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SI Election Night Hate Crime Gang Sentenced For Up to 9 Years
By
Billy Parker
Published Sep 10, 2009
Modified Sep 11, 2009
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By
Billy Parker
Published Sep 10, 2009
Modified Sep 11, 2009
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The gang of young men who were so incensed by last year's victory for President Obama that they "decided to go after black people" were sentenced today for their two separate Election Night attacks. The four Staten Islanders, known as the Rosebank Krew will now spend the four years of Obama's term behind bars. Three of them received sentences hovering around five years and one got a stiffer nine years for beating up a 17-year-old Liberian immigrant and putting a white man they believed to be black in a coma for weeks after running over him with a car. 19-year-old Ralph Nicoletti (pictured) received the 9-year sentence; he has had a rap sheet since he was 14 and at one point point attacked Michael Contreras because he thought Contreras was the snitch. (Nicoletti said he had become "upset" because Contreras repeatedly tried to sell him drugs.) Nicoletti believed he deserved a lighter sentence for cooperating, but a judge disagreed, saying his crimes were "perpetrated by pure hate that was born out of ignorance."
Tagged
bryan garaventa
election night
hate crime
michael contreras
ralph nicoletti
sentencing
staten island
teenagers
Billy Parker
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