The lowlife who viciously pummeled the beloved 91-year-old owner of Ray’s Candy Store outside the East Village landmark didn’t bother apologizing for the attack during his sentencing Wednesday.
Luis Peroza, 40, had few words when asked by a Manhattan Supreme Court judge whether he wanted to address the court before being sentenced to 10-years behind bars for randomly socking Ray Alvarez, the beloved owner of the candy shop, and two other men on Jan. 31, 2023.
“I’m alright,” muttered Peroza, whose attack on Alvarez left the elderly sweets peddler bruised and battered with several broken bones, forcing him to eat through a straw.
“Alright, Mr. Peroza. Good luck,” Judge Maxwell Wiley said before Peroza, wearing a tan prison jumpsuit, shuffled out of court in handcuffs.
Peroza pleaded guilty to assault in the first degree in December after slugging Alvarez and two others in an East Village crime spree.
The attack on the Ray’s Candy Store owner was just Peroza’s first stop on his night of terror.
Just 35 minutes after beating Alvarez, the ne’er-do-well demanded money from a 33-year-old man at an Avenue C deli. But when the victim told him he had no cash, Peroza socked the man with a hard object face, breaking his orbital bone, prosecutors have said.
Several hours later, Peroza continued his rampage by attacking another man in the head with a hard object, causing lacerations to the face and head, and knocking out a tooth, according to prosecutors.
A second suspect in the attacks, Gerald Barth, was found unfit to stand trial in June 2023 — and was transferred from Rikers Island into custody with the state’s Office of Mental Health.
Meanwhile, Alvarez, who opened Ray’s Candy Store in 1974, told The Post at the time he feared for his life when he was struck with a “belt with a stone on one end.”
“I went down, bleeding,” Alvarez said. “I thought, I’m never going to make it. He hit me in a very bad spot. I just want to lay down.”
The tough-as-nails owner said he was back at it in the morning, continuing to dish his famous egg creams and sweets because he had an ice cream delivery.
“I’m here 49 years. I had one day off,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez said he suffered three broken bones and a dislocated jaw from the attack — requiring him to drink and eat through a straw.
“Luis Peroza has been held accountable for viciously assaulting three individuals in just one day,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
“I hope that this sentencing can bring a sense of justice and relief for each of the victims,” Bragg said.
