They’re going to burn in hell.
Three godless thugs stole a churchgoing Bronx man’s Bible during a vicious beating and robbery captured on chilling surveillance video released by the NYPD yesterday.
The terrified, 64-year-old victim is seen being mercilessly punched and kicked as he tries desperately to cling to his cherished holy book during the Aug. 8 ambush in his apartment building on Creston Avenue in Fordham Heights.
“I go to church every Sunday,” said the shaken man, a Dominican immigrant whose name is being withheld by The Post.
He added that he had actually said “hello” to his attackers as a friendly gesture when he passed them minutes earlier on the street.
A devout Catholic, the man was assaulted while returning home at around 2 a.m. after working the late shift cleaning commercial buildings in Midtown. He was wearing a suit because he had attended Mass earlier that day.
“I opened the first gate [to the building], and one of [the thugs] held the door for his two friends. He opened the second door, and they just followed behind me,” the man said.
The video shows the first goon suddenly grabbing the victim from behind by the neck and tossing him to the ground. The other two punks then charge into the lobby and join in bashing him.
“I tried to get to the elevator door because there is a camera, and I was hoping it would pick up their faces,” the quick-thinking victim said.
The thugs can be seen then wrestling the man’s Bible and other belongings from him before fleeing.
Asked why he thought they took his Bible, the victim replied, “I guess maybe they thought that’s where I hid my money.”
The creeps also made off with his cellphone, Best Buy and Sears credit cards, driver’s license and work ID, as well as $60 in cash.
“They tore off my back pocket so they could get to my wallet,” he said.
A neighbor, Elvira Sanchez, who walked into the building seconds after the attack, said the stunned man “was screaming, ‘They robbed me!’ ”
Residents described the victim as a hardworking father of two children who live in Florida. They said he was ready to retire but has been terrified about going out since the attack.
He told The Post his ordeal hadn’t shaken his faith.
“God is always with me,” he said.
Still, he and other residents said they were terrified of the gang of toughs who hang out at the nearby 182nd Street and Grand Concourse subway station and follow victims home.
The same gang struck at least two other times.
On July 23, two thugs attacked a 33-year-old man at Creston Ave nue and East 181st Street — grabbing him by the throat and beating him before fleeing with $40 in cash, a cellphone and other items.
On Aug. 3, a gang of eight punks beat a 26-year-old man in a similar robbery at the same spot.
Additional reporting by Angel Chevrestt, Jennifer Bain and Jamie Schram