5 ANGRY MEN
Jogger fall guys rip Donald Hit 1989 ‘execution’ ad
DONALD TRUMP won’t have the Central Park Five’s vote.
Three members of the quintet that served between six and 13 years in prison for the rape of a Central Park jogger in 1989 told the Daily News Monday they are aghast the blowhard billionaire — who actually called for their execution when they were just teens — is now the leading Republican candidate for President.
Raymond Santana, who got $7.125 million from the city last year for his time behind bars, said Trump’s meddling in the notorious case demonstrates he’s unfit for the White House.
“It shows his character,” Santana said.
“When he speaks about the Fox News host (Megyn Kelly) bleeding, Mexicans — and even us — to make these mistakes and not apologize, it shows no compassion.”
In 1989, Trump took out an advertisement in The News at the height of the jogger case blaring, “Bring back the death penalty! Bring back our police!”
At the time of the attack, the suspects — Santana, Yusef Salaam, Kevin Richardson, Korey Wise and Antron McCray — were 14 to 16 years old.
“I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes,” Trump wrote in the ad.
Salaam said Trump’s scathing rant opened the door to vicious threats at a time when the teens were already completely overwhelmed.
“It gave way to a lot of other voices that came forward and said, ‘Hang Korey from a tree in Central Park. Take the others and horsewhip them,’ ” Salaam said.
In 2002, the five had their convictions vacated after career criminal Matias Reyes confessed to the crime and insisted he acted alone.
Last year, the city settled a civil suit stemming from the five’s incarceration for $41 million.
Mayor de Blasio said he had “a moral obligation to right this injustice.” Trump was disgusted. He wrote in The News at the time of the announcement that the settlement was a “disgrace” and “These young men do not exactly have the pasts of angels.”
On Monday, Trump had no regrets. “They should be very thankful I wasn’t mayor because
they wouldn’t have gotten a dime,” he said.
“They owe the taxpayers of the City of New York an apology for taking money out of their pockets like candy from a baby.”
He recalled numerous details about the controversial case, correctly pointing out that detectives on the case and the Bloomberg administration wanted to go to trial.
He noted that the