Over the weekend, New York's radio station, Hot 97 took to their twitter account to announce that they've fired their long time employee, Paddy Duke.
"After watching HBO's Storm over Brooklyn, HOT97 was shocked and took swift action. Paddy Duke is no longer employed by HOT97. The march for social justice continues." says Hot 97.
An HBO documentary "Storm Over Brooklyn", highlights the 1989 murder of Yusef Hawkins, a 16-year-old boy who was considered a leader amongst his peers and had dreams of possibly becoming an engineer.
Hawkins and three other black boys were in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn inquiring about a used 1982 Pontiac that was advertised in the newspaper for $900. Shortly after, Hawkins and his company were being followed by a group of 10 white men, then grew to 30 men. Some held bats while yelling racial slurs at the group, “Let’s club the n*ggers!” Guns were fired and Hawkins was shot twice in the chest and pronounced dead at the hospital.
Former Hot 97 employee, Pasquale Raucci, known as Paddy Duke was apart of the mob of white men who crowded Hawkins and the three other black teens while in Bensonhurst, a predominantly Italian-American section of Brooklyn. The mob thought they were part of a different group of Black teens headed to a party at the home of a local girl in which the mob believed had begun dating a Black man.
Five members of the mob were arrested in connection with Hawkins’ murder, including Duke. However, he was found not guilty of manslaughter or second-degree murder. Duke was convicted on eight lesser counts and sentenced to three years probation and a $200 fine.
Sources show that Paddy Duke has been a producer and DJ at the New York radio station between 1994-2003 before becoming the commercial production director. Now people are concerned on the station’s hiring of Duke as well as whether knowledge of his prior crimes had been known by execs who’d given him a job.
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