Alleged Trinitarios Member Charged In Upper East Side Attack

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Officials arraigned an alleged Trinitarios gang member who prosecutors say played a role in a brutal attack on a man in the Upper East Side two week ago, the Daily News first reported.

The Bronx teenager, Missael Alvarez, is facing charges for trying to mug a man as the victim walked to work. Prosecutors allege that Alvarez, 16, and two other young men followed the 46-year-old on East 75th Street and Lexington Avenue around 4:40 a.m. on June 18, authorities said. Police alleged Alvarez is a member of the violent New York-based Trinitarios gang.

The trio allegedly struck the man on the back of the head, threw him to the ground and stabbed him — all while demanding money. Emergency responders rushed the victim to New York Presbyterian Hospital where he received several stitches, police said.

Alvarez, who told police he came to New York from the Dominican Republic eight months ago, fled the state after the attack, but was picked up on a warrant when he returned to the city, the Daily News reported.

He was charged with first-degree attempted robbery on Friday but seemed unconcerned — staring at the ceiling in what looked like boredom at one point. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Marisol Alonso held Alvarez on a cash bail of $25,000 or a $50,000 bond, the newspaper reported.

Alvarez's next court appearance is set for July 3. No other arrests have been made in the case, police said.

Authorities say Trinitarios members were responsible for the vicious murder of 15-year-old Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, who was dragged from a bodega and stabbed with a machete and knife on June 20.

Photo courtesy of NYPD