murder

Straight Teen Anthony Collao Gay Bashed To Death In Queens

As if Queens needed another vicious anti-gay attack on its hands comes word that 18-year-old Anthony Collao, a recent high school grad, was beaten and stomped to death at a friend’s birthday party Saturday night by a foursome screaming anti-gay slurs. Collao, meanwhile, was straight; he had a girlfriend. The party was thrown by two gay men.

Alex Velez, 16, and Nolis Ogando, Christopher Lozada, and Luis Tabales, all 17, were arrested soon after the attack and charged with manslaughter and assault. And no wonder: Lozada was wearing Collao’s Atlanta Braves hat, while the others were covered in blood.

They came uninvited to the Woodhaven party – advertised on Facebook – and refused to pay a $7 cover charge. They stormed the 90th St. home, busting windows and picking fights, witnesses said. The party was held in an abandoned home without electricity, lawyers for the suspects said. The crashers flashed gang signs, yelled anti-gay slurs and scrawled epithets in red marker on the walls, the two party hosts said. “They called us homos and all kinds of stuff,” said one of the men,who was celebrating his 20thbirthday. Sensing trouble, Collao left with a friend and was chased, sources said. The gang caught him, pinned him against a car and “beat him to within an inch of his life,” a source said. He was kicked and punched. Velez carried a pipe, sources said. Collao was on life support until Monday.

And now he is dead.

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