4 NY men get prison terms for attacking blacks on election night after Obama victory
By APThursday, September 10, 2009
4 sentenced in NY election night attacks on blacks
NEW YORK — The white instigator of a New York City election night rampage against black people in retaliation for President Barack Obama’s victory has been sentenced to prison for nine years.
A federal judge in Brooklyn also on Thursday gave two other white defendants and one Hispanic defendant prison terms ranging from about 4 1/2 years to nearly six years.
In a guilty plea earlier this year, ringleader Michael Nicoletti said he and the other defendants grew angry while monitoring election returns on the Internet at a makeshift clubhouse. He said they decided that if Obama won they would “go after black people” they assumed had voted for the Illinois Democrat.
The 2008 bias attacks on Staten Island left one victim in a coma.
