I hadn't heard about this incident until now, but seems there were three or four Staten Island losers who were so outraged that (GASP!) a black man won the election that they went on a rampage beating up and insulting black men. [UPDATED at bottom with more info from Staten Island Advance...thanks to Daniel Millstone!]

From Salon.com:

Three white New Yorkers, riled by Barack Obama's victory, spent election night hunting down black people to beat up and yelling insults about the president-elect, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

The men beat a Liberian immigrant teen, pushed a black man to the ground and drove their car over a white man they thought was black, according to the indictment unsealed in Brooklyn.

Yes, you heard right. These not too bright individuals hit a white guy thinking he was black. Shows you the intelligence level of your average racist.

A fourth defendant was expected to separately plead guilty to unspecified charges, according to law enforcement officials...

Here's my confusion about three or four: they mention three people but refer to one of them as "a fourth defendant." Either there's one more person involved here, or they meant "a third defendent."

The prime suspect, Ralph Nicoletti, apparently is a real piece of work, having a rap sheet for all sorts of petty crimes, including forming a vigillante group. I'd call it a "gang" and call him nothing but another stupid thug.

SILive.com has a picture of the two prime losers:

The SILive report seems earlier than the Salon because they only mention the two main idiots and go on to mention two other suspects being sought. That would imply four total with two arrested, one pleading guilty, and one unaccounted for.

The SILive article also has a rather interesting discussion by people commenting on the story that really, shall we say, does not show Staten Island at it's best. Including accusations that the attacks never happened (gee...tell that to the guy who was in a coma for several days), some are saying these kids should never have been arrested (why, I wonder, should these brats not be arrested if there is evidence they committed a crime...one is even pleading guilty), etc. Pretty disgusting stuff, it seems. One gentleman DID, after doubting the attack ever happened, owned up that he was wrong. But most are standing behind these guys even though one is pleading guilty and one has a rap sheet already. Personally, I am sure the Staten Island DA's office will do an excellent job (at least my one encounter with a SI ADA leads me to believe they have a good office down there) and will prosecute these guys appropriately. I also hope that these kids realize what asses they are and wise up.

UPDATE: I have little hope for Little Thug Nicoletti, since he already has a nasty rap sheet that screams "lifetime in jail." But hopefully the other members of this wannabe gang will wise up. From the Staten Island Advance comes this little summary of Nicoletti's life of crime and idiocy:

Nicoletti built up an extensive rap sheet -- with arrests for distribution of marijuana and cocaine, burglary, car break-ins, destruction of property, firebombing a neighbor's home and another neighbor's car and numerous assaults -- from the age of 14, federal prosecutors wrote.

And when they searched his house on Wadsworth Avenue, they found an assortment of weapons in his dresser, court documents allege -- a collapsible police baton, two butterfly knives, five folding knives and a leather slapjack...

They also found an envelope and note believed written by Nicoletti's 16-year-old brother, Anthony, who started the "Rosebank Krew," authorities allege...

The younger Nicoletti is locked up on Rikers Island, on charges he ran over one or more people in the aftermath of a fight involving him and Contreras, authorities allege.

The Nicoletti family sure sounds like a class act here. I suspect it is lucky they get locked up now because I can just imagine them shooting up a school or a mall one of these days.