Murder of Yusef Hawkins

The group's attackers had been lying in wait for black youths that were expected to attend a party at the home of a teenage girl in the neighborhood.

[6] Hawkins and his friends walked onto the ambushers' block unaware that local residents were waiting to attack any group of black youths they saw.

The incident uncorked a torrent of racial tension in New York City in the ensuing days and weeks, culminating in a series of protest marches through the neighborhood led by the Reverend Al Sharpton.

A fourth man, Joseph Serrano, was convicted on the charge of unlawfully possessing a weapon and sentenced to 300 hours of community service on January 11, 1991.

[12] Riccardi was convicted of first-degree assault and sentenced to 5 to 15 years in prison, despite a plea for leniency by Sharpton himself, who believed that distorted news coverage of his activities had influenced his attacker.

In 2005, former Gambino crime family member and mob informer Joseph D'Angelo admitted that the group behind Hawkins' murder was there on his orders to attack any blacks who entered the neighborhood.