Fanfics Fact Resources ::SPOILERS::

[cellogal]

Hey; a couple of quick questions. I don't know if this thread is just for Philly/police department questions, or questions in general. Anyway, here are mine (hopefully, this won't give too much away!)

Which bar hosts First Thursdays? Is it McGinty's, or Jones?

Also, does Scotty know all the details behind the Christina/Lilly rift?

Thanks all!

[boxman]

cellogal said:

Hey; a couple of quick questions. I don't know if this thread is just for Philly/police department questions, or questions in general. Anyway, here are mine (hopefully, this won't give too much away!)

Which bar hosts First Thursdays? Is it McGinty's, or Jones?

Also, does Scotty know all the details behind the Christina/Lilly rift?

Thanks all!

Hi, CelloGal! I've started watching Cold Case from S3, and have seen S1 & S2 only in reruns. I've watched the first two seasons out-of-sequence; therefore, my chronology of events isn't up to par as others who've watched the show from the start. Also, since the detectives haven't been going to First Thursdays, and the story of Lilly & Christina's rift is pretty much dead at this point, truthfully I must admit I haven't paid much attention to these things when it comes up in the older episodes.

I believe "First Thursdays" is first brought up in "1.05 The Runner", then later brought up in "1.20 Greed". I'm pretty sure the bar is call "McGinty's", though I haven't been able to locate the specific scene it was mentioned.

I know the first hints of trouble between Lilly and Christina was brought up in "2.08 Red Glare", but it wasn't fully revealed to the viewers in that episode. I'm not sure how much Scotty knows; though he did lay off Christina and Lilly gave him grief for dating Christina in many episodes all the way up until "3.14 Dog Day Afternoons" --more that one season later. This would lead me to assume Scotty does know most of the details about the rift between the sisters.

Can anyone else help CelloGal here?

[longislanditalian2]

It's called Jones Tavern.


I got a question reguarding something, how long does it take to get to Philly using the Jersey Turnpike?

[boxman]

longislanditalian2 said:

It's called Jones Tavern.

Oh, cool. Do you remember which episode and scene this was mentioned in? I'm curious now myself. Now what was McGinty's from? Was this the bar that Christina worked at? It wasn't the bar from "Ravaged", was it?

I got a question reguarding something, how long does it take to get to Philly using the Jersey Turnpike?

Hmm... You mean from NYC? If so, it's ~2 hours between Center City-Philadelphia and Midtown Manhattan. I don't think it should take more than three hours, even with heavy traffic. Even though the distance is about 90 miles, you can drive about 85 mph for a great length on the NJ Turnpike. Yeah, it's speeding, but everyone's going about that fast!

[longislanditalian2]

Stillman mentions their tavern's name in 4X03- Sandhogs.


boxman- I am in middle of writing fanfic that leads the detectives from Connecticut to Philly but I just want to know some of the highways that would lead to there.

[boxman]

LINK

Posted on Tue, Apr. 1, 2008
Study: Philly's tops in jailing rate
By CATHERINE LUCEY
Philadelphia Daily News
[e-mail] 215-854-4172

Philadelphia has the highest rate of incarceration in jails in the country, according to a new study from the Justice Policy Institute.

In Philadelphia county, 602 people were in jail for every 100,000 in 2006, according to "Jailing Communities: The Impact of Jail Expansion and Effective Public Safety," a study by the institute, a Washington, D.C., criminal-justice think tank. That's up from 369 per 100,000 in 1996, the study says.

Two Tennessee counties followed Philadelphia: Davidson (includes Nashville), with 596 per 100,000, and Shelby (includes Memphis), with 594.

Rising jail populations have resulted in huge bills for local municipalities across the country.

More than $19 billion was spent on jails nationally in 2004.

"I do think that since the 1970s we've definitely had an increased desire to punish," said study co-author Amanda Petteruti.

The study looks specifically at the number detained in jails, locally run facilities that traditionally hold people with short sentences or people awaiting trial who were either denied bail or could not post it. Prisons are typically reserved for longer sentences.

Petteruti said that a variety of factors contributed to the jail population jump - rising bail costs and more people being detained on minor infractions, more being held pretrial or sent to county facilities due to overcrowded prisons.

"The purpose of jails have changed," she said. "Jails were used to hold people that may have been a flight risk . . . or [needed] to serve county time."

One reason that the report gives for more jail inmates is the rise in "broken windows" policing, which cracks down on smaller infractions and quality-of-life crimes to try to lower overall crime rates.

But Petteruti said that this technique can clog jails.

"For example, we know that in Los Angeles the chief of police has instituted this policy, they've increased the number of cops on skid row," she said.

"They're issuing tickets for infractions like jaywalking. The people can't pay and then they go to jail."

Philadelphia recently launched an aggressive crime plan, putting more cops on the street to drive down crime rates.

The report says that communities should offer more pretrial release programs, incarceration alternatives such as day-reporting programs and reduced sentences for nonviolent crimes.

Petteruti said that people can maintain a job, see their family and stay in better health outside the jail system.

"You're far more likely to contract anything from AIDS to staph infections [in jail]," she said.

City Finance Director Rob Dubow said that prison costs - which include jails - are one of the city's fastest growing expenses. The prisons budget for the current fiscal year is $218 million.

Dubow noted that Philadelphia gets little aid from the state or federal government for prisons. And he said that other cities share prison expenses with the county government - but that Philadelphia city government also oversees the county.

"Since we are the county, we bear all those costs," Dubow said.*

[boxman]

On the macabre side... Here's an interactive map that shows the locations of the city's 394 murders in 2007:

www.nbc10.com/safercity/13405221/detail.html

[longislanditalian2]

How far is it away from Kensignton to where Scotty grew up near Francisville

[boxman]

Hi, LII. Sorry, I didn't see your post here earlier.

longislanditalian2 said:

How far is it away from Kensignton to where Scotty grew up near Francisville

Scotty's from Francisville? I didn't know that. I always thought he was from somewhere around Oxford Circle or Frankford, which is a little north of Kensington. I think it was the episode "Frank's Best" where I got that impression. Do you remember which episode and scene they mentioned this in?

Francisville is a very tiny neighborhood, that I had to look up on Wikipedia to find. It's roughly over three miles (10 minutes) when driving from Kensington, according to Google Maps.

[boxman]

Philly: The City of Equality
By ALEX IRWIN
Philadelphia Daily News
[e-mail] 215-854-5218

ON JULY 4, 1965, 40 men and women demonstrated on behalf of gay and lesbian rights in front of Independence Hall. It was the largest protest of its kind in history.

This was the first of four "annual reminders" held in Philadelphia - reminding the world that homosexuals were here - and it predated by four years the now iconic riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City.

A historic marker on the north side of 6th and Chestnut streets testifies to the significance of these "reminders" to the gay-rights movement.

Philadelphia is once again at the center of that movement, as hundreds of rainbow flags line Center City streets trumpeting this year's Equality Forum.

The forum - the largest annual gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender forum in the world - begins today and runs through Sunday. The forum will host more than 60 discussions and dozens of parties and special events, beginning with a VIP kickoff at City Hall with Mayor Nutter delivering opening remarks.

On Saturday, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson receives the International Role Model award at a gala dinner at the National Constitution Center. The Wachovia Corp. will be awarded the International Business Leadership award.

"Gov. Richardson has been a long-standing friend of the gay community," said Malcolm Lazin, executive director of Equality Forum. "He has taken a proactive lead in terms of making sure that the gay community in New Mexico is protected in the workplace and in terms of a variety of other issues of equality."

On Sunday, the forum hosts the SundayOut! Street Festival, on Market Street in Old City, from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. It is the largest GLBT street festival in the region.

Panels throughout the week will focus on a variety of GLBT issues, including politics, religion, business and visibility. The international focus of this year's forum is on gays and lesbians in the Muslim world. Lazin said that the organization chose this focus after Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told an audience at Columbia University that there were no homosexuals in Iran.

"There are tremendous challenges in the Middle East for gays and lesbians," Lazin said. "It's remarkably homophobic, and we wanted to bring attention to those concerns."

Author Michael Luongo will lead the May 1 panel, titled "Gays and Lesbians in the Muslim World." He said that Muslim homosexuals are often ostracized from their religious and sexual identities.

"A serious issue for gay Muslims is homophobia within Islam and Islamophobia within the gay community," Luongo said.

He added that homosexual laws vary from nation to nation, and are often a result of dishonest governments catering to radicalism.

"Religion has its place, but many of these governments are very corrupt," Luongo said. "If [the government] wants to show [its] Islamic devotion, it's easiest to target gay men."

Luongo added that there are many aspects of Islamic culture, like homosexuality, that simply are not discussed.

"The notion of gay rights and declaring yourself gay is a very Western thing," Luongo said. "Most people exist without really labeling themselves as anything. If enough people label themselves, then it becomes a movement and it disturbs the status quo."

Frank Kameny, 83, was one of the first to challenge the status quo in the United States as an organizer of Philadelphia's "annual reminders." He will speak as part of the national GLBT history panel on Wednesday. Known as one of the founding fathers of the gay civil-rights movement, Kameny coined the slogan "Gay is good" in the 1970s. He organized several small protests in Washington in the years leading up to the "annual reminders," but said that Philadelphia was the city that launched the movement.

"Gay activism was not in the air very much in those days," Kameny said. "People were unaware of what the issues were. By the time we got going in Philadelphia, the whole issue was coming to the forefront and increasing rapidly."

Thom Nickels, journalist and author of "Gay and Lesbian Philadelphia," is also part of the history panel. He said that witnesses to the "annual reminders" had strong reactions to the demonstrations.

"People were blown away by it," Nickels said. "To come out and dare to say that you were homosexual, right on the street, was unheard of. At the time, it must have impressed them as something out of a science-fiction movie."

Nickels said that Rittenhouse Square and Washington Square were popular gathering points for homosexuals living in the city, though it was not uncommon for undercover police to arrest suspected homosexuals.

Nickels also recalled attending a monthly lecture at the University of Pennsylvania titled "Gays at Penn." At one of these lectures, in 1975, members of MOVE took over the lecture and started ridiculing those in attendance.

Today, Lazin said that the Equality Forum's goal is education.

"Our focus is an educational focus," he said. "We want to educate and hopefully inspire people to become involved. The question is not whether or not we will achieve equality, but when. The Equality Forum's real mission is to accelerate that process."

Nickels said that the forum's expansion allows it to address virtually every issue facing the GLBT community.

"It's a major event in Philadelphia every year, and it brings huge exposure to the mainstream population," Nickels said. "It's like a buffet supper: You go for what interests you, and what you don't like, you let somebody else take." *

---

Find this article HERE

[boxman]

cbs3.com/topstories/Officer.Shot.In.2.715217.html



Suspect Charged In Officer's Death
Extensive Manhunt Continues For Third Suspect In Robbery, Fatal Shooting

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― A suspect in custody was formally charged with the murder of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski Sunday morning.

Sgt. Liczbinksi was shot and killed by alleged bank robbery suspects in the city's Port Richmond section Saturday afternoon.

One suspect was killed, another has been charged and an extensive manhunt remains in progress for the third and final suspect.

Authorities said it all began when at least two armed men held up the Bank of America inside a Shop Rite located at Aramingo and Castor Avenues at 11:26 a.m.

"One tall guy, two black guys, one tall black guy and one medium height and they ran out with the money in the bags," one eyewitness said.

The store manager reported the crime and license plate number of the get away car to Philadelphia Police.

Just a few minutes later, a 24th District Police Sergeant and 12-year veteran of the force, 40-year-old Stephen Liczbinski, was ambushed as he tried to step form his patrol car, after stopping the fleeing gunmen, in the 2600 block of Schiller Street. Sergeant Liczbinski never got his revolver out of its holster. The suspects opened fire with what police describe as an assault weapon.

"At least one of the males fired shots striking and fatally wounding Sgt. Liczbinski," Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said.

One neighbor saw a police officer try to save the sergeant's life.

"He had said to the one guy who was applying pressure, 'tell my wife…' and that's all he had said and that's when they grabbed him and took him off," the eyewitness said.

Sergeant Liczbinski was taken to Temple University Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries early Saturday afternoon. His body was later transported to the medical examiner's office in University City.

A police pursuit ensued following the officer's shooting and one of the suspects was shot by police during a second shootout in the 500 block of E. Louden Street in the Juniata section of the city. Witnesses said the confrontation was violent.

"It was a gun battle. So whoever it was, it was a gun battle going back and forth," another eyewitness said.

The unidentified suspect was taken to Temple University Hospital where he died. Two other suspects fled and a police manhunt followed. A second suspect was taken into custody and is being questioned but has not yet been criminally charged. It is unclear how that suspect was apprehended.



Police believe the suspect who was fatally wounded Saturday is the gunman who took the officer's life.

During an afternoon news conference, Mayor Nutter and Police Commissioner Ramsey told the city of Philadelphia to wrap their arms around the fallen officer's family and offer support in this time of tragedy.

"I ask that we rally around this family wrap our arms around them, keep them in our prayers. They will need ongoing help and support as we grapple with what has happened here today and I just want to express my own personal sympathies to this family and thank the officer for his long hard work for the Philadelphia Police Department," Mayor Nutter said.

Sergeant Liczbinski, who was promoted to Sergeant in October of 2007, leaves behind a wife, two sons and a daughter.

"This loss of life from a fine Philadelphia Police Officer is just one more example of the senseless violence that takes place here in our city. Our hearts and our prayers go out to his wife Michelle, his sons; Matt, Steven, and his daughter Amber. We are all affected by what has happened here," Mayor Nutter said.

"Right now we just have to pray for the family and stay strong for the Liczbinski family and be there for them for whatever they need," FOP President James McNesby said.

Meanwhile, members of law enforcement from the Philadelphia Police Department, Pennsylvania and Delaware State Police have been involved in a city-wide manhunt for the final suspects, possibly a female accomplice. The suspect is considered armed and dangerous and anyone with information on their whereabouts is urged to contact Philadelphia police.


The three suspects were described by police as:

Suspect #1:

* Tall black male
* Medium build
* Dressed in full robe
* Wearing sunglasses during the robbery
* Had a shoulder type bag over his right shoulder


Suspect #2:

* Possibly a female
* Unknown race
* Standing 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-7
* Wearing light brown robe from head to toe


Suspect #3:

* Stalky build
* Standing 6-foot-2 to 6-foot-3
* Medium brown complexion
* Shoulder length dreadlocks type hair that could have possibly been a wig
* Blue jeans and a light colored shirt that may have been a flannel shirt
* Wearing a white mask possibly a hospital or construction-type mask over his mouth


(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

[boxman]

LINK

Posted on Sun, May. 4, 2008
Remembering a family man, a respected officer, a friend
By Dwight Ott and Mark Fazlollah
Inquirer Staff Writers



Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski was a street-smart guy, the kind that other officers want for a partner. He was the proverbial "cop's cop," always doing more than required.

Stationed in the 24th District since November, Liczbinski quickly gained the respect of other officers, his commanders and the community.

And the 39-year-old was a family man. He had his kids in tow at every police barbecue.

In the brown-brick 24th District headquarters in the 3900 block of Whitaker Street yesterday, the flags were at half-staff and Capt. David Mockus choked back tears.

"It's going to be a hard week," said Mockus. "We depend on each other here. . . . We were talking yesterday, and we were just joking around.

"It hurts when you lose a cop like this. We're close-knit. We lost a member of our family."

To 24th District Officer Carlos Cortez, Liczbinski was "an excellent supervisor."

"He treated everybody equally," said Cortez, who has worked in the district 13 years.

But Liczbinski spent most of his career as a South Philadelphia street cop in the Fourth District.

Sgt. Raymond Evers was a detective then and said he regularly asked for help from Liczbinski in Fourth District cases.

He said Liczbinski wasn't a big man, not a "muscle head." But he did not shy away from tough assignments.

"If you had a warrant on you, he would find you. This guy was the real deal," Evers said.

To Fourth District Sgt. Denise Brown, Liczbinski was "someone willing to do the job above and beyond duty."

Liczbinski's partner for six years at the Fourth District was Officer Gary Harkins, who was staying with Liczbinski's family last night.

On duty in the Five Squad burglary detail, they regularly nabbed the bad guys. Off-duty, they hung out together. Sometimes Liczbinski brought his children to Harkins' house.

"Steve was just a great family man, did everything with his kids," said Harkins' wife, Marie. "Wherever his kids went, he went. They were his number-one priority."

Officer Harkins and Liczbinski talked every day, sometimes about things that hurt, such as the death of the Harkinses' 18-year-old son, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver in 1999.

She said that before Liczbinski was promoted, her husband became the community relations officer for the Fourth District.

Still, they talked every day. When Liczbinski went to the 24th District in November, they kept talking, assuring each other that they were in the right jobs.

And early Saturday, they talked again, shortly before Liczbinski was killed.

Now, Gary Harkins' words are obscured.

"Every time my husband talks," she said, "he's crying."

Contact staff writer Mark Fazlollah at 215-854-5831 or [e-mail].

[boxman]

www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080507_TV_footage_shows_police_beating_suspects.html

Posted on Wed, May. 7, 2008
TV footage shows police beating suspects
By Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writer



Philadelphia police, in shock over Saturday's murder of one of their own, are facing a probe over the violent beating of three shooting suspects by up to 15 officers - an arrest captured on video by a news helicopter hovering overhead.

The beating, Monday night in North Philadelphia, is seen on roughly one minute of an 11-minute video that Fox29 broadcast early yesterday and streamed over its Web site.

The three men beaten were suspects in a shooting unrelated to Saturday's murder of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski.

Mayor Nutter and Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey yesterday promised a full investigation of the incident, which the commissioner said might be related to the stress police personnel are under as they hunt for a fugitive in Liczbinski's murder.

Ramsey said the officers in the Fox29 video would be taken off street duty as soon as they were identified.

Although police did not identify the suspects in the video, Center City lawyer D. Scott Perrine announced yesterday that he would represent all three at their bail hearings.

Perrine identified one suspect as long-standing client Dwayne Dyches, 24, and the others as Brian Hall and Pete Hopkins.

Perrine said they had been chased and apprehended without probable cause, and he called the beating "police conduct that should have stopped in the 1970s."

"This was one of the most reprehensible displays of police brutality I have ever seen," he said.

Perrine said all three had required hospital treatment. He said Dyches has a "baseball-size" lump and cut over one eye and was having difficulty moving one leg. "He had to have two officers helping him to walk out of the hospital," Perrine said.

Police did not comment on the suspects' conditions and injuries.

The video shows police cars chasing a gold sedan to a stop in the 3700 block of North Second Street, where about six to eight officers, with guns drawn, swarm over the sedan. As more officers race up to the car, one beats the passenger's side with a baton.

All four doors are pulled open, and as each of the three men is pulled from the car, he is tossed to the street and surrounded by three to five officers. Three or four officers begin trying to handcuff the driver and can be seen delivering at least 13 kicks to his head and sides, as well as several punches.

The passenger pulled from the rear seat is kicked by four officers and struck four or five times by an officer who appears to be wielding a baton.

A canine officer stands nearby, restraining an excited police dog.

After the beating, the remaining 10 minutes of the video show officers rolling the suspects as they search their pockets, search the vehicle, and take them away in separate patrol vehicles. Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, said Nutter and Ramsey had viewed the Fox29 video at the studio and ordered an investigation.

"We realize that our officers are all under an excess of stress right now, but we still have to do our job in a professional manner," Vanore said. "There's really no excuse for this."

In the meantime, he said, Ramsey has restricted police shifts to 12 hours and will encourage officers and their superiors to use department counseling services if they are have difficulty dealing with stress.

Vanore, however, maintained that all three suspects will be charged with participating in the shooting, which wounded three people Monday night at Fourth and Annsbury Streets in the Feltonville section of North Philadelphia.

Police had the three men and the gold 2000 Mercury Marquis in sight from the moment it arrived at the scene of the shooting until it was stopped about two miles away on North Second Street, Vanore said.

No weapon was found in the vehicle after the stop, Vanore said, but he added that a fourth man who arrived with the three others had fired at the crowd of people and then fled on foot.

John J. McNesby, president of Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police, said it was unclear how much the suspects had resisted officers.

"There's always two sides to every video," he said. "Let's not rush to judgment. Right now we have police under fire in the city of Philadelphia, and we have to be prepared to handle it."

McNesby also said the police believed the suspects were armed and had just been involved in a shooting. "It's not like these three guys were coming home from church."

Police said the shooting was apparently retaliation for a murder Sunday night in the same neighborhood. In that shooting, Andrew Coach, 20, Feltonville, died about an hour after being found in the 4500 block of North Fourth Street, shot in the abdomen.

Contact staff writer Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2985 or [e-mail].

Inquirer staff writer Andrew Maykuth contributed to this article.

[boxman]

www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/18794124.html

Posted on Fri, May. 9, 2008
Suspect in cop killing found living 'like a rat in a hole'
By DANA DiFILIPPO, KITTY CAPARELLA & DAMON WILLIAMS
Philadelphia Daily News
[e-mail] 215-854-5934

FOR AT LEAST three days, Eric DeShawn Floyd and his girlfriend hid out in a rundown, boarded-up rowhouse in Kingsessing with no plumbing, electricity or furniture.

They slept on soiled, broken floorboards. They relieved themselves in a bucket. When Floyd got hungry or ran out of cigarettes, he sent his girlfriend out for a pack of Newports or chicken wings, Chinese takeout and other grub.

Although hundreds of law-enforcement officers up and down the East Coast mobilized to find him, Philadelphia's most-wanted man never left the city. He spent his days and nights in dark, dreary seclusion, in the company of his girlfriend, Tonya Lynne Stephens, a convicted hooker and drug addict who stood by her man despite a $150,000 reward on his head.

"My guess? Love," said Homicide Sgt. Bob Wilkins, speculating on why Stephens didn't rat out her beau of two months. "I wouldn't have loved anybody that much. I would have loved you right to the bank."

This was life on the lam for the last of three suspects in Saturday's slaying of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, gunned down when he stopped Floyd and accomplices Howard Cain and Levon T. Warner after they allegedly robbed a bank in a Port Richmond ShopRite.

And while a videotaped police beating of three suspects in an unrelated shooting brought the Police Department national notoriety this week, Floyd's takedown unfolded without drama. Police surprised the slumbering couple and arrested them without incident about 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, acting on a tip that they were in the home on Windsor Avenue near 54th.

"He was like a rat in a hole, and we found him," said Capt. Daniel Castro, incident commander.

By the end of the day, a judge ordered Floyd, 33, jailed without bail, and police charged Stephens, 37, of North Philadelphia, with obstruction of justice, hindering apprehension and conspiracy. Both confessed to their crimes, Sgt. Wilkins said.

Police expect to arrest two or three more people they say helped Floyd elude capture, including someone who took him into his home before he and Stephens squatted in the Windsor Avenue home.

In court records, Stephens has about eight aliases and at least nine arrests - most for prostitution, drug dealing and possession - dating back to 1989.

Known as a "crack lovely woman" and a "bully," Stephens allegedly took other prostitutes' money at times in the Hunting Park neighborhood where they trolled along Old York Road, according to neighbors.

The light-skinned black woman, known to wear different wigs, sometimes stayed in a two-story house on Park Avenue near Butler.

Outside the house, a 51-year-old man said: "Ain't that much love in the world" to hide a suspect in a cop killing. "She don't know what she did."

Stephens' 41-year-old friend last heard from her late Saturday. "She was so distant, and funny [odd]. I didn't know why," said the woman, who declined to be identified.

After her arrest, the friend realized that Stephens must have been with Floyd, whom she "knew for awhile."

"Even if she was chilling in a spot, it's like hiding a fugitive . . . I wouldn't have done that sh--," she said.

"She's probably in a better place right now," said her friend, referring to jail. "You see the route she was going. She could be dead by now."

Authorities had hoped to collar Floyd before Liczbinski's funeral, slated for noon today. While somber at the prospect of burying a friend, many officers were jubilant at beating that self-imposed deadline.

"The game was up, and he knew it," said Wilkins, adding that he and most detectives on the case have put in 16- to 17-hour days since Saturday to find Floyd.

"It's a relief," agreed Commissioner Charles Ramsey, who visited the Homicide unit with Mayor Nutter after Floyd's arrest, staying until after 1:30 a.m. to thank detectives and their supervisors for their hard work.

On Windsor Avenue, the outlaw squatters went unnoticed by neighbors, who were roused from sleep when FBI agents, cops and a SWAT team swarmed their block.

After the hubbub abated, some were bewildered about how Floyd ended up on their street.

"This is a busy block, with kids and adults out in the street and on porches all day and night," said one neighbor, who asked for anonymity. "[Floyd] could have come out the house and started shooting at the kids. This is very scary."

Wilkins declined to say how Floyd picked his hideout. Police found no weapons inside, he added.

Many Windsor Avenue residents raged that they complained for years to city officials demanding that the blighted house be razed.

Gayle Johns, a spokeswoman for the city's Licenses & Inspections Department, said her office only has record of one complaint. In April 2006, L&I workers levied an "unsafe violation" against the property for a collapsing front-porch roof, Johns said. She wasn't sure if the owner fixed the problem.

City property records show that James P. Jones has owned the two-story, brown-brick rowhouse since April 1998. Jones couldn't be reached for comment. The property, valued at $25,100, has a delinquent tax bill of almost $2,750, according to records.

Mayoral spokesman Doug Oliver said that L&I workers are behind in inspections because the department is understaffed.

"We have wanted that house torn down for some time," one neighbor complained.

Instead, the rowhouse - located in the 12th Police District, the deadliest last year - became the ideal hideout for an accused cop killer and his loyal, unemployed girlfriend.

Yesterday, Castro recounted how the evening unfolded.

After getting tipped to Floyd's whereabouts, a cavalcade of city police, FBI agents and SWAT officers swarmed the property.

The officers used a crowbarlike tool to break in through the front door, and detonated a noise-flash-distraction device, which produces a loud bang to distract suspects as cops close in, Castro said.

SWAT officers found the couple in a second-floor front bedroom, where they'd been sleeping, Castro said. Officers then waited for someone to bring Liczbinski's handcuffs to restrain Floyd, fulfilling a tradition of using a slain officer's handcuffs on his accused killer.

Throughout, Floyd remained calm.

"Emotionless," Castro said. "He was cold. There was no reaction - I think because he's a monster. He's a menace to society. When someone kills a police officer, he has no regard for anyone. While he may not have physically pulled the trigger, he's clearly culpable for what happened."

An angry Nutter, who caught up with the suspect at police headquarters, confronted him to express his disgust.

"I wanted to see the person who had done this. There are moments when I am just Mike Nutter, and I wanted him to know I am disgusted with who he is and what he has done," said Nutter, adding that his contempt was returned with a blank stare.

City leaders applauded the anonymous tipster who led police to Floyd. The tipster may be eligible to collect the $150,000 reward if Floyd is convicted, city and police leaders agreed yesterday.

"This is a city famous for these "Don't Snitch" T-shirts," said state Sen. Anthony H. Williams, speaking at a morning news conference to announce a $5,000 donation that the Black Elected Officials gave to a fund for Liczbinski's family. "But people in these communities cannot be defined by headlines. Somebody had the courage to pick up the phone. For me, that's a beacon of hope." *

Staff writers Regina Medina, Catherine Lucey and David Gambacorta contributed to this report.

[longislanditalian2]

I need to know if there is a little italy in Philly and where there is a couple of parks. Needing it for five of my fanfics

[boxman]

May 24, 2008 9:26:29 GMT -5 longislanditalian2 said:

I need to know if there is a little italy in Philly....

There sure is! Philly's Italian Market, which runs North-South along 9th Street in South Philly:
www.phillyitalianmarket.com/index.html

[If you can recall the second workout montage from the original Rocky movie, the Italian Market is the outdoor marketplace where a guy throws Rocky an orange.]

Pat's and Geno's, the two famous places to get cheesesteaks, are on the southernmost end of the Italian Market on the intersection of 9th and Passyunk Ave.

In the past few years, the area has quickly added Vietnamese, Mexican, Chinese, and other ethnic businesses by mainly expanding East-West along Washington Ave. There's two large Vietnamese supermarkets; several Vietnamese, Mexican, and Chinese restaurants; and other businesses such as banks and retailers.

In regards to parks, it depends on what you're looking for. If you're just talking a cleared area with grass and trees to walk your dog, or a place to play basketball, they're all over the place. If you're looking for a larger park that can hold outdoor concerts, craft fairs, and so forth, there's also a number of them all across the city too. For even bigger ones -- like to go jogging in, for example -- you can refer to the Fairmont Park System link I gave you earlier.

[longislanditalian2]

Is there an aquarium in Philly just wondering about that and a city pool as well??

[boxman]

Inside of Philly's city limits, there isn't an aquarium. However, right across the Delaware river in Camden, New Jersey (right off the Ben Franklin Bridge), is the "Adventure Aquarium". The "Adventure Aquarium" used to be called the "New Jersey State Aquarium" up until a few months ago, when it changed ownership.
www.adventureaquarium.com/index.cfm?sectionID=5,43,0,0
philadelphia.about.com/od/familyfun/gr/aquarium_a.htm

Only a few decades ago, Camden was a bustling industrial center with RCA Victor and Campbell Soup among some of the many companies headquartered there. Now, the city is one of the most poorest, blighted, and crime-filled cities in the US: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camden,_New_Jersey

The aquarium is one of many visitor attractions along the Camden Waterfront. After the loss of it's industrial manufacturing base, the city is hoping to make a comeback by encouraging visitors there:
www.camdenwaterfront.com/attrac.asp

Personally, I'd say that the Camden Waterfront actually has an edge over Philadelphia's waterfront, in terms of visitor attractions. Plus, it's really cool to look west across the Delaware River and see the City of Philadelphia with it's skyscrapers and other buildings. A few years ago, developers began to turn some of the city's abandoned factories into luxury loft residences with great views of Philly. Camden as a whole, though, is still rather dangerous.

There's a lot of swimming pools in Philly:
www.phila.gov/recreation/sports/Pool_Locations.html

A few years ago, several pools were filled and turned into "spraygrounds":
www.phila.gov/recreation/Spraygrounds.html

I think these "spraygrounds" were meant as a creative solution to solve the problems of the high costs of maintaining swimming pools, and the city's nearly constant summer lifeguard shortage.

[longislanditalian2]

Thank you so much Boxman, these are great for my fics.
I do have another question about some italian resturants, dance halls and iceskating rinks in Philly.

[Collider]

Got a really random one for you, Boxy... please forgive me if it's a foolish question, or has been answered elsewhere.

Is there, in Philly, a location that could pass as a sort of miniature version of Hollywood? - i.e., an area for the 'Rich and Famous' (the latter being of particular interest) to reside without having to mingle with the hoi-palloi of normal folks... swimming pools in the back garden, neatly secluded from the media, that sort of thing. Failing somewhere like that nowadays, do you happen to know of any locales that maybe were like that once (say, in the 40s or 50s), but have slowly grown derelict or disused over the years?

Sorry if that sounds oblique and/or 'peculiar'... it makes sense in my head, honest.