New York City’s radio station Hot 97 has fired longtime employee DJ Paddy Duke after the HBO documentary Storm Over Brooklyn revealed his involvement in the murder of Yusef Hawkins.
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According to HipHopDX, Pasquale “Paddy Duke” Raucci had ties to the group of white men who targeted and killed 16-year-old Yusef Hawkins in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn on August 23, 1989. Hawkins and his friends traveled from their East New York neighborhood to shop for a car when more than 30 men charged at them with weapons. One of the men, Joseph Fama, fatally shot Hawkins in the chest twice. The group’s leader, Keith Mondello assumed Hawkins was friends with his ex-girlfriend Gina Feliciano who lived in the neighborhood but this was proven to be untrue since Hawkins didn’t know anyone in the neighborhood.
Raucci along with the 30 men was arrested for their involvement in the teen’s murder but he was later acquitted of murder and manslaughter. A judge convicted him of three counts of unlawful imprisonment, four counts of menacing and one count of criminal possession of a weapon in 1991. Five years later, Raucci worked as a DJ at Hot 97 and later became an executive. The radio station revealed on Instagram that Raucci was immediately fired after learning about his past. It reads, “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.”
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Although Raucci was fired for his involvement in the 1989 murder, social media caught wind of his employment after the documentary premiered this week.