Prosecutor: Bensonhurst Youth Bragged About Killing Black Teen

NEW YORK - A defendant on trial for the murder of a black teen-ager in Bensonhurst shot at the youth four times, hitting him twice in the heart, and later bragged about the crime, a prosecutor charged yesterday.

Edward Boyar, an assistant district attorney, made the allegation as he outlined evidence against Joseph Fama, one of two defendants on trial in State Supreme Court for murdering Yusuf Hawkins, 16.

Boyar said that while Fama was in jail awaiting trial, ``Joey told another inmate that it was he who had `popped the nigger.' ''

Fama and Keith Mondello, both 19, are on trial for the second-degree murder of Hawkins and related charges. If convicted on the murder counts, each could receive 25 years to life. Five white youths are expected to be tried later in connection with the Aug. 23 slaying.

Hawkins and three other African-American youths were in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn last year in response to an ad about a used car. Unarmed, they were attacked by a mob of 30 to 40 white youths who assumed they were there to attend the party of a white female teen-ager.

Attorney David DePetris attacked the credibility of the inmate expected to testify against Fama.

Prosecutors again described what they said was a frenzied atmosphere in the hours before the attack. Boyar said Mondello, upset that a former girlfriend planned to invite Hispanic and black youths to her birthday party, organized the whites, most of them carrying baseball bats. He said Fama was in the group, armed with a .32-caliber pistol.

The shooting took place near the apartment of Gina Feliciano, the ex-girlfriend in question.

``The gang of neighborhood vigilantes fled (after the shooting),'' Boyar said. ``As they ran past Gina's apartment . . . one yelled up, `Happy birthday, Gina.' ''