Corona Mom Seeks Justice at Federal Level

By James DeWeese

Astoria Times, April 22, 2004

Altagracia Guaba stood Saturday 13 years and 16 blocks from where her son started a final, tragic race for his life. She demanded justice in his unsolved 1991 murder, addressing a crowd of more than 300.

After midnight one evening in March 1991, a group of white youths chased 18-year-old Manny Mayi from William F. Moore Park in the Italian section of Corona, 16 blocks down 108th street, beating him with baseball bats and a fire extinguisher. Mayi, a Dominican Queens College engineering student, collapsed in front of a house near the intersection of 108th Street and 36th Avenue and died, Guaba said.

"I'm asking that an investigation be carried out at the federal level," said Guaba, saying she thought the police and Queens District Attorney Richard Brown had not done enough to catch and lock up her son's killers. Only one person, high school student Joseph Celso, was brought to trial in connection with the case. He was acquitted in 1993.

Shoulder to shoulder with City Councilman Hiram Monserrate (D-Corona), Guaba said she wanted the case, which she said was racially motivated, transferred to the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn or Manhattan. "(Whether) they go to Brooklyn or Manhattan, I don't care," Guaba said. "But I don't see justice (in Queens)."

Brown issued a statement, saying: "I have the deepest sympathy for the Mayi family and I remain committed to bring to justice to those responsible for Manuel Mayi's death over 10 years ago. The investigation has been vigorously pursued by my office and the Police Department and the case has not been closed."

Brown added that his office had at one time dispatched a prosecutor and detectives to Italy to interview a potential witness. The district attorney indicated his office would again prosecute if new evidence came to light.

Monserrate said a new investigation, initiated two years ago by the city's Cold Case Squad, had yielded DNA evidence that could lead to a retrial. He did not elaborate on what that evidence might be.

Police said the white youths - as many as 10 - became angry after Mayi, who Guaba said was returning from his girlfriend's house, stopped in the William F. Moore Park, popularly known as Spaghetti Park, and wrote his nickname, or tag, with a marker on a sign. But Guaba disagreed.

"They didn't kill my son because he was doing graffiti," Guaba said in Spanish. "They killed him because he was Latino." Every year Guaba and members of the Justice Committee, an advocacy group that investigates bias crimes across the city, organize a protest around the anniversary of Mayi's death. "I do this march so that people remember," said Guaba in Spanish.

This year more than 300 people assembled at the intersection of 36th Avenue and 108th Street in Corona. The intersection was renamed Manny Mayi Corner. Those who gathered included local politicians, community supporters and members of a wide range of grassroots organizations, including the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence and the Latin Kings, an Hispanic rights organization that in the past has been accused of gang activities.

To the backdrop of megaphone Spanish chants - "Why did they kill him? Because he was Latino." - the protesters marched from Manny Mayi corner to the park where Mayi began his flight. As they walked, Jessica Sanclemente of the Justice Committee told onlookers through a megaphone: "You are at risk for racial violence. (Mayi) ran 16 blocks not because he was 'Superman.' He was an athlete. Most of us couldn't run that far."

At times teary-eyed, Guaba said: "They didn't kill a dog, they killed a human being,"  She added:. "I believe that the day there is justice, that day my son will rest in a little bit of peace."