A homeless career criminal with more than 90 previous arrests was busted in a race-hate attack in Queens last week, cops said.
Suspect Ramon Castro, 55, had been released from custody after two burglaries in June thanks to bail-reform laws — only to end up arrested again Thursday morning for the July 6 bias attack on a 34-year-old man in Jackson Heights, authorities said.
During his latest alleged crime, Castro had gotten into a spat with his victim around 3:10 a.m. and at one point snarled, “I hate Latinos and f—-t people!” according to cops and prosecutors.
Then he slashed the victim in the face with a wooden stake, cutting his cheek, according to prosecutors.
The victim was taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where he required eight stitches on the outside of his cheek and eight stitches on the inside, prosecutors said.
When cops interviewed Castro, he said, “Homosexuals are OK, but not when you’re an adult,” according to a criminal complaint.
Castro was charged with assault, menacing and aggravated harassment, all as hate crimes.
He was ordered held on $250,003 bail, city corrections records show.
Police said he had been arrested more than 90 times in the past, including in late June, when he was busted for allegedly burglarizing a nightclub, where he stole an ATM machine, and burglarizing a bar, according to criminal complaints.
A rep with the Queens District Attorney’s Office said Castro was released without bail on both charges of third-degree burglary. A source familiar with the matter said the move was thanks to bail-reform laws that prevented the judge from requiring bail.
Queens DA Melinda Katz said of the hate crime in a statement, “I will not tolerate those who target others because of their ethnicity or who they love.
“We are better than that. Queens prides itself on being part of a City that holds accountable those who think they can divide us. Not here.”
Additional reporting by Sam Raskin