A US judge has approved a
$41m (£25m) settlement between New York City and five men wrongfully
convicted of the rape of a woman jogger in 1989.
The five, all black or Hispanic teenagers at the time,
confessed to the attack in Central Park after interrogation, but later
recanted.
They served prison terms ranging from seven to 13 years, before their exoneration in 2002.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the settlement was "long overdue".
Details of the deal had been reported in June but were
publicly disclosed for the first time on Friday when US Magistrate Judge
Ronald Ellis in New York approved the deal.
The BBC's Nick Bryant in New York says the settlement marks
the end of one of New York's most protracted and bitter legal disputes.
The settlement is thought to be the largest in a wrongful conviction case in the city's history.
The victim, a white 28-year-old investment banker, was
severely beaten, raped and left for dead in a bush. She had no memory of
the attack.
Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron McCray and Yusef
Salaam and Korey Wise, then aged 14-16, were arrested and interrogated
for hours without access to lawyers or their parents.
They confessed but later recanted saying their admissions were the result of police coercion.
In 2002, an investigation by the Manhattan prosecutor
determined that a serial violent offender named Matias Reyes had
confessed to the attack and said he had acted alone.
The racially charged case shocked the city and provoked fears of gangs of black teenagers going on crime rampages.
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