By DAVID OVALLE
Miami gang leader Manuel ''Insane'' Balbin believed a young member swiped his PlayStation 2. He spared the teen's life, prosecutors say, but not before he:
• Jolted the teen's right testicle with a Taser stun gun.
• Carved gang initials into the teen's back, then used Axe deodorant spray and a lighter to torch his leg.
• Shot the teen, then 17, three times with a stolen pink-painted rifle, dressed him in a tube top and forced him to steal beer from a convenience store.
The strange torture case took another twist. Last month, agents said an inmate admitted he wrote threatening letters for Balbin -- in exchange for a bag of chips.
Balbin on Friday will decide before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Peter Lopez whether to accept a plea deal or go to trial, likely next month.
The reputed leader of Little Havana's Satan Disciples, he is charged with the 2005 attempted murder and kidnapping. Balbin's attorney, Jason Grey, calls the allegations absurd, floated by the victim, a liar who has claimed membership in two gangs.
''His word is worth nothing. What's the word of an admitted gang member worth? Nothing,'' Grey said.
Balbin, his attorney said, worked as a Miami phlebotomist. That's someone who draws blood from patients at medical labs.
He was no gang member, Grey says (S.D., as in Satan Disciples, is tattooed on Balbin's shoulder).
Balbin is accused of torturing Mario Perez, of Sweetwater, who admits he joined a loose version of the Bloods. He went by the nicknames ''Red Eyes'' and ``Feign.''
By October 2005, Perez had switched allegiance to Satan Disciples. To join, he got a ''beat down'' -- two minutes of body blows from fellow gangsters.
Prosecuting Balbin is Assistant State Attorney Frank Ledee.
According to the court file:
On the evening of Oct. 4, 2005, Perez and recruit, Mitchell Collazo, were invited to Balbin's Little Havana apartment, 1031 NW Sixth St. They planned to go drinking.
But at about 8 p.m., Balbin and two other gang members, Michael ''Nicks'' Bevans-Silva and William ''Lazy'' Artigas, tied up Perez with RCA cables. They slapped him.
''The punishment was going to start at 8:00 p.m.,'' a police report noted.
STUN GUN
The gang membrs mercilessly beat Perez, urging him to confess to stealing the PlayStation. He refused.
Balbin escalated the beat-down by stunning Perez's right testicle with a civilian-model Taser stun gun.
It got worse.
Using a rifle painted pink, Balbin shot Perez in the left ear. Still no confession. Then he shot him in the right calf.
Bloodied and scared, Perez recorded a confession into Balbin's cellphone.
SCREAMING OUT
''They were still screaming, like sometimes scream out, do this to him or carve it on his back,'' Perez testified in a 2006 court hearing. ``All I can do was stay there and take it.''
Police say Balbin carved ''S D'' on Perez's back with a knife.
Using the Axe spray and a lighter, Balbin torched Perez's left leg.
They beat him with a wooden stick.
Balbin also withdrew a vial of blood from Perez, ''as evidence for DNA that will prove that he was the one who broke into the apartment,'' according to testimony by Miami Detective Magdiel Armenteros.
When the torture stopped, the gang members blindfolded Perez, dressed him in a girl's tube top and drove him to a nearby gas station. ''He was forced to go in and steal some beer while the defendants waited outside for him with a rifle,'' Armenteros said.
The theft was an insurance policy of sorts: Their knowledge of the theft would ensure Perez didn't rat about the gang's torture.
Grey says that makes no sense.
''But what is more logical is that this was part of some gang initiation,'' Grey said at an earlier hearing.
OTHERS CONVICTED
Dumped naked in an alley, Perez used a blindfold to cover his privates and called police from a pay phone.
Shortly after the arrest, Balbin's wife, Yesenia, received probation for misdemeanor battery. She slapped Perez, investigators say.
For his role, Artigas pleaded guilty in August 2007. His state prison time is up in 2010.
Bevans-Silva risked trial in October 2007. He lost. A jury convicted him of kidnapping, and aggravated child abuse. His release date from state prison: 2035.
Balbin's trial was set for April -- the run-up was marked by oddity.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents discovered a letter last month threatening Perez's family. Inmate Nathaniel Epps admitted he copied the letter in his handwriting for a bag of potato chips.
Grey says Epps is schizophrenic.
The defense attorney also suggested Balbin trim his Rasputin-esque beard and twisty fingernails before jury selection. Heated words followed.
''He took that as an insult somehow and called me the Lucky Charms leprechaun,'' Grey said.
``It's OK. I'm sure it's nothing personal.''
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