Hot 97 on Sunday fired an employee of 20 years after learning he was part of a mob of racists that killed Yusuf Hawkins in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY in 1989.
Pasquale “Paddy Duke” Raucci was identified as one of the youths in the mob, according to the HBO documentary Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn.
Hot 97 announced it was “shocked” to learn of Raucci’s part in Hawkins’ death after watching the documentary.
The station announced Raucci’s termination in a tweet on Sunday.
After watching HBO's Storm over Brooklyn, HOT97 was shocked and took swift action. Paddy Duke is no longer employed by HOT97. The march for social justice continues. (Getty Images: Spencer Platt / Staff) pic.twitter.com/pDyyebjalJ
— HOT 97 (@HOT97) August 23, 2020
Raucci was employed by Emmis Communications in 1994 and worked with DJ Angie Martinez during her time at the radio station. Martinez and Raucci are pictured above in an undated video still.
Hawkins, 16, was walking with three friends in Bensonhurst on Aug. 23, 1989, when they were ambushed by a group of about 30 Italian-American men and teens who demanded to know whether he was dating a neighborhood girl.
Hawkins, who was Black, was in the neighborhood with his friends to inquire about purchasing a used 1982 Pontiac automobile.
He was chased and beaten by men wielding baseball bats. One man, armed with a gun, shot Hawkins in the chest when he tried to defend himself.
Joseph Fama, the 19-year-old man who fired the shot that killed Hawkins, was convicted of second-degree murder in 1990 and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison.
Fama is not eligible for parole until 2022, when he will be 50 years old.
