Eight Arrested in Attack on Homeless

NEW YORK — Eight people were under arrest Monday in a Halloween rampage by a masked gang that attacked homeless people on a desolate island off Manhattan.

The defendants made incriminating videotaped statements placing themselves at the scene of the brutal crime and pinning the actual killing on an 18-year-old male, whose name was not immediately released, said a police source.

That 18-year-old defendant, who was arrested early Monday, also made a videotaped statement about killing on Wards Island, the source said.

“They put themselves there, but they never actually do the killing. Everybody puts it on him,” the source said.

A ninth youth was being sought in the attack by assailants who wore Halloween masks, wielded a meat cleaver, vacuum cleaner parts and broken bottles and shouted “trick or treat” before setting upon their victims.