STATEMENT BY MAYOR RUDOLPH W. GIULIANI REGARDING THE SETTLEMENT OF THE CROWN HEIGHTS LAWSUIT
Today, the City of New York announced a settlement, approved by United States District Judge Fredric Block, of the the federal civil rights lawsuit brought by the Estate of Yankel Rosenbaum, the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council and Crown Heights residents against the City of New York and former Mayor David Dinkins and former Police Commissioner Lee Brown. That lawsuit concerned the violent, anti-Semitic rioting that occurred for three days in August 1991.
Under the settlement, the claims of the remaining plaintiffs in the lawsuit are being settled for $1.1 million. This sum will be allocated among the 29 remaining original plaintiffs, as well as 62 additional individuals who were added by stipulation to the action. An additional sum of $250,000 is being paid as attorney's fees to plaintiffs' counsel, Snitow & Pauley. Prior to today's settlement, the claims of two other plaintiffs, Issac Bitton and his son, Yechiel, were settled for a total of $200,000.
The rioting against the Jewish residents of Crown Heights was one of the darkest periods in this City' s history. As Richard Girgenti, the former Director of Criminal Justice charged by former Governor Mario Cuomo with investigating the rioting, determined in his 1993 Report, "the rioting represented the most extensive racial unrest in New York City in over twenty years. It differed from most other disturbances throughout the turbulent 1960s... as the violence was directed at one segment of the population."
The week began with Gavin Cato's tragic death in an automobile accident and the senseless and reprehensible murder of Yankel Rosenbaum on Monday night, and continued with intense anti-Semitic violence against the people of Crown Heights throughout that night and over the next several days.
The City recognizes that, as a matter of fundamental decency, all of its residents are entitled to effective police protection against crimes of the kind to which Crown Heights residents were subjected in August 1991. During those three days, the residents of Crown Heights did not receive the effective protection they should have received.
In the spirit of conciliation, the City of New York accepts responsibility for the mistakes that were made in August 1991, and apologizes to the residents of Crown Heights. While the City can never compensate the Rosenbaum family for its loss or compensate the Jewish residents of Crown Heights for the indignities and trauma they suffered, the settlement affords a fair measure of relief.
The City of New York hereby reaffirms that in the future it will not allow several days of rioting without adequate response. There is no excuse for allowing people to victimize others based on their race, religion, ethnicity or for any other reason without a strong and immediate response from City government.
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