Forget Rocky: A Look Back At Philadelphia's True Boxing Champion, Smokin'Joe Frazier

I'm reading Mark Kram, Jr's Smokin' Joe: The Life of Joe Frazier, as I've been assigned to review the book for the Washington Times.

David Murell at Philadelphia magazine offers an interview with Mark Kram, Jr (seen in the below photo).

You can read the piece via the below link:

https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/06/08/smokin-joe-frazier-mark-kram/?utm_campaign=EDIT%3A%20Sunday&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=7
3478646&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--h3XHg1DwiOlfkmwR3ncn5CxoGiV_xFkg_qNgUiV7-gsjHTL7AMs_f7ksWK

Note; Below is a photo of the late great fighter Joe Frazier near the sports stadiums in South Philadelphia;

The Great South Philly iPhone Heist of 2018: Remember When South Philly Guys Used To Steal Truckloads Of Cigarettes?

Victor Fiorillo at phillymag.com offers a piece on the theft of iPhones and other cell phone devices in South Philadelphia.

There was a time when a certain type of South Philly guy would spend his productive hours casing tractor-trailers and delivery trucks to score truckloads of cigarettes that would then be sold on the black market. But, this being 2018 and cigarettes not being particularly socially acceptable, we’ve moved onto iPhones.

The Philadelphia Police Department has arrested three South Philly men, alleging that they were behind schemes to steal $100,000 in iPhones and other cell phone devices.

You can read the rest of the piece at https://www.phillymag.com/news/2018/10/31/iphone-heist-south-philly/#lpfh2M6t9dOi9grK.99 

Requiem For A Gangster

Some years ago I read an excellent book called Black Brothers, Inc: The Violent Rise and Fall of Philadelphia's Black Mafia by Sean Patrick Griffin.

Griffin now offers a piece on the death of the founder of the Black Mafia for Philadelphia magazine.

Sam “Beyah” Christian died last Sunday without so much as a single headline to note his passing. Two weeks shy of age 77, he had been in declining health and was living in a local nursing home. He happened to be one of the most feared gangsters in the history of Philadelphia.

Christian was the founder of the city’s notorious Black Mafia, and under his leadership in the mid-1960s through the ’70s, its members operated a complex criminal enterprise wholly separate from the Italian Mob: numbers-running, drug trafficking, extortion and prostitution. Later, they’d develop high-level moneymaking schemes, tapping politicians for a cut of the windfall of federal funds pouring into impoverished areas. In consolidating power, Christian and his followers left a bloody trail of more than 40 bodies, including the decapitated head of a noncompliant drug dealer outside a North Philadelphia bar and the sawed-off hands of another dope peddler. 

On Tuesday, however, about 600 mourners at the Philadelphia Masjid mosque in West Philly paid homage to another side of Christian, known as Beyah. Imam Kenneth Nuriddin recalled how Christian loved his Islamic faith and instructed others in its practice in prison. Nuriddin asked Muslims “to pray for Beyah’s soul” and to “ask Allah to forgive him” so that he might enter Paradise. His friends on Facebook did the same.

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

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/requiem-for-a-gangster/?utm_campaign=EDIT%3A+News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=27251017&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9pVZNOYn98xUYV4Z4woeahHAGG6GrUYMuHhpKK1JFvlKxPIXVLDN_cjvMNgJj_5RV4e34e8b4eA79DLJREvCvG9-sTwA&_hsmi=27251017

You can purchase the book at Amazon.com via the below link:

http://www.amazon.com/Black-Brothers-Inc-Violent-Philadelphias/dp/1903854369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458028936&sr=8-1&keywords=Black+Brothers%2C+INc  

Man Caught On Surveillance Cameras Stealing Surveillance Cameras In South Philly

Public and private surveillance cameras often aid the police in solving crime.

A while back I wrote a magazine piece on surveillance cameras and I interviewed a Philadelphia homicide detective who told me that the first thing the detectives do when they come upon a crime scene is to look around for cameras.

Surveillance cameras often catch criminals in the act of theft, vandalism, armed robbery and murder, but perhaps only in South Philly, where I was raised and continue to live, would a thief be caught on surveillance cameras stealing, well, surveillance cameras.
 
You can view the police video tape via the below link to Philadelphia magazine:

http://www.phillymag.com/news/2015/05/11/south-philly-surveillance-cameras-stolen/

You can read my magazine piece on surveillance cameras via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2012/12/an-eye-on-crime-how-cameras-aid-police.html 

Reporter George Anastasia's Life With The Philly Mob

In my last two posts I linked to Bigtrial.net pieces by veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia on the federal organized crime trial in Philadelphia.

Now I've come across a link to a long piece by Anastasia in Philadelphia magazine that looks back on his career as a reporter covering the Philly mob.

The link only offers a "sneak peak," as the magazine calls it, so one will have to wait for a time before the magazine's web site will offer the entire piece.

I plan on going out and buying a print copy of the magazine.

You can read the sneak peak via the below the below link:

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/35-years-philly-mob-george-anastasia-2/

Philly Mob Boss Wanted DJ Jerry Blavet Whacked

John P. Martin at the Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the ongoing organized crime trial in Philadelphia.

Philadelphia's reputed mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi vowed in 2009 to kill radio celebrity and restaurant owner Jerry Blavat, a mob turncoat testified today.
 

Ligambi was livid over a July 2009 Philadelphia Magazine article on the local mob and believed Blavat was the source of the story, Louis "Bent Finger Lou" Monacello told a federal court jury.
"He was ranting and raving, 'That [expletive] Jerry Blavat, he set this up ... Jerry Blavat, I'm gonna kill this [expletive],' " Monacello said, recounting his September 2009 conversation with Ligambi.
There were no signs that the threat against Blavat, a Philadelphia radio icon and owner of Memories, a Margate, N.J. restaurant frequented by wiseguys, extended beyond words.

Still, Monacello said, "If I were Jerry Blavat, I'd be nervous."

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

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20121113_Wiseguy__Mob_boss_wanted_DJ_Jerry_Blavat_whacked.html

You can also read the Philadelphia Magazine article in question via the below link:

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/what-ever-happened-to-the-south-philly-mob/