STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An ex-con, whose older brother orchestrated a notorious 2008 Election Night hate crime spree, shot his girlfriend in a Fort Wadsworth park, then told police that a black man committed the shooting, according to cops.

When police came upon the scene at Von Briesen Park at about 4 a.m. Wednesday, they found Anthony Nicoletti, 23, by a park bench, yelling that his girlfriend had been shot, an NYPD spokeswoman said.

The girlfriend, age 22, had been hit in her lower back and her right wrist, and told officers only that she was in extreme pain, police said.

Nicoletti told officers that the two had been hanging out at the park when a black man he didn't know approached them, started shooting, and fled, according to police.

The victim was rushed to Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, where she underwent surgery, police said.

Some time after the surgery, she told police that Nicoletti, not a mystery man, had shot her during an argument, police said. The NYPD spokeswoman couldn't say what sparked the argument.

Police arrested Nicoletti Saturday night at his Wadsworth Avenue home in Fort Wadsworth, where they found him hiding in the basement, cops said.

Nicoletti's brother, Ralph, is serving a nine-year federal prison sentence for leading a racially-motivated rampage in response to Barack Obama's election in 2008.

He and three cohorts beat a 17-year-old Liberian immigrant with a metal pipe, and ran down another man with their car because they thought, incorrectly, that he was black.

Federal authorities said the group referred to itself as the "Rosebank Krew," and that Anthony Nicoletti was its founder.

At the time, police and federal investigators found a note they believe was written by Anthony Nicoletti addressed to "All my RBK brothers" and signed by "The Biggest Boss Ever." It discussed how the RBK Brothers must stand strong together and not talk to the police, and referred to 10 "brothers" that could kill a person's family.

At the time of the rampage, Anthony Nicoletti was locked up on Rikers Island. He spent spent five months behind bars on an assault and criminal mischief case, and was released in March 2009.

Police arrested him again in April 2010, accusing him of ganging up on a romantic rival with two of his friends, hitting the man in the head with a glass bottle, and stealing his car.

Nicoletti was convicted of attempted robbery in August 2010 and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. He was released on parole in September 2012, and wound up re-arrested less than a month later, on charges he robbed a friend of his cash and prescription pills. He was most recently released to parole in October 2013.

Nicoletti was arraigned in Stapleton Criminal Court Sunday on attempted murder, felony assault and weapon possession charges. He remains held without bail on Rikers Island until his next court appearance Friday.