5 Whites Face Assault Charges in N.Y. Death of Black Youth, 16

Five young white men were charged Friday with assault, riot and other offenses as members of the gang that killed a black teen-ager in a rage against interracial dating, police said.

But the man who shot Yusef Hawkins remained at large, police said. Authorities know the identity of the gunman, who was believed to still be in the city, police sources said.

Hawkins, 16, and three friends had gone to a predominantly white section of Brooklyn known as Bensonhurst on Wednesday night to try to buy a used car.

Police said they received death threats Friday against the suspects in custody and the youths wore bulletproof vests when they were moved from the 62nd Precinct station.

Among those charged Friday was Keith Mondello, 18, who police said was the youth whose troubles with a girlfriend led to the attack on the four blacks by up to 30 young men, many wielding baseball bats.

Mondello and his friends were said to be enraged that his former girlfriend had been dating black and Latino men and were trying to prevent non-whites from attending the girl’s birthday party, police said. However, Mondello’s attorney said his client was not the jilted boyfriend.

Mondello and Steven Curreri, 18; Pasquale Raucci, 19, and Charles Stressler, 21, were charged with assault, riot, aggravated harassment, violation of civil rights, menacing and possessing a weapon, a baseball bat. Mondello and Curreri also were charged with conspiracy.

James Patino, 24, the fifth person arrested, was charged later with assault, riot, aggravated harassment and violation of civil rights, said Officer Edward Feeney.