Crime in Philadelphia
Encyclopedia
Some aspects of crime in Philadelphia have achieved national and even international attention. Charles Ramsey, the police commissioner
, has stated his goal to reduce the number of homicides by 100 per year.
The legal entities responsible for maintaining law and order are:
The Philadelphia Police Department
is the police department. The Court of Common Pleas
of Philadelphia County
(1st Judicial Circuit) is the state
trial court
. The Philadelphia District Attorney is the district attorney
. The Defender Association of Philadelphia is the government-funded independent public defender
office.
Police commissioner
Commissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces and may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a...
, has stated his goal to reduce the number of homicides by 100 per year.
The legal entities responsible for maintaining law and order are:
The Philadelphia Police Department
Philadelphia Police Department
The Philadelphia Police Department is the police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
is the police department. The Court of Common Pleas
Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas
The Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas are the trial courts of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania .The Courts of Common Pleas are the trial courts of general jurisdiction in the state....
of Philadelphia County
Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
-History:Tribes of Lenape were the first known occupants in the area which became Philadelphia County. The first European settlers were Swedes and Finns who arrived in 1638. The Netherlands seized the area in 1655, but permanently lost control to England in 1674...
(1st Judicial Circuit) is the state
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
trial court
Trial court
A trial court or court of first instance is a court in which trials take place. Such courts are said to have original jurisdiction.- In the United States :...
. The Philadelphia District Attorney is the district attorney
District attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
. The Defender Association of Philadelphia is the government-funded independent public defender
Public defender
The term public defender is primarily used to refer to a criminal defense lawyer appointed to represent people charged with a crime but who cannot afford to hire an attorney in the United States and Brazil. The term is also applied to some ombudsman offices, for example in Jamaica, and is one way...
office.
Notable cases and incidents
- Philadelphia Poison RingPhiladelphia Poison RingThe Philadelphia poison ring was a murder for hire gang led by the Petrillo cousins, Herman and Paul Petrillo, in 1938. The leaders were ultimately convicted of 114 poison-murders and were executed by electric chair in 1941...
(1938) - At least 70 people poisoned with arsenic, several by their wives. - Marie NoeMarie NoeMarie Noe is an American woman who was convicted in June 1999 of murdering eight of her children. Between 1949 and 1968, eight of the ten Noe children died of mysterious causes which were then attributed to sudden infant death syndrome. All eight children were healthy at birth and were developing...
(1949–1968) - Murdered eight of her children. - Boy in the Box (1957) - Unidentified five year-old boy found dead in a cardboard box.
- Ira EinhornIra EinhornIra Samuel Einhorn, known as "the Unicorn Killer" , is a convicted murderer who savagely beat his ex-girlfriend, Holly Maddux, to death and then stored her body in a locker in his apartment for more than a year before it was discovered by the police...
, "The Unicorn Killer" (1977) - Popular figure killed his girlfriend and hid her body in his closet. - Mumia Abu-JamalMumia Abu-JamalMumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and sentenced to death. He has been described as "perhaps the world's best known death-row inmate", and his sentence is one of the most debated today...
(1981) - Convicted for the murder of PPD officer Daniel FaulknerDaniel FaulknerDaniel J. Faulkner was a police officer in the American city of Philadelphia who was shot and killed in the line of duty. Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of first-degree murder for the shooting and sentenced to death...
in 1981. - MOVEMOVEMOVE or the MOVE Organization is a Philadelphia-based black liberation group founded by John Africa. MOVE was described by CNN as "a loose-knit, mostly black group whose members all adopted the surname Africa, advocated a "back-to-nature" lifestyle and preached against technology." The group...
(1978,1985) - Clashed with the PPD. - Frankford Slasher (1985–1990) - Thought to have killed several women.
- Gary M. HeidnikGary M. HeidnikGary Michael Heidnik was an American murderer who kidnapped, tortured and raped six women and kept them prisoner in his Philadelphia, Pennsylvania basement.-Childhood:...
(1986–1987) - Kidnapped, imprisoned, raped, and tortured six women, two of whom he murdered. - Harrison Graham (1986–1987) - Killed seven women, deemed incompetent to be executed.
- Raymond Carter (convict)Raymond Carter (convict)Raymond Carter achieved notoriety for being the subject of a murder case that arose in the aftermath of the 39th District corruption scandal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, resulting in his release from prison on December 30, 1996...
(1988) - Convicted of killing Robert "Puppet" Harris; verdict overturned in 1996 due to likelihood of false testimony. - 39th District corruption scandal39th District corruption scandalThe 39th District corruption scandal refers to a persistent pattern of brutality and corruption among a cadre Philadelphia Police Department officers, primarily from the department's 39th district, that emerged in late 1995 and received nationwide attention by 1997, eventually resulting in an...
(1990s) - Led to overturn of 160-300 cases and release of 100 persons. - Kidnapping and murder of Iriana DeJesus (2000) - Alexis FloresAlexis FloresAlexis Flores is a Honduran fugitive wanted for the kidnapping, rape and murder of five-year-old Iriana DeJesus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 2000. Flores is the 487th fugitive to be placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list....
, suspect of the case, was added to FBI Ten Most Wanted FugitivesFBI Ten Most Wanted FugitivesThe FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list arose from a conversation held in late 1949 between J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and William Kinsey Hutchinson, International News Service Editor-in-Chief, who were discussing ways to promote capture of the...
list in 2007. - City Hall corruption scandal (2003-5) - mayor's office bugged by FBI, several convictions resulting.
- Fairmount Park Rapist. (2003–2007) Not caught.
- Philadelphia basement kidnapping eventPhiladelphia basement kidnapping eventOn October 17, 2011, a basement in a seven unit apartment building in Northeast Philadephia, Pennsylvania was found to contain four people, being held against their will, in conditions of deprivation. The owner of the building discovered their presence after investigating suspicious activity in the...
, October 2011, an ongoing investigation into alleged kidnapping of four mentally disabled adults, who were held in a Northeastern Philadelphia basement.
Riots
- Philadelphia Election RiotPhiladelphia Election RiotThe Philadelphia Election Riot in 1742 was a riot by the Anglicans who sought to break the longstanding Quaker political dominance in Philadelphia...
(1742) - Lombard Street RiotLombard Street RiotThe Lombard Street Riot, sometimes called the Abolition Riots was a three-day race riot in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1842. The riot was the last in a 13-year period marked by frequent racial attacks in the city...
(1842) - Three day race riot. - Philadelphia Nativist RiotsPhiladelphia Nativist RiotsThe Philadelphia Nativist Riots were a series of riots that took place between May 6 and 8 and July 6 and 7, 1844, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, and the adjacent districts of Kensington and Southwark...
(1844) - Philadelphia 1964 race riotPhiladelphia 1964 race riotThe Philadelphia race riot took place in the predominantly black neighborhoods of North Philadelphia from August 28 to August 30, 1964. Tensions between black residents of the city and police had been escalating for several months over several well-publicized allegations of police brutality.This...
(1964)
Organized crime
- Scarfo crime family - An Italian group based in Northeast and South Philadelphia as well as major cities in New Jersey such as Atlantic City and Newark, largest organized crime unit in the area as far as "rackets" are concerned. Considered the most violent branch in the American MafiaAmerican MafiaThe American Mafia , is an Italian-American criminal society. Much like the Sicilian Mafia, the American Mafia has no formal name and is a secret criminal society. Its members usually refer to it as Cosa Nostra or by its English translation "our thing"...
. - Jewish Mafia - See Nig Rosen
- Irish MobIrish MobThe Irish Mob is one of the oldest organized crime groups in the United States, in existence since the early 19th century. Originating in Irish American street gangs of the 19th century — depicted in Herbert Asbury's 1928 book The Gangs of New York — the Irish Mob has appeared in most...
- K&A GangK&A GangThe K&A Gang also known as the Northeast Philly Mob is a predominantly Irish American criminal network in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The gang was started following World War II and controlled Philadelphia's Irish criminal underworld for much of the late 1900s. The group was mainly a burglary ring... - Greek MobPhiladelphia Greek MobPhiladelphia's Greek Mob, or the Greek Mafia, are a low-profile criminal organization of ethnic Greek Americans with alleged connections to the Italian Philadelphia crime family. They were formed in southern Greece by the original boss Steve Kondonyanis. Kondonyanis also had strong ties with the...
- Russian Mob
- Kielbasa Posse - A Polish group based in Port Richmond, Philly.
- Jamaican PosseJamaican PosseJamaican posses, often referred to simply as posses, are a loose coalition of gangs, based predominantly in Kingston, London, the New York City area and Toronto, Canada, first being involved in drugs and gun-running in the early 1980s...
- Black MafiaBlack MafiaThe Black Mafia, a Philadelphia-based organized crime syndicate whose small beginnings started from holding up crap games and dealing in the illegal drug business, was formed in September 1968 by Samuel Christian, who later adopted the name Suleiman Bey under the Nation of Islam, and was at its...
, Junior Black Mafia - An African-American group based in West Philadelphia - Latin Kings - Hispanic gang originating in Chicago
- Warlocks Motorcycle ClubWarlocks Motorcycle ClubThe Warlocks Motorcycle Club refers to two totally separate and unaffiliated groups. Both founded in 1967, one is based out of Florida and the other based out of Pennsylvania.-Pennsylvania Warlocks:...
- A Motorcycle Club involved in drug dealing - Pagans MCPagans MCPagan's Motorcycle Club, or simply The Pagans, is a one-percenter outlaw motorcycle gang and an alleged organized crime syndicate formed by Lou Dobkin in 1959 in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States...
- A Motorcycle Club involved in drug dealing - Sex Money Murda
See also
- Crime in the United StatesCrime in the United StatesCrime statistics for the United States are published annually by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the Uniform Crime Reports which represents crimes reported to the police...
- H. H. HolmesH. H. HolmesHerman Webster Mudgett , better known under the alias of Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, was one of the first documented American serial killers in the modern sense of the term...
- Early American serial killer, brought to justice by a Philadelphia detective. - Vidocq SocietyVidocq societyThe Vidocq Society is a members-only crime-solving club that meets on the third Thursday of every month in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.The Vidocq Society is named for Eugène François Vidocq, the ground-breaking nineteenth century French detective who helped police by using the psychology of the...
- Local crime-solving club