin’ and hittin’," Naimo told the Advance. "Finally, he stops momentarily, and he’s asking, ‘Give me the money. Give me the money. Give me the money.’ And he starts ripping me apart. He was hitting me in the chest and everything, and he ripped my pants."

When the crooks realized Joseph had only a few bucks to give, they started taking it out on Linda. The attack only stopped when the duo was pushed off by the Naimo's son Rocco, 49, who suffered a black eye defending his parents. The crooks promptly fled.

Police are offering a $12,000 reward for information on the attack. The two suspects are described by Naimo (who, on top of everything else is legally blind!) and verified by a witness who saw them running away as a tall black male around 6" in a dark-hued hooded sweatshirt and a short black female with a stocky build.