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Updated 09/10/2009 08:57 PM

S.I. Bias Attackers Sentenced To Prison

By: NY1 News

Four Staten Island men who pleaded guilty to a series of bias attacks in the borough last Election Day were sentenced to prison in a Brooklyn federal court Thursday.

Ralph Nicoletti will serve the longest prison sentence of nine years.
Brian Carranza will serve nearly six years, Bryan Garaventa will serve five years and Michael Contreras will serve four-and-a-half years.

The four men, aged between 18 to 21, pleaded guilty to beating Ali Kamara, a 17-year-old Liberian immigrant, and pushing another black man to the ground in Park Hill.

Nicoletti then drove over Ronald Forte, a white man they mistakenly thought was black. Forte was in a coma for several weeks after the attack.

In his plea bargain, Nicoletti said he and the other suspects were drinking on Election Day and were angry about President Barack Obama's win, when they "decided to go after black people" on Staten Island.