Mafia attacks Filipino cafe-owner in Lithuania

MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino photojournalist-turned-cafe-owner and his wife were hurt by Lithuanian mafia in an incident considered a racially motivated attack.

Andy Hernandez, a veteran photographer who owns 4 Asian-themed restaurants in Lithuania, told Rappler via email that a mafia boss harassed him and his wife on Friday, June 29, after insisting to be served despite arriving past closing time. 

Hernandez uploaded two videos of the exchange between him and “Mafia boss Stanislovą Narkevičių, a.k.a. Narkuša,” and before he and his wife were beaten up by 7 men who later arrived after they were called in.  

His camera phone stopped recording when it hit the floor.

 
The first video shows Narkuša — in white linen pants, alligator shoes, with gold watch and bracelet — calling his henchmen to come to Hernandez’s cafe located in the center of the historic resort town of Trakai.  

Hernandez said Narkuša started cursing him when told that the restaurant was already closed at 9 pm. Narkuša arrived at 9:30 pm.

“He started calling me derogatory remarks in Russian…’Hoy’ means prick. He called me monkey, black ass, and black face — all racist remarks,” Hernandez recounted.  

“He threatened me and Monika (his wife) bodily harm and [that] he will destroy the cafe. I told Monika to call the police when he started raising his voice and the insults [became worse].

In the second video, Monika is shown getting in between the 7 “tough looking men” and Hernandez before the phone hit the floor and stopped recording.

Hernandez said he was hit twice in the face. “I felt one of my tooth — an upper incisor — flying out.”

He was punched in the ribs while Monika, who tried to intervene again, was also punched in the face and stomach. When she started shouting and howling, a crowd gathered around. Hernandez said that, after breaking the restaurant’s glass door using the metal wine cooler, Narkuša and the 7 decided to leave.

“The police came after 30 minutes even though the station is 5 minutes away on foot,” the Filipino said.

“We go to the police station to report the incident and we are told to go to the hospital to know our physical damage. On Monday, we are to return to the police station to give our testimony,” he said, adding that none of the people who saw the incident wanted to be part of the investigation considering the reputation of Narkuša as a “criminal.”

Hernandez’s photos and videos posted on social media generated concern among his friends and relatives. 

“Racially motivated attack I guess…Economic crisis always blames the outsider,” he added when someone asked if the gang beat him up to get a monthly cut. 

Instinct

He said his instincts urged him to use his phone to record the incident.

Hernandez was a photojournalist for Newsweek magazine for 18 years, covering historic events and wars, including the Aquino assasination, the Marcos ouster, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the first Gulf War, and the Rwandan civil war.

He has settled in the Baltic country where he has been living for about a decade now with his family. He came to Lithuania on assignment as a war photographer to capture the independence movement. Monika is Lithuanian.

He currently owns 3 cafes in Vilnius, the capital, and one in Trakai where the incident happened. The Mojo Cafe serves Asian dishes, such as Tom Yum soup, Sambal Spinach, Nasi Goreng and Vietnamese salad.

Lithuania has a population of about 3 million and had wanted to join the eurozone. It was hit hard during the global financial crisis in 2009 and implemented a harsh series of austerity measures to return to growth. – Rappler.com