STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Spending time with each other, as well as their vast network of friends, was something that brothers Joshua Mendez, 26, and Jose Pazos, 27, often did as popular young people who were frequently on the go.

It was no surprise that the New Brighton siblings decided to take Mendez’s beloved hot rod for a drive with close friend Raymond Irizarry, 25, early on Sunday morning.

That drive ended in a single-car crash on the New Jersey-bound Staten Island Expressway just before 4:20 a.m. that cost all three men their lives .

“They just always looked out for each other,” close friend Julia Cruz recalled. “Jose always was like, ‘No, I’m not leaving my brother.’”

Friends and family described Mendez and Pazos as inseparable, with Pazos rarely leaving his younger brother’s sid

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