Two Acquitted in Slaying of Black Youth in New York : Race: White men had been accused of taking part in the murder of Yusuf Hawkins in a mob attack. One is convicted of a weapons charge.

Two white men were acquitted of murder Tuesday in the racially motivated slaying of a black teen-ager in a mob attack last year in the city’s Bensonhurst section.

The jury took just four hours to return the verdicts for James Patino and Joseph Serrano after a two-week trial. The two smiled as the verdicts were read, hugged their lawyer and then embraced in a state court in Brooklyn.

The verdict makes Patino the first defendant in the case to be cleared of all charges.

“I feel great, and my lawyer’s wonderful,” Patino, 25, said outside the courthouse. “I’m glad everything’s over.”

“I’m sorry for what happened to Yusuf Hawkins, but I had nothing to do with it,” said Serrano, 21, after the verdict. “I was confident. I was secure in my innocence.”

Both defendants had been accused of murder, manslaughter, riot, discrimination and other charges in the attack that resulted in the death of Hawkins, who was shot in the mostly white Brooklyn neighborhood on Aug. 23, 1989.

Patino was found not guilty of all the crimes. Serrano was convicted of a misdemeanor weapons possession charge that is punishable by up to a year in prison.

Hawkins’ killing was the most serious racial incident in the city since the 1986 killing of a 23-year-old black man in Howard Beach. In that confrontation, the victim was killed by a car after a mob of whites chased him onto a highway.

Hawkins, 16, was slain when he and three friends--all black teen-agers--went to Bensonhurst to look at a used car. The unarmed youths attracted the attention of a mob of as many as 30 bat-wielding whites looking for a fight.

Also Tuesday, another jury heard closing arguments in the retrial of Bensonhurst defendant John Vento. He is being retried for murder, manslaughter and riot after his first trial ended in a hung jury.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Paul Burns said that Vento was “an active recruiter” and “one of the leaders of the mob.”

“Joseph Fama, acting by himself, could never have committed this crime,” Burns said, referring to the man convicted of murdering Hawkins.

But defense lawyer Gerald J. DiChiara said Fama acted alone in the shooting and said Vento had nothing to do with it.

Fama was convicted of pulling a pistol and firing several shots through Hawkins’ chest. The mob scattered without pausing to aid the victim or telephone police.

Prosecutors did not charge Serrano and Patino with shooting Hawkins but alleged that they acted in concert with Fama and shared responsibility for the slaying.

Several other defendants are scheduled to stand trial early next year, including Charles Stressler, whose first case ended in a mistrial.