My PhillyDaily.com Crime Beat Column: The Thorn In Krasner’s Side: My Q&A With Ralph Cipriano

PhillyDaily.com ran my Crime Beat column about journalist and author Ralph Cipriano today 

You can read the column via the link below or the text below:

Davis: The thorn in Krasner's side — my interview with Ralph Cipriano - Philly Daily

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is running for reelection next week. It appears that most of the Philadelphia media, most noticeably the Philadelphia Inquirer, supports Krasner. One major exception is Ralph Cipriano, a Krasner critic who is the proverbial thorn in the DAs side.     

Ralph Cipriano is a veteran muckraking reporter who has exposed corruption in city and county governments, the Philadelphia D.A.’s office, local police departments, Ivy League football, and the Catholic Church.  

He’s a former newspaper reporter for the Albany Times Union, Los Angeles Times and Philadelphia Inquirer who now works as an author, blogger, and freelance journalist. 

Ralph Cipriano is the author of Target: The Senator: A Story About Power And Abuse of Power, published in November of 2017. The book is about the rise and fall of the "Vince of Darkness, former Pennsylvania Senator Vincent J. Fumo, who personified a bare-knuckles, take -no-prisoners style of politics and reigned for nearly a generation as a power broker.    

In December of 2008 Cipriano published Courtroom Cowboy, The Life of Legal Trailblazer Jim Beasley. The book is about Jim Beasley, a legendary Philadelphia trial lawyer who, before he went to college on the GI Bill, was a high school dropout driving a Greyhound bus. 

Cipriano also wrote The Hit Man; A True Story of Murder, Redemption and the Melrose Diner in 2012.The book is about the life of John Veasey, a former Mafia hit man who survived three gunshots in the head to become a federally protected witness who brought down the Philly mob. 

I reached out to Ralph Cipriano and asked him about Larry Krasner and the upcoming election. 

Below is my Q&A with him:  

Davis: In one of your latest posts at Big Trial articles at Substack.com, you listed 120 reasons why one should not vote to reelect District Attorney Larry Krasner. Would you please list your top six reasons? 

Cipriano: My top five or six reasons why people shouldn’t vote for Krasner: 

1.     As the city’s highest ranking law enforcement officer, he didn’t pay his property taxes on the former Princeton Club for eight straight years.

2.     He repeatedly and brazenly violated the city’s campaign finance laws.

3.     His so-called exonerations have been exposed in court as fraudulent, based on lies and false accusations. 

4.     The state attorney general says in 108 appeals filed by convicted killers, rather than investigate allegations of prosecutorial and/or police misconduct, Krasner simply rolled over and agreed that the accusations were true. 

5.    At his press conferences he routinely lies, is evasive, plays word games and stonewalls. And when that fails, he runs away, as he has done to me more than 40 times in the past three years.

6.      His prosecutors, under his direction, routinely free armed and dangerous criminals so they can rack up more victims.

Davis: What do you think of Judge Patrick Dugan, Kraser’s opponent in the race? 

Cipriano: Dugan seems like an honest guy, but he’s run two lackluster campaigns. However, I plan to vote for him. Does he have a chance to beat Krasner? Only if there is record turnout, principally in the Northeast and South Philly. 

Davis: Krasner appears to be running against President Trump rather than Dugan. He has also stated that DA stands for Democracy Advocate rather than District Attorney. What do you make of that?  

Cipriano: Krasner’s frequent attacks on Trump strike me as a joke. Trump isn’t running for D.A. Krasner claims he’s going to stand up to ICE and Trump, but how can that be if he’s run away from me more than 40 times. 

Davis: How would you describe your frequent encounters with Krasner at his press conferences? 

Krasner: My encounters with Krasner at his press conferences reveal a cowardly, lying D.A. who keeps running away from me. If he was an honest public official, he’d have nothing to hide. But he keeps running away like the coward he is, because he has plenty to hide. 

Davis: The FBI and the Philly police recently conducted the largest federal drug gang takedown in Kensington. The FBI director, the U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia, the Philly police commissioner and other law enforcement officials were at the press conference. Notably absent was DA Larry Krasner. Do you know why he was missing in action?

 

Cipriano: The feds and just about everybody in law enforcement don’t trust Krasner. They realize he is more sympathetic toward criminals than he is toward crime victims. 

 

Davis: How can one access your Big Trial articles at Substack.com?

 

Cipriano: I’m at ralphcipriano.substack.com.

 

Paul Davis’ Crime Beat column appears here each week. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com 

My PhillyDaily.com Crime Beat Column: Teens, Terror and Social Media

 PhillyDaily.com ran my Crime Beat column today on the conviction of a Philadelphia teen terrorist. 

You can read the column via the link below or the text below"

  Teens, terror, and social media - Philly Daily

"Despite the recent assassinations, attempted assassinations and school shootings by mentally unbalanced people, American youth radicalization by overseas Islamic terrorist organizations remains a threat to the United States,” a retired FBI agent said to me recently. “The long arm of social media allows the terrorist groups to reach out across oceans and indoctrinate and communicate with mixed up, impressionable young Americans in a hate and violent philosophy.” 

He noted a case in point: Muhyyee-Ud-din Abdul-Rahman (seen in the above mugshot), who was convicted last month of terrorism charges. According to the FBI, the young man communicated via social media with an overseas radical Islamic terrorist group.  

Abdul-Rahman, the son of a prominent Philadelphia attorney who ran twice unsuccessfully for judge, was only seventeen when he was arrested in 2023. (I was in the Navy and serving on an aircraft carrier when I was seventeen.) 

He was arrested by FBI SWAT agents at his home in West Philadelphia on August 11, 2023, and later held on five million dollars bail while awaiting trial. 

Abduk-Rahman’s arrest on terrorism-related charges made news around the world.  

Jacqueline Maguire, the FBI Special Agent in Charge of Philadelphia Office in 2023, stated after the arrest of Abdul-Rahman, “Protecting the United States from terrorist attacks is the FBI’s number one priority, and I think it’s very fair to say that lives were saved because of this investigation.” 

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner added, “Self-radicalization by young people via the internet is a threat to all families. Parents: Keep an eye out for violent cults that would lure in your kids under the guise of politics or religion, The juvenile is further alleged to have received messages related to construction of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and to have purchased materials online such as chemical cleaners that are used to construct IEDs, as well as outdoor or tactical gear.” 

On September 17th, Krasner and First Assistant Robert Listenbee announced that Abdul-Rahman was convicted by a Philadelphia jury of terrorism-related charges. According to the District Attorney’s Office, Abdul-Rahman was found guilty of attempted possession of weapons of mass destruction, possession of explosive or incendiary materials, risking catastrophe, and recklessly endangering another person. 

The DA’s office reported that the investigation into Abdul-Rahman’s activities began in 2023, when the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force discovered that he was in frequent communication through social media with a Syrian terror group called Katibat al Tawhid wal Jihad, or KTJ.  

As federal investigators began scrutinizing the defendant’s activities more closely, they observed the defendant purchasing tactical gear and bomb-making ingredients and testing homemade explosives near his family’s residence in the city’s Wynnefield section. On one occasion, the defendant also tested a highly unstable and dangerous explosive mixture called TATP, also known as “the Mother of Satan.”    

The DA’s Office also stated that federal investigators uncovered evidence of Abdul-Rahman’s intention to attack a variety of possible targets, including the Philadelphia Pride Parade and other local parade routes, Lincoln University, the Army Navy Football game, the Valley Forge Military Academy, nuclear power plants in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 

“This defendant posed a serious threat to his community, the city at-large, other jurisdictions, and even overseas locations,” Krasner said. “I want to thank First Assistant Robert Listenbee, who personally tried this case, and Assistant District Attorney Christopher Angelo, Supervisor of the DAO’s Juvenile Unit, for the successful prosecution of this matter. I also thank the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force for their detailed and thorough investigation. I am also grateful to the jury for holding this defendant appropriately accountable for his actions, which could have resulted in unimaginable tragedy if left unchecked.” 

Wayne A. Jacobs, the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Field Office, also weighed in, “Protecting the United States from terrorist attacks remains our top priority. The swift and thorough coordination of law enforcement throughout this investigation disrupted a significant threat. Moments like this highlight the strength of our law enforcement partnerships and our unwavering commitment to safeguarding our communities.”

 

Jacobs added that it was a privilege to serve alongside the FBI’s partners at the Philadelphia Police Department, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, “I want to thank the men and women of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force for their continued service to our country and their vital role in protecting our city,” Jacobs said.

 

The retired FBI agent I spoke to told me that we must all be vigilant and look out for other young people who are indoctrinated and radicalized by overseas terrorist organizations.

 

“If you read radical Islamic posts that advocate violence on social media outlets, you should notify the FBI.”      

 

Paul Davis’s Crime Beat column appears here weekly. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com.

Confronting Krasner: My Q&A with 22-Year-Old Activist Frank Scales

 PhillyDaily.com ran my Crime Beat column today. The column offers my Q&A with Frank Scales (seen in the above photo). 

You can read the column via the link below or the text below:

Confronting Krasner: My Q&A with 22-year-old activist Frank Scales - Philly Daily

I’ve watched videos of Frank Scales, a 22-year-old firebrand political conservative activist confronting Larry Krasner (seen in the above photo), who is running for reelection as Philadelphia’s District Attorney.

I reached out to Frank Scales and asked him about his opposition to Krasner and his confrontations with the Philly DA.

You can read my Q&A with him below: 

Davis: I watched your videos of you confronting Philly DA Krasner and his supporters at public meetings. Would you please explain what happened?

Scales: We went to the first Town Hall. We went with the intention of hearing him out and asking questions about his policies that we disagree with. When we walked in the door, we were greeted by someone who said Larry wouldn’t be answering our questions directly, and that we had to write down our questions on a flash card and a moderator would take and read to a panel. We were disappointed. We wrote our questions down and we sat down. 

But as soon as Larry started talking, he immediately started demonizing President Trump and Republicans, and at one point, I said enough is enough and I got up and said, stop doing this. This is what leads to political violence. This is why Charlie Kirk was assassinated. He responded by calling me a fascist. 

At another Town Hall meeting two days later, we were met on the steps by Larry’s LBGTQ advisor, Asa Khalif, who physically stopped us from entering. He hurled insults at us and threatened us for an hour straight. Later one morning, I saw Krasner at the park, and I confronted him and asked him why I wasn’t allowed into his Town Hall. He immediately started attacking me. He wouldn’t answer my questions. His hands started shaking, and he was verbally and physically aggressive. His comebacks were weird.

Davis: I watched your video on your Facebook page where Krasner is on a bicycle in the park and he tells you to read a book about fascism and World War II, and when you ask for a book title, he either wouldn’t or couldn’t give you one. And then he said that Trump was trying to stop women from voting. Well, I can give you a book title about the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany, Herman Wouk’s historical novel, “The Winds of War,” and his WWII novel, “War and Remembrance.” 

Scales: I would be still open to having a conversation with him, but I don’t think he is open to having a conversation with me. He has the wit of a demented old man and a temperament of a teenager. I’m not trying to insult the man, but that is what I saw. I wanted to know why he thought Trump’s a fascist. Why does he think that Trump is looking to take away women's vote? I don’t think he has ever been challenged, so he's gotten away with this rhetoric that he can’t back up. Quite frankly, I don't think he was prepared to actually give me a book title. I would read a book he recommended.

Davis: Have you read Ralph Cipriano’s pieces at BigTrial on his confrontations with Krasner?

Scales: Yes. Krasner has a habit of insulting the people who disagree with him, kicking them out of meetings and silencing them. 

Davis: Why do you call Krasner “Lawless Larry?”

Scales: I call him “lawless” because he puts his ideology above the law that he was elected by the public to enforce. I’ll give you an example. When it comes to illegal firearms, he has stated that he doesn't believe that illegal firearms lead to shootings. As a result, he has declined to prosecute a lot of cases in which people were carrying illegal firearms. People are breaking the law, and he doesn’t want to prosecute because of his personal beliefs and ideology. 

He does not prosecute people with illegal firearms, but at the same time he’s playing the blame game and blaming Republicans for shootings by people who were protecting themselves under the Second Amendment. So he wants to take away the rights of law-abiding citizens to have firearms to protect themselves, while at the same time allowing criminals to possess illegal firearms to carry.

Davis: And some say he is on a one-man crusade to prosecute cops.

Scales: Yes, absolutely. I've never seen anything like it.

Davis: I was taken aback to hear Krasner say that DA now stands for “democracy advocate” and not district attorney.

Scales: It is a dereliction of duty. He has been elected and paid to by a district attorney, not an advocate for the Democratic Party or for his ideology. For him to be allowed to say that goes to show you that in Philadelphia over the past 50 years has been an echo chamber. I think we need to change that. We need to hold these people accountable. I hope that I can inspire people to speak up and hold them accountable and challenge their rhetoric.

Davis: I don’t care for one party rule of either political party.

Scales: They call Republicans and President Trump authoritarians and fascists and all this, but who is silencing their political opponents? Who is ruling a county with one-party rule? Who won’t allow Republicans into town hall meetings? These are all things that fascists and authoritarians would do, and Democrats are the ones doing it.

Davis: You’re kind of young to be involved in politics. How old are you?

Scales: I’m 22 years old.

Davis: Would you please tell us about your background and how you became a political activist? 

Scales: I would say that I was passionate about politics from a very young age, and I thought that I had to go through other things before I could actually get involved in politics. I went to Community College for Biology. There was a student government election coming up, and I figured I would throw my name in the hat, and I ran for president. I made posters and I walked around for three days straight getting people to vote, and I won by the largest margin in history. That's because I was the first one who actually make it extremely serious. 

I went into student government, and I worked every day. It was a full-time job for me. But that energy wasn't welcomed by the school's administration. They cited me for hate speech for expressing support for the Founding Fathers of the country. So, I ended up getting fired. A free speech advocacy group advocated on

I went into student government, and I worked every day. It was a full-time job for me. But that energy wasn't welcomed by the school's administration. They cited me for hate speech for expressing support for the Founding Fathers of the country. So, I ended up getting fired. A free speech advocacy group advocated on my behalf and the administration dropped the charges. I continued as president of the student government. I endorsed President Trump on my Instagram account because my eyes were open to how corrupt the Democratic Party is. A month or two later, the school’s administration impeached me and removed me from office. They stated that it was partially because of my support of President Trump. 

I took a few months off to gather myself and I wrote about the incident, and then I wanted to get involved again. What happened at Community College of Philadelphia was a microcosm of what happens in the city of Philadelphia and broadly on a national scale. So, I and my cofounder of Surge Philly, Ian McInnis, began making videos, talking about all of this stuff with the goal of getting the conservative viewpoint out there, and to let people know that they aren't alone. It's OK to speak up, zero to one. If one person speaks up, it’s a whole different ball game. That was our goal. I loved what we're doing. That’s my passion – it's not even work for me.  

Davis: How would you describe your political group Surge Philly?

Scales: We are a group that is trying to energize conservatives in Philadelphia to take back our city.   

Davis: Who were your influences?

Scales: When I was really young, Nigel Farage caught my attention. I would say Jordan Peterson was instrumental in me developing my beliefs around Christianity and my basic ideology about the world, and I would say Charlie Kirk was a huge influence. 

Davis: What are you and your group doing to advocate your views?

Scales: We are having an open debate every Saturday at Logan’s Square from 4pm to 6pm. We want people who disagree with us to come up and debate us. This is the most powerful thing you can do. Surge Philly is going to be available to the public. We are going to convince people through our words. We have a GoFundMe page to help raise money for the group  Fundraiser by Ian Mcginnis : Join Surge Philly to Make Philly Great Again!

Davis: Do you support Judge Dugan for DA?

Scales: I do. I think we need to vote out Larry Krasner. I think Judge Dugan will do a good job. 

 Paul Davis's Crime Beat column appears here weekly. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com.  

My PhillyDaily Crime Beat Column: The Murder Of A South Philly Barber

PhillyDaily.com posted my first weekly Crime Beat column for the popular website. 

You can read the column via the below link or the text below: 

The Murder of a South Philly Barber - Philly Daily

The Philadelphia Police recently announced that charges against Michael Piselli (seen in his mugshot below), 38, were upgraded to murder in the beating death of Santo Procopio (seen in the above photo), a 78-year-old South Philadelphia barber.  

Procopio was brutally beaten in his South Philadelphia home in December of 2024. He was pronounced dead on December 14, 2024, after he’d been treated for severe injuries that included cuts to his head and chin, facial fractures and brain bleeding. 

Philadelphia police officers responded to a report of a person screaming on 10th and Oregon Avenue on December 2nd, and they discovered Procopio in his kitchen bleeding from his massive injuries. Procopio was rushed to the Jefferson University Hospital in critical condition, according to the police.

Piselli was identified quickly as the suspect and he was taken into custody by the police. The Philadelphia Police said that their investigation revealed that Piselli had been acting irrationally in Procopio’s backyard. A witness to Piselli’s behavior called the police after Piselli entered Procopio’s home and locked the witness out of the home. Police said Piselli entered the home and assaulted Procopio repeatedly. 

The witness told police that he saw the attack through the kitchen window. He saw Piselli hitting Procopio while he was lying on the kitchen floor. Piselli left the house and ran down the street. Police searched the area, found Piselli, and arrested him. He was charged with a variety of assault offences.  

The Philadelphia Police said Piselli was processed at the Special Detention Division, and the Homicide Unit is now conducting an investigation.

I’ve covered many murder cases over the years while working as a reporter and crime columnist, but this case is of special interest to me as Santo Procopio was not only my barber for many years, he was also a good friend. I thought of Santo, and his late brother Vince, as my uncles. I have been Santo’s customer and friend since I was a teenager in the 1960s. 

Santo and Vincent Procopio came to Philadelphia from Calabria, Italy in 1955 and opened their barber shop in 1965. In the 1960s, when I frequented the shop as a teenager, and into the 70s, 80s and 90s, the Vince and Santo’s barber shop on Sartain and Oregon Avenue had a congenial atmosphere akin to an old-fashioned taproom bar or a social club — minus the alcohol. The barber shop was authentically “South Philly.” 

When I wrote about the barber shop in 1994 for Philadelphia Weekly, I quoted Vince Procopio, who said, “We are a friendly shop. Everybody is more of a friend than a customer. We have customers who have moved to New Jersey and other places far away, but they still come back here for a haircut. A lot of shops give them a haircut and throw them out. Our friends stay and talk about the salaries of ball players and such. This is an Italian neighborhood, although we have all kinds living here, and we all get along.” 

Thanks to their loyal, multi-generational following, the shop remained open for years even during the long hair days of the 1960s, when many other barber shops folded. Other than the four years I spent in the Navy overseas, I went only to Vince and Santo’s barber shop for my regular haircut. 

Back in the late 1970s, I was a young gambler. I was a fair poker player, and I bet widely on sports games. I usually did alright, win some, lose some. But when I had a bad week and lost heavily, I would invariably go to Santo. He would shake his head in disappointment, and he would caution me about betting heavily, but he was always there for me, as he was there for many of the young men in my South Philly crowd. 

Many years after I gave up gambling and other vices, and I married and started a family, I would be in the barber shop waiting to get a haircut and I would see Santo giving sound advice and sometimes money to people in trouble. He would also reach out to his friends and ask them to give a troubled soul a job or medical care. 

Santo retired a few years ago, but he continued to help others. I recently spoke to a mutual friend who told me that Michael Piselli had drug and mental issues, and Santo Procopio had been helping him.

Piselli, it appears, rewarded Santo for his good efforts by brutally beating him to death.

No good deed goes unpunished, as the saying goes. Santo Procopio did not deserve to die this way.

Paul Davis’s Crime Beat column appear here weekly, He is also a frequent contributor to Broad + Liberty and Counterterrorism magazine. He can be reached at pauldavisoncrime.com.