Incident in Howard Beach

The 1986 racial attack by white teenagers in Howard Beach, Queens, that left one black man dead and another severely beaten polarized New York City and came to symbolize festering racism. Hynes, who obtained three manslaughter convictions as State Special Prosecutor in the case, painstakingly re-creates his investigation in this brisk, evenhanded, modestly told procedural, written with Newsday reporter Drury. The account of the much-publicized trial is powerfully dramatic. Although the authors refrain from discussing the broad implications of the case, they offer withering portrayals of those involved, from Queens D. A. John Santucci to Mayor Edward Koch; in Hynes's telling, attorney Alton Maddox and Rev. Al Sharpton used the Howard Beach attack to further their own militant agenda. (Mar.)