Final Defendant Pleads Guilty to Anti-Obama Assaults

The U.S. Department of Justice reports in its press release (quotation, not an independent finding): “WASHINGTON - Ralph Nicoletti pleaded guilty in Brooklyn, N.Y., federal court today before U.S. District Judge Carol B. Amon to committing three assaults targeting African-American residents in Staten Island, N.Y., on the night of President Barack Obama’s election victory. Nicoletti was the last of four defendants to plead guilty in the federal prosecution stemming from the attacks. The other three defendants – Bryan Garaventa, Michael Contreras and Brian Carranza – previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit the hate crime assaults and each face sentences of up to 10 years in prison. As part of his plea, Nicoletti has agreed to a sentence of 12 years, subject to the court’s approval. The guilty plea was announced by Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; Benton J. Campbell, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Joseph M. Demarest, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, FBI, New York Field Office; and Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department. At the plea proceeding, Nicoletti admitted that on Nov. 4, 2008, the night of the presidential election, the defendants decided to assault African-Americans in Staten Island after President Obama was declared the winner of the election. The defendants targeted African-Americans believing that they had voted for President Obama. Nicoletti drove the group to the Park Hill section of Staten Island, a predominantly African-American neighborhood, where they came upon an African-American teenager and assaulted him. Nicoletti struck the teena”