Hot 97 no longer employes Pasquale Raucci, having cut ties with "Paddy Duke" following the release of HBO's documentary Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn, in which Raucci is accused of being among the group of white men responsible for the murder of Yusuf Hawkins.
"After watching HBO's Storm over Brooklyn, HOT97 was shocked and took swift action. Paddy Duke is no longer employed by HOT97," the station wrote in a statement on Twitter. "The march for social justice continues."
Hawkins, 16 at the time, joined three friends on a trip to Bensonhurst, to inquire about a 1982 Pontiac on sale. When the group arrived, they were ambushed by a group of white men who suspected one of the black boys in the group to be dating a white friend of theirs. Hawkins was fatally shot.
Raucci was cleared of murder charges, but was convicted on a lesser count. Five years later, he began working at Hot97, according to his LinkedIn page.
Yusuf Hawkins: Storm Over Brooklyn was directed by Muta'Ali Muhammad. Hawkins was killed in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Aug. 23, 1989. Al Sharpton led a series of protests in Brooklyn following lenient sentences given to the group of white men responsible.
[Via]