However the case ultimately turns out, the indictment marks a bold and welcome use of Federal civil rights law against racial killings on city streets.

B1 Bensonhurst's public schools opened with stepped up security after a racial killing there last month.

He knows the details of racial killings of black men in Bensonhurst and Howard Beach.

He even said those convicted in racial killings should be subject to a death penalty.

He likened Mr. Dinkins's victory to a resurrection after the trauma of the racial killing.

Some weeks earlier, the big story was the trial of two young men accused of a racial killing in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn.

The vote, held with fresh memories of an ugly racial killing in Bensonhurst, distilled yearnings for a leader who could unify.

They recently confessed to most of the high-profile racial killings of the past few years.

An oblique statement of opposition to racial killings is "reaching out to the middle" for a Democrat.

There was also strong evidence of the far-reaching impact of the racial killing and the political nerve touched by the death.