Four men who committed three hate crime assaults in response to President Barack Obama’s election victory have been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Carol B. Amon in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Ralph Nicoletti, 19, was sentenced to 108 months in prison; Bryan Garaventa, 18, was sentenced to 60 months; Michael Contreras, 19, was sentenced to 55 months; and Brian Carranza, 21, was sentenced to 70 months. The sentencing was Sept. 11.
On Nov. 4, 2008, following the announcement of President Obama’s victory in the presidential election, the defendants set out to assault African-Americans in Staten Island, N.Y, because they believed the victims had voted for the President.
Nicoletti drove the group to the Park Hill section of Staten Island, a predominantly African American neighborhood, where they encountered an African American teenager and assaulted him. Nicoletti struck the teenager with a metal pipe and Garaventa hit him with a collapsible police baton. Nicoletti then drove to the Port Richmond section of Staten Island, where the defendants assaulted an unidentified African American man, knocking him to the ground.
The third assault was against an individual whom the defendants mistakenly believed was African American.
The plan was for Contreras to hit the victim with the police baton as the defendants drove by him. Instead, Nicoletti deliberately drove his car into the victim’s body.
The victim was thrown onto the hood of the car and hit the front windshield, smashing it. The victim was seriously injured and remained in a coma for several weeks after the attack.
"It is appalling that such hateful acts of racially motivated violence continue to persist in our nation. These sentences should remind those inspired to violence by hate that they will be brought to justice," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King for the Civil Rights Division.
"We applaud the prosecutors and law enforcement agencies that participated in this investigation and prosecution. The Civil Rights Division will remain vigilant in our efforts to combat hate crimes that tear at the very fabric of our great nation and seek to undermine the progress we’ve made in advancing civil rights for all." Special to the NNPA from the St. Louis American
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