My Crime Beat Column: My Q&A With Veteran Newspaper Columnist And Author Stu Bykofsky

For a time, I was proud to have my Crime Beat column appear in Philadelphia Weekly alongside the contributions of veteran newspaper columnist Stu Bykofsky.  

Previous to this, I was also a proud contributor for 19 years to the Philadelphia Inquirer, where Stu Bykofsky’s popular column ran for many years. 

So when I read that Stu Bykofsky had written a novel about newspapers, reporters, crime and politics, called Press Card, I purchased the novel online, and I read and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Stu Bykofsky described Press Card on his website, STU BYKOFSKY - Reality determines my political positions, not vice versa : 

Did you ever have a bad boss? Sure, you have.​

Did you ever do anything about him (or her)?​

Probably not.​

Claude Shelby does.​

He’s a straight-talking, wisecracking, street-savvy reporter who doesn’t like his bosses -- and they don’t like him.​

That conflict provides the framework for Press Card, which is funny, sad, poetic, obscene, sexy, and knowing.​

Following his demotion for cutting corners to get a political story, Shelby struggles with his bosses, and with what his job sometimes requires him to do. 

When he’s at his lowest point and floating aimlessly, he stumbles into clues that could lead him to the biggest story of his life -- finding fugitive Black revolutionary Sister Sojourner.​

He chases the leads he digs out all the way to St. Lucia in the Caribbean, where he receives help from an unexpected source in a skintight dress.​

In this picaresque novel, Claude Shelby interacts with memorable characters: a rags-to-riches millionaire, a close friend who regrets quitting journalism for the big bucks of P.R., the Philadelphia artist who designs neon tube clothing accessories that double as dildos, and a predatory female reporter.​

Press Card takes readers inside the Fourth Estate and reveals how some newspapers make decisions. It unmasks power plays between union and management, and reporters’ tricks.​

It is fiction based on fact.​

Press Card crackles like a police radio and rolls as fast as the presses that print the fictional Philadelphia Free Press.

I reached out to Stu Bykofsky and asked him about Press Card. 

Davis: Why did you write Press Card? 

Bykofsky: Two reasons. 1- A personal challenge to myself to see if I could write something that long. “Cats Are Supermodels” was a decade earlier, nonfiction, and about 20% as long as “Press Card.” 2- Wanted revenge on some editors.  

Davis: How would you describe the novel? 

Bykofsky: I call it “faction” -- fact wrapped in fiction. It pulls back the curtains on how print really works, in a fast-paced, humorous manner.  

Davis: Is Claude Shelby in any way autobiographical? 

Bykofsky: Claude Shelby is not Stu Bykofsky, but some of Stu Bykofsky is in Claude Shelby. Claude is somewhat anti-union; Stu is very pro-union. Shelby chews gum, Stu never had, and Stu was never a political reporter. 

Davis: Is the Philadelphia Free Press based on the Daily News or the Inquirer? 

Bykofsky: The Free Press is a tabloid, like the News, and, honestly, the novel is a roman a clef, using the News as a template. You know the adage -- write what you know.

Davis: Are the other characters, especially the editors, based on real people? 

Bykofsky: Some yes, some no. Some are complete inventions; other characters are borrowed from people I know. When inventing a character, I picture someone I know. It helps with the physical descriptions and helps me keep them separate. 

Davis: Did you cover any of the stories that Shelby covered in the novel? 

Bykofsky: I was working the desk the night a tanker exploded in the Delaware. That’s the chapter called Fire on the Water. I actually had a lead on Patty Hearst, through a friend, but the trail went cold fast. As to the suicide of a TV anchor, that was loosely based on Bud Dwyer, but I did not cover that. I was a TV critic for five years and will say the TV reporter Howard Scott was based on WPVI’s Marc Howard.  

Davis: Why do newspapers cover crime stories so prominently? 

Bykofsky: They don’t anymore -- and that is intentional. The “Woke” element in newsrooms have decided coverage of crime is racist. If you give it a moment's thought, you can imagine why.  

Davis: What made you want to go into newspaper journalism?  

Bykofsky: I started by joining the college newspaper at Brooklyn College (night school), because I didn’t like fraternities and it was one club that had girls, where everyone drank and cursed and smoked. It turned out writing was a gift -- I could do it easily and I figured it would be a good career. Not a lot of money, but a lot of fun. My intuition was correct. And the editor of its college paper got me my first professional job at The World-Telegram & The Sun in NYC in 1959. I retired 60 years later. 

Davis: Was anyone in particular a major influence? 

Bykofsky: The aforementioned college editor, Gordon Lattey -- still a friend. Got me the job at the Telegram, and later got me a freelance job with a travel magazine he edited, which opened the door to world travel -- with someone else paying the bill. I have been everywhere from Antigua to Yugoslavia, something that would have been completely impossible for someone like me who grew up in the projects. 

Davis: How are newspapers today different today from the 1970s, the era portrayed in Press Card? 

Bykofsky: I hate to generalize, but they seem to be run by people guided more by their politics than by news values. 

Davis: What do you see for the future of newspapers? 

Bykofsky: In print -- none, and that is really sad. I see them each becoming silos, catering to the perceived biases of their readers. I can’t be specific because I signed a NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) with the Inquirer, which I am suing for defamation. 

Davis: Do you have a favorite book, novel or play about newspapers? 

Bykofsky: Citizen Hearst, although only indirectly about newspapers. And The Front Page, of course, for sheer fun. 

Davis: Do you have a favorite film or TV series about newspapers? 

Bykofsky: There was an OLD series, maybe the ‘50s, called The Big Story, something like that, that was sort of a documentary recreation. I also strongly like Absence of Malice, although it is slightly off-kilter about libel law. But Paul Newman and Sally Field -- what’s not to like? 

Davis: How would you describe your career as a newspaperman and columnist?  

Bykofsky: Pleasure. The bad days were few, and I got to travel the world, and rub elbows with celebrities and politicians. (I don’t really like celebrities, but they make good fodder for story telling). Unfortunately, I now have forgotten most of the stories. Importantly, at stages in my career I was able to help people who needed it, and kick the asses of politicians, who also needed it. 

Davis: Do you plan to write another novel? 

Bykofsky: The first one took almost 40 years. I am 80. And I write a very active blog, so there’s no time. 

Davis: Good luck with the novel.

Note: You can read Stu Bykofsky's bio via the below link:

Stu Bykofsky | Columnist & Author | About (presscardthebook.com)

And you can purchase Press Card via the below link:  

  Www.PressCardTheBook.com

Hey Fredo - Bring Out The Peppers And Sausage: Ralph Cipriano Looks At The New Philadelphia Media Network Newsroom

These days I’m a regular contributor to the Washington Times, and even though I didn’t always agree with the Philadelphia Inquirer’s liberal viewpoint, I’m proud to have been a contributor to the newspaper for nearly 20 years.

My last piece for the Philadelphia Inquirer was a full page Q&A with producer and actor Chazz Palminteri. The piece also ran in the Philadelphia Daily News.

So I was interested in reading veteran reporter and former Inquirer staffer Ralph Ciprano’s take on today’s Philadelphia Media Network newsroom, which is comprised of the two daily newspapers and Philly.com.

Last week, I took a virtual tour of the new merged Inquirer-Daily News-philly.com newsroom, thanks to a brand new feature on their website that's accessible to even hardcore non-subscribers like myself.

It's been 20 years since my last day at the Inquirer, when I was escorted out of the building by an editor. So, I figured I was due for a return visit. But I emerged from my virtual tour feeling like Frank Pentangeli.

Remember the scene in Godfather II where crusty old Frank [AKA "Frankie Five Angels" and "Frankie Pants"] attends the first communion of the late Don Corleone's grandson. It's a big fancy party on the shores of Lake Tahoe, Nevada back in 1958; quite a contrast with the old-fashioned Sicilian wedding scene set on Long Island  back in 1945 that opened the original Godfather.

"Hey Fredo," Frank says, "What's with the food around here?"

"A kid comes up to me in a white jacket, gives me a Ritz cracker, and uh, chopped liver, he says canapés  I say uh, uh, can o' peas my ass, that's a Ritz cracker and chopped liver! . . . Bring out the peppers and sausage."

Then, Frank jumps on stage to take issue with the slow music that the boys in the orchestra are playing.

"I can't believe, out of 30 professional musicians, there isn't one Italian in, in the group here," Frank says. "Come on, let's have a tarantella."

That's how I felt after I toured the new merged Inky newsroom.

On "The Newsroom" page at the bottom of the philly.com website, they show the same old reporter's notebook that I used to carry in my back pocket when I was an Inky reporter for more than a decade. Then, they introduce more than 100 reporters who explain their new beats at the new merged Inky.

There's some old familiar faces in the crowd, people I used to work with, but the new Inky newsroom seems more devoted to remaking society rather than reporting the news.

"We've recently reorganized our beats and coverage teams to ensure that we focused on the issues, ideas and institutions that matter most to people of our region," it says. "Here's what we're covering and how to reach us."

On the Inquirer's new "justice and injustice" team, they've got a reporter who covers "unjust systems." He'll never run out of material in this town. They've got a reporter who writes about "violent crimes," and another reporter who writes about "victims."

So, theoretically in any crime story, say, one that involves a purse-snatching, it may take two reporters to write it. One to report on the violent nature of the crime, and another to write about the story from the victim's point of view.

But let's say the assailant comes from a disadvantaged background, and may have been discriminated against in the past. Or he or she is possibly an immigrant, or somebody who may be a minority person living in a neighborhood simmering with ethnic, racial and cultural tensions. Or the purse-snatcher is someone who perceives that they live in an unjust society.

Fortunately, in the new Inky newsroom, there's a vast array of specialists to draw on who can flesh out the cultural, racial and societal aspects of that purse-snatching.

… Hey Fredo, does anybody still cover the freaking City Council? Is anybody down at the Roundhouse, seeing what the cops are up to? Does anybody still cover the courts?

From the online description, the new Inky newsroom is a relentless parade of PC warriors who meet every day to march around the Rizzo statue, and plot Big Frank's demise. But we're not done yet.

In the new Inky newsroom, they have a "class" reporter who writes about "aspects of poverty, wealth, and the middle class relating to both economic and social issues." There's a reporter who covers immigration, and another reporter who covers "neighborhoods and gentrification," specifically "characters, tensions and issues."  On the "policy and solutions" team, there's a  reporter who writes about "fairness," particularly "economic equity issues, including school funding, and affordable housing." They also have a full-time reporter who covers "the commerce of cannabis."

In the Inky's new world order, they've got four metro columnists. It's a perfectly diverse team, featuring a couple of white guys and a couple women of color. Of course, all the columnists, local, suburban and national, are liberals who hate Trump. Of the more than 100 reporters working in the new Inky newsroom, if there's a conservative in the bunch, or a Libertarian, or a contrarian, you'd never know it by reading the paper.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link to bigtrial.net:

www.bigtrial.net/2018/01/hey-fredo-bring-out-peppers-and-sausage.html#more

You can also read my Philadelphia Inquirer Q&A with Chazz Palminteri via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2016/10/my-philadelphia-inquirer-q-with-chazz_4.html 

Inky Readers Hit Paywall: If You Want To Read The Philadelphia Inquirer (And Philadelphia Daily News) Online, You'll Have To Pay

From 1999 until recently, I was a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer. The newspaper cut way back on freelance contributors, so I’ve moved on to the Washington Times and other publications.

Another change at the Inquirer, known also as the “Inky,” is that you will have to pay to read the newspaper online.

Ralph Cipriano, a former Inquirer staffer, offers his take on the newspaper paywall at Bigtrial.net. 

Philadelphia At 10:30 a.m. on the Tuesday after the Labor Day weekend, visitors to philly.com ran into a big surprise -- a brand new paywall.

If you were one of those readers who had already read 10 stories on philly.com that month, you were out of luck. No more freebies. Your only option, besides hopping on another computer, or accessing the site from another web browser, was to sign up for "unlimited digital access for 99 cents for four weeks, and $2.99 per week thereafter."

… So, as a free service to all those former visitors to philly.com who are now restricted from the site, here's what you missed.

Today, the Inquirer's PC posse led the webpage with three different stories about the city's ongoing statue wars.

First, Tirdad Derakshani, an Inquirer staff writer, breathlessly reported the big news that the city's PC Mural Arts program had just installed right behind that racist Frank Rizzo statue a new statue of a 12-foot high steel Afro-pick, topped by a fist raised in a black power salute.

Take that, Big Bambino.

Next, Solomon Jones, an Inquirer columnist, visited the two statues and found the Afro-pick statue to  be empowering. But not empowering enough the columnist said, to combat the continuing racism emanating from the Rizzo statue. So, for the umpteenth time, the courageous Inquirer columnist called for the removal of the racist Rizzo statue.

Climaxing the newspaper's blanket coverage of the statue wars, former Inquirer fashion columnist Elizabeth Wellington weighed in to say that she also visited both statues and found the Afro Pick statue to be not empowering.

This was a major development, and in shocking contrast to Jones's stance.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bigtrial.net/2017/09/inky-readers-hit-paywall.html

Note: It is a shame that newspapers and other publications can't seem to come up with a way of financing themselves through online advertising. This is, after all, the information age. So what better way to offer information to all than through free online access?  

Meet Richard Ross, Philly's Next Top Cop

David Gambacorta and Dana DiFilippo at the Philadelphia Daily News offers a piece on the new Philadelphia Police Commissioner.

Come January, the entire city - and a police force of 6,500 men and women - will be watching Ross' every move, analyzing every quote, trying to determine what kind of leader he will be.

Ross knows he is inheriting the top job at a pivotal and difficult moment in the history of law enforcement. Police departments across the country are grappling with an unprecedented identity crisis in the face of growing calls to reform their policies and procedures, and to commit to never-before-seen levels of transparency.

But Ross brings something to the table that might make him uniquely qualified to navigate these choppy waters: a willingness to listen.

But what does that actually mean, as Ross prepares to take over for retiring Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, whose popularity with Philly residents and the law-enforcement community casts an impossibly long shadow?

According to Ross, it means he will be reaching out to rowhouse dwellers and rank-and-file cops alike, at town-hall meetings and in small gatherings, to find out what they need from him.

"In my view, if a police commander thinks he knows what every community wants, it's a tragic error," he said.

"You don't know what people need unless you listen to them. And that holds true for police officers, too. You need to have a dialogue with the men and women you ask to do this job. If you don't include them in the process, you're really headed for trouble."

Ross' journey to the top of the fourth-largest police department in America began in the Fern Rock section of North Philadelphia, where his parents, Richard and Virginia Ross, raised a house full of kids.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://mobile.philly.com/beta?wss=/philly/news&id=346400102 

Philadelphia Police Commissioner, FOP Assail Philadelphia Daily News Reporters On Police Allegations

Craig R. McCoy at the Philadelphia Inquirer offers a piece on police criticism of two Philadelphia Daily News reporters' Pulitzer Price-winning newspaper series and a book on police misconduct.

The president of the Philadelphia lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police assailed the Philadelphia Daily News on Wednesday, saying there were credible allegations that two of the newspaper's reporters paid for utility bills, food, diapers, and other gifts to a woman whose story was told in their Pulitzer Prize-winning series on police misconduct.

In an interview later in the day, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey raised similar criticisms of the reporters, saying that if the allegations were true, the reporters crossed an ethical line.

John J. McNesby, president of FOP Lodge 5, said he had "sound evidence" that the Daily News reporters had paid for food and bills and given gifts to a woman who told them she had been sexually assaulted by a police officer. He would not identify his source.

Without providing details, he also cited allegations that "they intentionally fabricated parts of their story."

H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, owner of the company that publishes The Inquirer and the Daily News, rejected the criticism.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://articles.philly.com/2014-07-18/news/51714702_1_utility-bills-philadelphia-daily-news-reporters

You can also read my interview with the two reporters, Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/05/my-crime-beat-column-my-q-with-wendy.html

From Sex In The City To Crime In The City: Sarah Jessica Parker To Star As Philly Crime Reporter

 

Molly Eichel at the Philadelphia Daily News offers the below piece:

 

Busted, the memoir from the Daily News' own Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman, based on their Pulitzer Prize-wining series, "Tainted Justice," has been optioned for a television series from Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, with Sarah Jessica Parker starring. The show will be co-producted by Anonymous Content, the company behind the much-buzzed-about "True Crime."  

 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

 

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/celebrities/20140626_Sarah_Jessica_Parker_returns_to_TV_for_show_based_on_Daily_News_reporters.html

 

You can also read my Washington Times review of Busted via the below link:

 

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/05/my-washington-times-review-of-busted.html

 

And you can read my interview with Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker via the below link:

 

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/05/my-crime-beat-column-my-q-with-wendy.html 

Tough Cop: Mike Chitwood Vs. The 'Scumbags'

Stephanie Farr at the Philadelphia Daily News offers a piece on Harold J. Gullan's new book on Upper Darby PA Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.

WHEN PHILLY author Harold Gullan decided to write a book about the storied career of Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood, he didn't have to go far for research material.
Chitwood, known for his penchant for the press, loaned Gullan 40 boxes of news clippings about himself that he's saved over his 49-year career in law enforcement.
For a year, the two met every other week at Llanerch Diner in Upper Darby to talk. Each time, Chitwood brought more boxes for Gullan to sift through.
"He's collected every story that's ever been written about him," Gullan said.

Now, many of those stories are collected in Gullan's book, Tough Cop: Mike Chitwood vs. the "Scumbags."

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131211_Chiterature.html#S9c6Q4FIeOyTWLGs.99

WHEN PHILLY author Harold Gullan decided to write a book about the storied career of Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood, he didn't have to go far for research material.
Chitwood, known for his penchant for the press, loaned Gullan 40 boxes of news clippings about himself that he's saved over his 49-year career in law enforcement.
For a year, the two met every other week at Llanerch Diner in Upper Darby to talk. Each time, Chitwood brought more boxes for Gullan to sift through.
"He's collected every story that's ever been written about him," Gullan said.

Now, many of those stories are collected in Gullan's book, Tough Cop: Mike Chitwood vs. the "Scumbags."

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131211_Chiterature.html#S9c6Q4FIeOyTWLGs.99

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131211_Chiterature.html?nlid=6605141

The book's publisher, Camino, offers the below:

Follow Mike Chitwood as he becomes the most decorated officer in Philadelphia police history, defying death in critical hostage negotiations and emerging as a key figure in an international high-profile case—he found the body of Ira Einhorn’s former girlfriend, Holly Maddux. Chitwood went on to a compelling career, heading police departments in three very different localities. He is still fighting crime today after half a century in law enforcement. As the legendary John Timoney has said, “Nobody does this better than Mike.”

Note: Like Michael Chitwood, I grew up on Oregon Avenue in South Philly. I'm reading the interesting book now and I plan to interview Michael Chitwood. I'll post the interview here in the near future.

Apparent Mob Hit In South Philly

 

William Bender and Morgan Zalot at the Philadelphia Daily News offer a report on what appears to be an organized crime-related murder in South Philadelphia.

As federal prosecutors rested their case against reputed Mafia boss Joseph Ligambi, police investigated an apparent mob hit Wednesday in South Philly that left a 50-year-old man dead of gunshot wounds.
 

Police were questioning Anthony Nicodemo, 41, a reputed mob soldier, in connection with the killing, and were seeking a warrant to search his Packer Park home.

Yellow crime-scene tape stretched across Iseminger Street near Johnston and cops were scouring the scene for evidence in what appeared to be the city's first mob hit in nearly a decade.

A woman from the neighborhood who said she was afraid to give her name said she'd heard five gunshots around 3 p.m., when a man neighbors and police sources identified as 50-year-old Gino DiPietro was shot several times in the back and fatally wounded on the narrow street.

"He was in out and out trouble. He'd been in jail for drugs," a neighbor said of DiPietro, who'd apparently been ambushed while getting into his truck on the block.

DiPietro was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital and pronounced dead at 3:21 p.m.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20121212_Apparent_mob_hit_in_S__Phila_.html

You can also watch Omari Fleming's Fox29 News report on the murder via the below link:

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/20329181/police-50-year-old-man-shot-in-south-philly

Ruthless Philadelphia Black Mafia Convicted Killer Robert "Nudie" Mims Dies In Prison

John F. Morrison at the Philadelphia Daily News reports on the death and the life of the Black Mafia convicted killer, Robert "Nudie" Mims.

IT WAS 40 YEARS AGO, but the bloody rampage still reeks in the memory of Philadelphians.

Eight Black Mafia members invaded Dubrow's furniture store on South Street on Jan. 4, 1971, and unleashed a barrage of wanton terror, leaving a janitor shot to death and an employee doused with gasoline and left burning; 13 other clerks were bound and beaten and two others shot and wounded.

Then-Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo called it "the most vicious crime I have ever come across."
The gang was led by Robert "Nudie" Mims, one of the leaders of the ruthless criminal organization that came to be called the Black Mafia.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/obituaries/20120711_Ruthless_killer_Robert__lsquo_Nudie__Mims_dies_in_prison.html

To learn more about Mims and the Philadelphia Black Mafia I suggest you read Sean Patrick Griffin's Black Brothers, Inc: The Violent Rise and Fall of Philadelphia's Black Mafia.  

Leaked Documents Claim Reputed former Philadelphia Mob Boss Joey Merlino's Back In the Game

 

Howard Altman and William Bender at the Philadelphia Daily News report on the release of an FBI memo that warns law enforcement officals that the reputed former boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime family may be getting back into organized crime.

Even as Joey Merlino was settling into a South Florida halfway house last summer after 12 years in prison, the FBI issued a confidential alert warning law-enforcement officials that the former Philadelphia mob boss might try to set up shop in the Miami area with some of his old associates. 

The memo was contained in the first batch of some five million emails being released by the anti-secrecy group Wikileaks - including several FBI alerts obtained by a Texas-based private-intelligence firm on topics ranging from biker gangs to al Qaeda's English-language website.

"As of March 2011, former Philadelphia (La Cosa Nostra) crime family boss, Joseph 'Skinny Joe' Merlino, appears to be restoring and developing significant relationships for a potential South Florida crew," read the Situational Information Report put out by the FBI's Miami office last June. "Reportedly, he may become involved in illicit gambling/bookmaking activities again."

You can read the rest of the story via the below ink to Philly.com:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120229_FLA_-SH_MOB__Leaked_docs_claim_Joey_Merlino_s_back_in_the_game_.html 

Philly D.A.: Abu-Jamal Can Go Rot In Jail

Mensah M. Dean at the Philadelphia Daily News covered yesterday's announcement that the Philadelphia District Attorney would not seek the death penalty for the convicted murderer of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.

The bitter, divisive and protracted Mumia Abu-Jamal death-penalty case reached its legal conclusion yesterday with District Attorney Seth Williams' decision to not seek a new death sentence for the convicted cop-killer.

Williams' decision - backed by the family of slain Officer Daniel Faulkner - means that Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther, MOVE sympathizer and radio-talk-show host who became an interational anti-capital-punishment figure while on death row, will remain in prison for the rest of his life without parole.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/20111208_D_A___Abu-Jamal_can_go_rot_in_cell.html

The above CBS photo is by Steve Tawa.

You can also read my previous post of Mumia Abu-Jamal via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2011/12/philly-da-wont-seek-death-penalty-for.html

Escape From Death Row For Convicted Cop Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal?

Nathan Gorenstein at The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the Philadelphia District Attorney's reaction to the federal appeals court ruling that a jury be impaneled to reconsider whether Mumia Abu-Jamal receives a death sentence or life in prison for murdering Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981.

You can read the newspaper story via the below link:

http://articles.philly.com/2011-04-26/news/29474850_1_mumia-abu-jamal-maureen-faulkner-death-penalty

You can also go to my earlier post, where you can read Michael Smerconish's interview with the jury forman from Abu-Jamal's original trial, as well as my review of Officer Faulkner's widow's book, Murdered by Mumia, and my 2003 Crime Beat column on the case, via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2010/11/forman-in-convicted-cop-killer-mumia.html

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey Elects To Stay On As The City's Top Cop

I ventured to South Philly High - my old school - in 2008 to see the newly appointed Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey at one of his scheduled town halls around the city.

Ramsey faced a racially-charged group that was furious with the police over the shooting death of a young Black criminal suspect and there were various activist groups there looking for a public forum to vent.

Ramsey handled them all well. He said he would wait for the investigation of the shooting (later ruled justified) before he would comment on it, but he defended the police in general terms. I also liked the way he answered a woman who asked if he was going to work with the Black clergy.

"I'm going to work with all the clergy, not just the Black clergy," Ramsey responded.

I believe Ramsey (seen in the above Yong Kim photo) has been a good commissioner and I'm pleased that he decided to remain in Philadelphia rather than return to Chicago, his home town.

You can read David Gambacorta and Catherine Lucey's piece on Ramsey in The Philadelphia Daily News  via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20110407_Emotional_ties_-_and_higher_pay_-_persuade_Commissioner_Ramsey_to_stay_put.html?nlid=3601294

You can also watch a video interview of Ramsey at NBCPhiladelphia.com via the below link:

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Philly_s__Just_a_Great_Town__Philadelphia-119429739.html?__source=Newsletter-Daily

Convicted Spy Harry Gold Was Philadelphia's Benedict Arnold

I'm reading Allen M. Hornblum's The Invisible Harry Gold: The Man Who Gave the Soviets the Atomic Bomb (Yale University Press).

The interesting book is about a man who gave the world's most devastating weapon to the world's most evil empire.

Hornblum wrote about Gold in a piece for The Philadelphia Daily News. You can read the piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20101103_Phil_Goldsmith__Convicted_spy_Harry_Gold_was_Philadelphia_s_Benedict_Arnold.html