Bronx man hit with federal hate crime charges over antisemitic synagogue attack during Shabbat service

The Department of Justice announced Tuesday that Larry Montes, 46, was charged with two federal hate crime counts and one count of damaging religious property resulting in bodily injury stemming from the Aug. 14 incident at Central Synagogue in Manhattan.

According to the federal complaint, approximately 375 people were attending Friday night Shabbat services when Montes allegedly stood up and began shouting before striking and damaging two ceremonial silver candlesticks with gold accents.

When synagogue security attempted to remove him, Montes allegedly shouted, “f*ck you people” and “I don’t f*ck with you people.” Prosecutors said he then punched a female congregant with a closed fist.

Authorities alleged that as Montes was being handcuffed, he directed a racial slur at a Black security guard before spitting in the guard’s face and headbutting him near his left eye socket. Montes also allegedly threatened to return to the synagogue.

During a recorded, Mirandized interview following his arrest, Montes allegedly told investigators, “f*ck the Jews. . . . It’s racial,” and said, “I will never affiliate with no filthy f*cking synagogues, either here or in f*cking Israel.”

He also allegedly described the attack as “all a racial thing” and “all religious motivated.”

The federal charges come after a former senior producer for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign initially disputed that the attack was antisemitic. Debbie Saslaw, co-founder of the progressive video agency Melted Solids, falsely claimed on X after the attack, “Apparently this guy was an orthodox jew who was lashing out at jews. I wouldn’t call that an ‘antisemitic attack,’” according to the New York Post.

Saslaw’s firm prominently features its work for Mamdani’s campaign and has also worked with progressive politicians including Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Rep. Jamaal Bowman. Saslaw told the outlet she is no longer affiliated with Mamdani or his campaign.

Saslaw later deleted the post and acknowledged she had been mistaken. She said she had become “mixed up” about Montes’ identity after hearing information from a family member who had been at the synagogue. She subsequently acknowledged on X that the incident was a hate crime.

Mamdani himself condemned the attack, saying he was “horrified” and calling it a “despicable act,” while pledging that his administration would work to keep Jewish New Yorkers safe.

“These charges serve as notice that the Department of Justice will intervene to protect the public in the face of antisemitic and racially motivated attacks,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said in a statement. “Americans’ fundamental right to worship without fear of bias-motivated violence is sacrosanct and must be protected at all costs.”

US Attorney Jamie McDonald said Montes allegedly “disrupted worship, struck a congregant, damaged synagogue property, and spat on and headbutted a security guard.”

“An attack on a house of worship is an attack on the fundamental right to practice one’s faith safely,” McDonald said.

Montes remains in state custody and is expected to appear in Manhattan federal court at a later date. Each federal hate crime charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, while the charge of damaging religious property resulting in bodily injury carries a maximum penalty of 20 years.