Paul Davis On Crime: Vinny Vella

Showing posts with label Vinny Vella. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Philly Cop Covered in "Tainted Justice" Newspaper Series And Book "Busted" Fired By Commissioner

Vinny Vella and Barbara Laker offer a piece in the Philadelphia Daily News on the firing of Jeffrey Cujdik, one of the Philadelphia narcotics officers covered in Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman's Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper series, Tainted Justice, and their subsequent book, Busted: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal in the City of Brotherly Love.

A Measure of justice finally may have come to the alleged victims of a tainted narcotics squad.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey announced yesterday that Officer Jeffrey Cujdik has been suspended for 30 days with intent to dismiss, the Inquirer reported last night.

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

http://articles.philly.com/2014-05-13/news/49823809_1_officer-jeffrey-cujdik-daily-news-tainted-justice

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Pennsylvania Governor Signs Death Penalty For Cop Killer

Vinny Vella at the Philadelphia Daily News reports on Pennsylvania Governor Corbett approving the death penalty for Lewis Jordon, who was convicted in 2009 for the murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Chuck Cassidy (seen in the above photo) during a robbery.

You can read the piece via the below link:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140429_Guv_approves_death_penalty_for_cop_killer.html

Saturday, December 28, 2013

In South Philly, Community Policing Helps Cut Shootings In Half

Vinny Vella at the Philadelphia Daily News offers a piece on the police in South Philadelphia.

When Capt. Lou Campione drives down the streets of South Philly, people stop. They jump at that chance to say hi to "Lou," to ask him how's everything is going, to swap information.

...The emphasis on community policing amd building relationships as intuitive as it may seem, has worked wonders for Campione and South Philadelphia's 1st District: The number of shootings in the district has been cut in half this year - from 31 shootings to 15 through Dec. 17 - the highest decrease among the city's 21 police districts in the same time frame.

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

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131227_In_South_Philly__community_policing_helps_cut_shootings_in_half.html

Paul Davis

Paul Davis is a writer who covers crime. He has written extensively about organized crime, cybercrime, street crime, white collar crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, the military, espionage and terrorism. He is a contributor to the Washington Examiner and Counterterrorism magazine, and he writes the magazine's online 'Threatcon' column. His 'Crime Beat' column, which covers crime news, crime issues and crime prevention in South Philadelphia, appears weekly in the South Philly Review, and his 'On Crime' column, which covers crime in the Greater Philadelphia region, appears weekly at Philly Daily and Broad and Liberty. His crime fiction appears in American Crime Magazine. His work has also appeared in the Washington Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Weekly and other publications. As a writer, he has attended police academy training, gone out on patrol with police officers, accompanied detectives as they worked cases, accompanied narcotics officers on drug raids, observed criminal court proceedings, visited jails and prisons, and covered street riots, mob wars and murder investigations. He has interviewed police commissioners and chiefs, FBI, DEA, HSI and other federal special agents, prosecutors, judges, public officials, WWII UDT frogmen, Navy SEALs, Army Delta operators, Israeli commandos, military intelligence officers, Scotland Yard detectives, CIA officers, former KGB officers, film and TV actors, film writers, directors and producers, journalists, novelists and true crime authors, gamblers, outlaw bikers, and Cosa Nostra organized crime bosses. Paul Davis has been a student of crime since he was a 12-year-old aspiring writer growing up in South Philadelphia. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy when he was 17 in 1970. He served aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Kitty Hawk during the Vietnam War and he later served two years aboard the Navy harbor tugboat U.S.S. Saugus at the U.S. floating nuclear submarine base at Holy Loch, Scotland. He went on to become the civilian administrative officer of a Defense Department command in Philadelphia, where he oversaw security, safety and other programs for the command's military and civilian employees, and served as an investigating officer, while working part-time as a newspaper crime reporter and columnist. He retired in 2007 after more than 37 Navy/DOD years of service and became a full-time writer. From 1991 to 2005 he was a producer and on-air host of "Inside Government," a public affairs interview radio program that aired on Sunday mornings on WPEN AM and WMGK FM in the Philadelphia area. You can read Paul Davis' crime columns, crime fiction, book reviews and news and feature articles on this website. You can read his full bio by clicking on the above photo (by Brittany Davis-Pearson). And you can contact Paul Davis at pauldavisoncrime@aol.com.

Paul Davis On Crime