Qns. Satanist Catches Hell
Daily News 12 January 2005
By Tamer El-Ghobashy, Scott Shifrel and Tony Sclafani
A blue-haired, Satan-loving man was pummeled with a metal pipe by a pair of God-fearing thugs as he strolled down a quiet Queens street, authorities said yesterday.
“Yo, Satan!” the hoodlums screamed before unleashing a hellish attack on 20-year-old Daniel Romano in Maspeth on Sunday, cops said.
Paul Rotondi and Frank Scarpinito, both 18, allegedly pounced on Romano, who wears black nail polish and an inverted crucifix symbolizing his rejection of Jesus, as he walked to meet his mother at a laundromat. “They spread rumors around the neighborhood that I eat babies and go down to the docks, pick up hookers and kill them,” Romano told the Daily News. “Ignorance often costs a lot of people their lives.”
Romano, who suffered a gash to his head and a few bruises, claimed to be a member of the Manhattan-based Church of Satan, a nonreligious group that has thousands of members. But the controversial group’s head “priest” told The News that Romano was lying. Nevertheless, prosecutors said Romano’s satanic beliefs are enough to justify charging his alleged attackers with a hate crime.
“They attacked this guy because they believe him to be a Satan-worshipper,” Queens Assistant District Attorney George Farrugia said outside court. “They’ve had it in for this kid.” NYPD investigators said Rotondi and Scarpinito harassed Romano for more than a month before hunting him down on 72nd St. about 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Jumping out of a Volkswagen Jetta, the pair allegedly bashed Romano in the head with a pipe and beat him with an ice scraper. Rotondi, who is home-schooled because he is claustrophobic, denied the charges to cops. “You are going to find my prints on there,” he told cops at the 104th Precinct stationhouse, referring to the pipe. But then he insisted, “I did not hit anyone with it,” authorities said.
Rotondi and Scarpinito, both of Queens, were arraigned on charges of second-degree assault as a hate crime. The teens pleaded not guilty and were being held on $5,000 bail. They face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
After the hearing, Rotondi’s attorney, Sean McNicholas, ridiculed the hate crime charges. “This is an abuse of the hate crime law,” he said. “What’s next-the nerds, the preppies…? Where are you going to draw the line?”
Safe inside his mom’s Middle Village home, Romano said he will continue studying “The Satanic Bible” and hopes to become a leader in the Church of Satan. But Peter Gilmore, head priest of the Church of Satan, wants nothing to do with Romano. “He’s totally lying and he’s just pulling the police’s leg,” said Gilmore, adding that his church promotes individual power and does not advocate breaking the law. “We generally laugh at people who walk around with black nail polish,” he said.
