Yale all-male a cappella group beaten up in San Francisco
(Updated 25 Jan 2007)
This is quite shocking and it is very disturbing to know that politics is dragging the police investigation there.
During New Years' Eve, Yale University's renowned, all-male a cappella group, The Baker's Dozen were beaten outside of a party after singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The incident was first reported by Dan Noyes, an investigative reporter from local ABC affiliate KGOTV.
Basically, the all-male singing group were invited to Reno Rapagnani's home for a NYE party. It would seem that a few local young men came to the party uninvited and proceeded to taunt and berate the choir group. These young individuals were graduates from a local college prep school, Sacred Heart Cathedral. Now, it is known that Rapagnani's daughter Rose and Yale student Stephanie Soderborg '09 were alumni of another prep school, St. Ignatius. Both schools were local rivals. It is not fully known whether the rivalry played a major factor into the incident.
Apparently, the graduates from Sacred Heart were jealous of the Yale choir group. They proceeded to harass the singers for their "conservative" formal dress and that they were not from San Francisco. It also seems that their singing of the national anthem got them even more angrier, so the Yale students decided to leave the party to avoid further conflict.
Witnesses stated that one of the Sacred Heart graduates, 19-year-old Richard Aicardi, took out his mobile phone, and called in reinforcements saying "I'm 20 deep, my boys are coming." Soon after, assailants arrived in two vehicles and proceeded to attack the choir group. There were reports of five, six, or seven men attacking each singer.
Several students sustained injuries including concussions, black eyes, sprained ankle, and other bodily bruises. One group member, Sharyar Aziz '10, suffered a broken jaw in two places, requiring surgery. His jaw would have to wired shut for eight weeks. Reports indicate that it was pretty much a one-sided fight where the Yale students tried to defend themselves and none of the assailants showed any noticeable injuries.
When police arrived on the scene, there were probably over 20 people fighting in the street outside of the party.
Here's the shocker... police detained four of the attackers that were identified by The Baker's Dozen, but they were not arrested! They were later released!!! Now, you tell me, if there two groups of gang members, blacks or Latinos, the police would arrive and arrest everyone they caught on the spot! No offense, but that would be the expectation. Same goes for college riots or any thing resembling a major fight. Anyone that is caught would be arrested, booked, and later release. These four individuals that attacked the Yale students were released because police felt there was no substantial proof that they had assaulted them. WTF! Excuse my language, but they were clearly identified. Also, notice there were no injuries on the attackers, and quite a lot on the Yale singers.
Here is another interesting note. It would seem the police knew who were the assailants. Some of the suspects were sons of a local prominent area pediatrician. It was mentioned that the pediatrician was "quite connected" with the local political establishment.
Now, for about three days after the incident, while the Yale singers were still in San Francisco, police investigators never attempted to contact any of them for statements. They did not even photograph the injuries to The Baker's Dozen. The Rapagnani couple had to do that.
A week after the incident, no arrests have been made.
Today, S.F. police investigators have asked the choir group, who are now in Los Angeles, to return back to the city for questions and statements. A bit of common sense here. Would it be more sensible to have one or two investigators fly to Los Angeles and interview the choir members there instead of the other way around? The police department did not even consider paying the airfare for the group to return, suggesting that the Yale students were affluent or financially well-off to take care of it themselves. Come on here, not all students at Yale are rich and politically connected. What an insensitive assumption to make here.
Before the incident broke upon the national media, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom had no comment about it or refused to talk about it. Afterwards, he convened a meeting of the top brass of the police department and is pushing for a thorough investigation. Maybe he was waiting for some poll results on what would happened if he did not do anything.
Yale University issued a statement saying they hope the "perpetrators will be apprehended and prosecuted."
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Interested about this "politically connected" pediatrician Eileen Aicardi?
From what you can find on the WWW, she is serving as Secretary for the California Chapter 1 of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
It would seem her influence is quite substantial since her office handles quite a lot of upper-income patients.
Involvement with Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep - the Aicardi family has two named trophy cases and the SHCP Connection newsletter.
A substantial donor to the Salesian Boys' & Girls' Club of San Francisco.
Clearly, a substantial donor to several major organisations, no listing of political groups yet. Maybe she is a major donor to Mayor Newsom?
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11 Jan 2007
San Francisco Chronicle Article
San Francisco's police chief Heather Fong defended the investigation saying they made no arrests because they are unable to find anyone who could substantiate any charges.
Excuse me? First, I am sure the attackers were identified when they entered the NYE party un-invited, and some of the singers were able to identify them after police arrived to break up the one-sided fight. What about the car that was seen on the security tape from the church? Did it match?
Their police dispatch log suggests that the incident was minor. So bodily bruises, sprained ankle, and a busted jaw is not a big deal??? I would say that the police officers probably knew who the attackers were (either by association or reputation).
Finally, Mayor Newsom has responded by saying he was "deeply concerned for what happened to the students from Yale." So eleven days after the vigilante attack, the mayor promised a "swift and fair" investigation.
No comment from the Aicardi family in this article.
I was wondering if the police went ahead and submitted a subponea for Richard Aicardi's mobile phone records. Who did he call that night?
The choir families have hired the law firm of Gonzalez & Leigh.
The Examiner has reported that two SanFran police inspectors will fly to Southern California and show a photographic lineup to the singer group. That is good news.
Of course, it will lead down to a word vs word play. The singers will say that the Aicardi boys and others were responsible, and I am sure the alleged attackers will deny this and have their "friends" vouch for whatever alias they can think of. Rapagnani and Dawydiak, who co-hosted the party should be able to provide more information on who came to the party un-invited.
ABC KGO TV has a follow-up article (they were the first to report this heinous incident).
It includes a link to a picture of 19-year-old Richard Aicardi at the party (part of slideshow)
Slideshow of injuries that the Yale singers received
Former San Francisco prosecutor Jim Hammer has joined the team of attorneys for The Baker's Dozen.
The local news station is keeping an I-Team blog on this.
14 Jan 2007
San Francisco detectives have completed their interviews with 15 members of the Yale choir group in a police station in Southern California.
I am still a bit perplexed by their police chief, Heather Fong. Her excuse on why there were no arrests: Yale students, after pointing out the alleged attackers to police on the night in question, were unavailable to make positive identifications and formal statements or to explain exactly who did what to whom.
According to the Yale choir, they DID identify the ones that assaulted them, and the police officers on the scene thanked and told them they can go.
The San Francisco Chronicle takes the assumption that because this popular and well-known a cappella group was beaten up after singing the national anthem, the national media thinks it is all about politics and the city being un-American.
But I would say that the incident would still have been reported on the national circuit if the choir group did not sing that song. They are still a well-known historical music group, and I think they impressed the local girls, much to the disgust of the guys who attacked the group on that night.
San Jose Mercury News reporter Scott Herhold gives a rundown on the current scene.
Update 25 Jan 2007
ABC KGO News Affiliate has an exclusive interview with Hunter Fairman, one of the hosts of the party. Also, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris decided not to take action at this point.
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More News Articles
ABC 7 News (had video)
News Ch 3 Palm Springs Station
Comments
Posted by: Kelly
Posted on: January 12, 2007 01:22 AM
I can't belive how people are trying to push this off on a school rivalry. This is total b.s. what Richard did was incredibly wrong but I doubt the fact that my school has a rivalry with SI has anything to do with that. It's no secret that he's not the nicest guy around, but that's his fault- not the schools. It's not his mom's fault either, everywhere I've read about this incident the media and other people have failed to mention that her other three sons are not as morally skewed as Richard, although they will say that two of the three came to their brother's aid. And I bet none of you even knew about the fourth Aicardi son, he's one of the nicest guys to graduate from SH and isn't much like his brother at all. I seriously think that everyone; police, media, and others have neglected to collect all the facts on this before having a field day with it. I'll end this by saying that anytime alcohol and a bad temper are involved bad shit happens, but that doesn't mean the family and where the person went to school are at fault; it's Richard's fault for acting like an idiot and he should be the one taking responsibility for it, he's an adult and should act liek one.
Posted by: FEIO
Posted on: January 12, 2007 03:46 AM
This has nothing to do with the schools, this has nothing to do with SF. It was just a bunch of jerks and assholes who got themselves drunk and proceeded to start a fight when there didn't need to be one.
Posted by: Dave
Posted on: January 14, 2007 01:16 AM
I don't blame the schools for the attack, or the cities. But what came afterwords was ridiculous. The local authorities came up while the fight was in progress and they said they didn't have any thing to charge anyone with? That's total BS. It's funny how a large majority of San Francisco complains about the US and how influential people appear to be "above the law" but here it happens right in their own home with the connections these thugs families had and they say nothing. That place is such a two-faced joke.
Posted by: Mike
Posted on: January 14, 2007 02:26 AM
It seems to me that 19 year old kids were drinking and things got out of hand. Words were exchanged and tempers flared. It happens all the time. How many people have a had their butts kicked for being drunk and stupid? How many people were beat up on NYE for this reason? My guess is that all involved were drunk, Yale singers and locals. After beinng called the ultimate male put down, the Yale singers most likely "called out" the locals and to even things up the locals called in some back up. 16 Yale singers against 3 or 4 locals. What would have happened if their help did not arive? Would there be a story that went Nationwide? I think not. There was a time when you got your ass kicked and that was the end of it. You took beating and got over it. Today you go home with a broken nose or black eye and parent of the beaten want to sue or need some justice for little Jonny's stupididity.
Posted by: James (Author)
Posted on: January 14, 2007 09:32 AM
During NYE, police patrols are beefed out, and their tolerance for public disorder is more limited. I would expect law enforcement to apprehend, book them on charges of assault, disorderly conduct, breaching the peace, then released.
Now, you are assuming that the Yale choir group was less than truthful, that they instigated the whole fight by appearing to threaten one of the Aicardi brothers, so the kid had no choice but to call in for reinforcements. Or are you saying that because they took all the attention from the girls, the local guys that were un-invited were jealous and resorted to taunting and catcalling the Yale guys.
Aircardi allegedly took the incident to another level by calling in his friends. The injuries were mostly one-sided on the choir guys.
Of course, the school rivalry and national anthem singing are now non-factors. We just have witness reports siding with the Yale students, and there was security footage of one of the cars that arrived with the assailants.
Perhaps a lie detector test is needed, who will fail? The Aicardi brothers and his friends, or the Yale choir group?
Posted by: SFlocal
Posted on: January 17, 2007 12:01 AM
I just would like clarify, Richard and Dick are the same person, not two separate people.
However, his two other brothers (James and Michael) were involved as well.
Posted by: Leo Tran
Posted on: January 18, 2007 11:43 AM
According to my reading, US News and World Report, and along with all my students at John F. Kennedy University, SFSU, UCSF, and community colleges in the surrounded bay area concluded that Yale students need to gain back their rightous. Those were beaten up the students and SF police officers need to clarify this matter. I (MBA student), would like Yale University, and those students' family members need to take further action. This is to avoid happening in the future, and to maintain safely for myself (gay person) and as well as tourtists, and everybody's else.
Posted by:
Posted on: January 19, 2007 12:11 AM
[comment deleted]
Posted by: James (Author)
Posted on: January 19, 2007 09:09 AM
Look, if you want to add something vulgar to this discussion, take it somewhere else.
Posted by: shcpgraduate
Posted on: January 24, 2007 07:36 PM
ya a lot of people don't even know how the party started, and the author of this blog is confusing names and pictures...he put a pic of mike up when it is allegedly rich's doing...also richard and dick are one and the same...dan noyes has blown this outa proportion...he is trying to contact shcp graduates through FACEBOOK...what a loser
Posted by: James (Author)
Posted on: January 24, 2007 08:21 PM
How can it be blown out of proportion? The Yale choir group was assaulted viciously by members which included Richard Aicardi.
Rich / Dick names corrected. Mike name removed.
Plus it is very likely that men that were called by Richard were SCHP graduates.
I would not be surprised if there are no SCHP students or recent alums stepping forward, who wants to be known as a snitch. What if one of the Yale students died from their injuries, this whole thing would be a different story.
Regardless, Richard Aicardi would forever be linked to this.
Posted by: mike
Posted on: January 24, 2007 11:29 PM
You all should stop speculating. Why does everyone believe everything the press says? Dan Noyes is withdrawing from this gracefully because he is now figuring out that he was duped. He could be sued for what he wrote. I hear there is a lot more to the story, and won't be surprised if this whole thing turns 180 and the fault is placed on the Yale group and the parents/police who owned the house and were covering up for the Yale group (who are the real culprits. Who really made the homophobic remarks? Also, the party was posted on myspace as 'lots of booze, everyone welcome'. How can you be an uninvited guest? Do any of you know the daughter of the cops who had the party?? DEFINATELY NOT AN ANGEL!! Rich families from YALE are using their influence with the media and politics to slander a very fine San Francisco family whose son Rich is a loudmouth. Not a punk. His name suits him...he is a DICK.
Posted by: James (Author)
Posted on: January 25, 2007 06:30 AM
Partychef has revealed the real truth about all of this. Everyone is basically a liar and people can beat whoever they want without retribution, and if someone does try something, it's because he or she has financial or political connections up the wazoo. Also, Ivy League schools all have affluent and rich students and families. They are the ones who control this country. The common folk are just the prisoners. We are all screwed unless we can win the lottery, and make donations to all the well-known charities and groups, then no one can mess with us.
Yep, our country is going down the drain.
Posted by: G
Posted on: January 26, 2007 06:26 PM
When I attended SH in the 80's there was a distinctive "get drunk and fight" mentality among a large segment of the student body. There was even a chant at some keggars I barely remember. We were repeatedly scolded on Mondays for the weekend's antics, regardless of whether or not we were involved. We were chastised about our weekend drinking right after loading cases of Christian Brothers brandy and wine into the brothers house during PE class. Looks like some things never change.
This isn't entirely about school rivalry but it's definitely a factor. A larger factor is the rampant homophobia that apparently still exists, a classic irony given the church's problems of late. The aftermath is all about power and influence.
Frankly, nothing surprising about this.
Posted by: Jocko
Posted on: February 3, 2007 09:16 PM
Hello. I'm a retired SFPD Inspector who worked many New Year's Nights. As a supervisor one night I noted that in our particular District (Precinct elsewhere), we had over 100 calls waiting for service.
I haven't got a clue about this incident, but when we were working those nights, you had to triage--get the woman near dead from the drunk driver taken care of before the bar fight across the district.
Respond to the shooting before the property damage car crash. And so on.
While it's only a guess (I'm retired and out of touch), I'm guessing that at that time of night--when many members of the Richmond Station were detailed downtown to the big mob scenes, the officers may have felt like they had a mutual combat--no ambulances were called, and felt like they had gotten it abated and needed to get back into service.
In hindsight, maybe they should have taken more action. At the street level in SF the cops are generally liked compared to a lot of big cities.
As far as the upper levels, this got really political. I know of robbery cases where Inspectors wouldn't have been sent to other cities.
The owners of the home where this began, are decent folks. They both have been heavily involved in SF politics for decades. I think that's part of why this got so big in the press.
The Yale guys--just like a group of illegal aliens deserve the best we (cops) can give them when they need. This was just a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances from a police perspective. My gut tells me the officers at the scene weren't being "political."
Just a few thoughts. Jock
Posted by: Nadia
Posted on: February 7, 2007 02:01 AM
i second all of what Kelly has to say. according to the news the Yale students were drinking aswell but the media doesnt bother saying anything about that now do they. all they are trying to do is put the blame all on the richard Aicardi. This has turned into rich yale families trying to bring down the San Francisco community and its turning into a total JOKE.
Posted by: James (Author)
Posted on: February 7, 2007 07:10 AM
How much blame should be placed on Richard Aicardi? 50% 20% 80%?
Not all Yale students are bloody rich. It's like saying that all people living in San Francisco are anti-military. Or saying that people that go to prep schools are rich and affluent? You tell me.
I would call it jealously on Richard's part. He probably did not like "East Coast" folk trying to steal the girls away from him. Plus witnesses show him calling in reinforcements to exact bodily harm on the singers. Didn't reports show it was a one-sided fight, the singers trying to defend themselves.
Posted by: Art
Posted on: March 6, 2007 11:13 AM
As an alum from SI, I can tell you that my family is neither very wealth nor politically connected. My parents are first generation immigrants. They are just hardworking people that struggled to put me through a good high school as the public high school I would have gone to was not all that great. There are many students that go to SI, as well as other private prep schools, that need financial support. There are many people that go to Ivy League schools that are not wealthy. I know several friends and colleagues that have gone to Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth and other prominent schools on financial aids and loans that they are still repaying back to this day.
One thing that does not get alot of attention are the existence of White gangs. I remember attending SI and their was a White gang called Sunset District Inc. (SDI). However I would agree that due to the race and perceived social/political status of the people involved, it was handled differently than if those involved were African-American men in Hunter's Point, Latin-American men in the Mission. They should have been arrested on the spot.
It would be interesting to see what happens next as it is once again on the news spotlight today.
Posted by: SF kid
Posted on: March 6, 2007 12:55 PM
Did everyone overlook that these wealthy yale students were doing cocaine before the insident started?? Jearlosy? Fights like this dont start over jealousy. The othere accused are great kids, I grew up with Brian Dwyer a getleman. This was just a high school brawl that has been blown out porportion.
[Author: you got evidence to prove they were doing coke? Got a link? So far, there's no mention of it.]
Posted by: tim
Posted on: March 6, 2007 04:26 PM
too bad the yale punks lived. Fags suck
Posted by: joseph Vitale
Posted on: November 10, 2007 02:44 PM
I always used to love SanFrancisco and as head of a company have held many conferences there in the city. As of this date, I will no longer have anything to do with SanFrancisco directly of the 'no action' for the "Baker Dozens' attack by local holigans.
I am totally shocked of the Police department who refuse to do anything about the incident!
I have sent a notic eo all my friends to simply stay awa form this lawless city.
Joe V