Victim’s Brother Leads Protesters to Bensonhurst

The younger brother of Yusuf Hawkins led hundreds of supporters back to Bensonhurst on Saturday to protest the acquittal on murder charges of a white youth accused of rounding up the mob that fatally attacked Hawkins.

Up to 300 protesters set out by bus for the predominantly white Bensonhurst neighborhood where Hawkins, 16, a black, was shot to death on Aug. 23 when he went there to look at a used car.

The supporters, led by Amir Hawkins, 15, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, protested the jury verdict Friday in the case of the alleged mob leader, Keith Mondello, 19. Mondello was cleared of all murder and manslaughter counts but was convicted of lesser charges in the fatal shooting, which stirred racial tensions around the city.

“There are many people who are not going to take the Mondello verdict sitting down,” Sharpton told the crowd. “We must continue going to Bensonhurst until people know that our people can go anywhere in this nation.”