On the evening of August 23, 1989, sixteen-year-old Yusef Hawkins went from East New York to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, with his younger brother and two friends to look at a used 1982 Pontiac. A mob of about 10 to 30 white youths, many armed with baseball bats, had gathered in Bensonhurst expecting a different group and confronted the teenagers. Hawkins was shot twice in the chest during the attack and later died of his wounds.

Police arrested several people and eight men were charged in connection with the incident. Joseph Fama was identified as the shooter and on May 17, 1990, was convicted of second-degree murder. Keith Mondello, described as a ringleader who incited the mob, was acquitted of murder and manslaughter but convicted the next day on multiple lesser charges including riot, menacing, discrimination, and unlawful imprisonment; he received a five and a third to sixteen year sentence. Fama was sentenced to 32 and a third years to life; other participants received convictions on lesser counts.

Does anyone have information about the young men who were with Hawkins that night or recall details from the Bensonhurst protests?