Michael Griffith

Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes remembers Howard Beach trial
News Jesse Lent 12/13/2011 at 12:26PM

In 1987, Charles Hynes was vacationing upstate when he received word he would be the chief prosecutor in the trial of a racially motivated slaying of a 23-year-old African-American man in the Howard Beach section of Queens. “I was watching a TV news special in the library of this hotel,” Hynes recalled. “And I saw [...]

Howard Beach has come ‘a long way’ since racial incident
News Melissa Chan 12/09/2011 at 2:47PM

Twenty-five years after escalating racial tensions in Howard Beach thrust the neighborhood into infamy, residents and local leaders alike say the “tight community” has changed for the better. On December 20, 1986, Howard Beach emerged into the spotlight when a gang of white teens — waving bats and bellowing racial slurs — brutally beat three [...]