Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} For the Color of His Skin The Murder of Yusuf Hawkins and the Trial of Bensonhurst by John Desantis For the Color of His Skin: The Murder of Yusef Hawkins and the Trial of Bensonhurst. During the Reagan/Bush years, America's race relations have festered. Aided by U.S. Supreme Court rulings, federal obstruction, and presidential insensitivity, a tone was set that inevitably filtered down to the local level. On the evening of Aug. 23, 1989, one of the most highly publicized cases of bias-related violence took place when Yusuf Hawkins, an innocent African-American 16-year-old, was murdered by a gang of white thugs. His killing occurred in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, a mostly Italian-American New York City working-class community. In the months following, the impact of the incident helped elect New York City's first black mayor and was a subject of heated national interest. In a dispassionate, concise and thought-provoking book, For the Color of His Skin, John DeSantis unveils the story behind the crime and trial providing details and perspectives from a range of sources on all sides. Gotham is revealed as a city ready to split at the seams complete with a multiracial cast of characters who see the Hawkins case through the prism of their own agenda. Obviously, Yusuf Hawkins will not be racial violence's last victim. But if rationality ever prevails and Americans learn to accept each other, journalists like DeSantis will have helped. For the Color of His Skin is a book that unblinkingly points to the ugly side of our society. However, it's clear that the author was inspired by the hope that understanding racism's nature can help to end it. For the Color of His Skin: The Murder of Yusuf Hawkins and the Trial of Bensonhurt. I moved from Brooklyn to New Orleans one month before the murder of Yusuf Hawkins, a sixteen-year-old African American, by a mob of white men in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Saddened by the news of his tragic death, I thought about all of the other racially motivated assaults and deaths that had occurred in New York City during my twelve years in residence. Several made national headlines; others never even made the local news. I also understood how such a tragedy could occur “up south” in a city whose boon and bane stem from the same phenomenon—cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity. John DeSantis captures this diversity in his book, For the Color of His Skin: The Murder of Yusuf Hawkins and the Trial of Bensonhurst. In the opening pages, DeSantis describes Brooklyn as “one of the most ethnically, culturally, and economically diverse populations in the world.” In offering the reader a “thorough understanding of both sides of the controversy” surrounding young Hawkins's death, DeSantis tells us many stories at once. Bensonhurst Murder Trial: 1990. Defendants: Joseph Fama, Keith Mondello Crimes Charged: Riot, unlawful imprisonment, discrimination, murder Chief Defense Lawyers: Mondello: Stephen Murphy; Fama: David DePetris Chief Prosecutor: Paul Burns Judge: Thaddeus Owens Place: Brooklyn, Kings County, New York Date of Trial: May-June 11, 1990 Verdicts: Fama: guilty of murder in the second degree (manslaughter), guilty of riot; Mondello: not guilty of manslaughter; guilty of riot, menacing, and unlawful imprisonment Sentence: Fama: 32 and one half years to life imprisonment; Mondello: 4 terms of 1 year 4 months to 4 years to run consecutively for riot in the first degree, with consecutive 90-day sentences for each of 3 counts of unlawful imprisonment. Sentence was later modified on appeal (March 1, 1993) to allow the sentences for unlawful imprisonment to run concurrently with the other sentences. Total sentence: 5 and one-third to 16 years. Note: John Vento found guilty of lesser charges and sentenced to 4 years; other defendants either acquitted or sentenced to community service were Joseph Serrano, Charles Stressler, James Patino, and Steven Curreri. SIGNIFICANCE: This case brought national attention as a racially motivated "hate crime." The Reverend Al Sharpton led marches in protest against the killing and the justice system; and the case may have contributed to David Dinkins' victory in the New York City mayoral election over Edward Koch. Yusuf Hawkins, 16 years old, was murdered on August 23, 1989, when he and several other black friends walked down the street in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn near the corner of 68th Street and 20th Avenue. The group was menaced by a largely white gang with baseball bats. At least one in the attacking gang, Russell Gibbons, was black. Hawkins died of two bullet wounds to the chest. Racial Jealousy Leads to Murder. The killing of Yusuf Hawkins was a case of mistaken identity. Earlier that day, Gina Feliciano had taunted neighborhood boys that she was inviting black and Hispanic boyfriends to her 18th birthday party. Feliciano had a reputation for taking drugs, for numerous sexual liaisons, and for jealous conflicts with others in the Bensonhurst neighborhood. Hearing of her taunts, a group of youths ranging in age through their early 20s, mostly Italian-American, gathered at a nearby schoolyard and armed themselves with baseball bats and golf clubs. Meanwhile, Yusuf Hawkins, who lived in another New York neighborhood, accompanied three friends as one of them sought to follow up in the possible purchase of a used car that had been advertised for sale in the Bensonhurst neighborhood. Neither Hawkins nor any of his small group had ever heard of Feliciano or their assailants. When the four boys arrived near the schoolyard, looking for the address of the owner of the used car, the gathering gang assumed they were Feliciano's friends, simply because they were black. The large group stalked and then halted and threatened Hawkins and the three others. Suddenly, one in the batwielding crowd pulled out a pistol and shot Hawkins twice. When the others realized a shot had been fired, they all dispersed. Police arrived to find Hawkins bleeding to death. Police Quickly Arrest Suspects. The police immediately decided that the killing fell into the special category of bias crime, and worked quickly to round up suspects. The recognized leader of the group leading the assault was Keith Mondello, whose father was Italian and mother, a Jewish convert to Catholicism. Mondello was arrested late that night. However, as members of the local group were rounded up, several agreed that the Joey Fama, a hanger-on, had fired the gun. Fama himself disappeared for a few days as police mounted a search. They feared he might have fled to Italy. However, after hitchhiking north, he surrendered to authorities in upstate Oneonta. Others in the group were arrested and charged with complicity in the murder, although all agreed that one shooter had done the killing. Racial Tensions Boil Over. The case immediately drew national news coverage for its racial overtones. It was clear that Hawkins had been assaulted and killed because he was a black youth. The Bensonhurst neighborhood in which the killing took place was largely Italian-American, and many assumed that the neighborhood itself was on trial. The reluctance of witnesses to testify or to identify all of the members of the gang that confronted Hawkins that night probably contributed to the sense of neighborhood solidarity along racial lines. Hawkins' parents were incensed that the accused youths were released on bail, rather than held in jail. Furthermore, only a handful of those in the attacking group were ever identified, leaving most of the group free and at large in the community. The press charged that a collective "Bensonhurst amnesia" protected most of the gang. Moses Stewart, the father of Hawkins, was a member of Louis Farrakhan's wing of the Nation of Islam. He approached Reverand Al Sharpton for assistance and advice. Sharpton helped arrange Hawkins' funeral and mounted several marches to the Bensonhurst neighborhood to protest the failure of the police to bring more of the perpetrators to justice. The demonstrations and marches were met by hostility from local white youths, who jeered at the marchers. A massive police presence prevented small episodes of anger from erupting into violence. The killing took place during a hot summer, when many youths were on the street and racial tensions ran high. Furthermore, it was an election year in which incumbent white mayor Edward Koch was opposed in the Democratic primary election by David N. Dinkins. Dinkins' victory in the primary election in September 1989 has been partially attributed to the heightened political consciousness in the black community brought about by the Yusuf Hawkins case. Both mayoral candidates attended the funeral and both pleaded for calm. Reverend Jesse Jackson participated in the funeral, as did local black community leaders, contributing to the sense that the case had political overtones. Media coverage often oversimplified the case, highlighting the racial aspects. Some reports suggested that Hawkins was gunned down simply because he was black in a white neighborhood; largely black crowds chanted, "No justice, no peace!" Even peaceful demonstrators were met by white youths holding up watermelons and shouting insults, episodes caught in newspaper photos and on television. Despite such publicity, it was an exaggeration to suggest that blacks could not walk peacefully through the streets of Bensonhurst, and elitist prejudice against working class Italian- Americans appeared behind many of the criticisms of the neighborhood. However, the fact that crime against blacks, whether perpetrated by whites or by other African Americans, is rarely given much attention in the press had produced pent-up frustration with the American justice system that this case brought to the surface.