Cops eye drug war in massacre

Slaughter of 7 in West Philly tied to crack sales

by Nicole Weisensee Egan and Mark Angeles, Daily News Staff Writers

It was a gruesome crime scene.

The victims had been sprayed with semi-automatics, their bodies sprawled in the dining room. Some were piled atop one another against a door; others were lying on their backs or stomachs.

One couple looked as if they were trying to escape - their arms outstretched in an apparent bid to cheat death.

Seven people died and three were injured in what authorities are calling a drug-related, execution-style slaughter Thursday night in a boarded-up rowhouse in the Mill Creek section of West Philadelphia.

Some of the victims were teen-agers; one was only 15.

It was the most murderous multiple shooting in the city's recent history, with numbers tying that of the most infamous gangland murder in the nation's history - the St. Valentines Day Massacre, in which seven were slain in the 1929 Chicago mob hit ordered by Al Capone.

In this case, it was a different kind of gangland war. Cops suspect the mass killing might have been part of a local turf war over drugs.

The four blood-thirsty gunmen remained at large last night as cops zeroed in on a motive and possible suspects.

"They'd recently taken up selling drugs in the area and the drug gangs in that area were not happy," one source said of the group that was murdered in the house on Lex Street near Brown.

Authorities had conflicting information about whether the victims had been warned by a particular drug organization prior to the murders.

Another source said the gunmen apparently also sent a message to anyone else who might try to horn in on their territory.

"That sends a strong signal to anyone waiting in the wings that if you come here and try to sell your product, it's going to cost you your life," the source said.

A cousin of one of the victims, "CJ" Helton, 19, said Helton and his friends had been selling drugs from the house since last summer.

"CJ and his friends didn't do drugs but they went to that house to sell," said Rashon Berry, 13.

Police identified six of the victims last night but were withholding the identity of the seventh victim until his family could be notified.

The victims were Tyrone Long, 18, of Redfield Street near Jefferson; Malik Harris, 15, of the 700 block of June Court; George Porter, 18, of Meredith Street near 46th; Edward Sudler, 44, of 46th Street near Brown; Helton, of Rosehill Street near Cambria; Alfred Goodwin, 54, of Pemberton near 19th; and Ronette Abrams, 33, of 47th Street near Ogden.

Police would not release the names of the three survivors in order to protect them from possible retribution.

"The intention of the perpetrators in this case was obviously to kill all 10 people," said Homicide Capt. James Brady.

Two of the survivors remained at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania last night. A 37-year-old male was in serious condition and a 45-year-old male was in good condition, a spokeswoman said. A 43-year-old woman was released yesterday morning.

The attack began shortly after 8 p.m. when the killers, all wearing masks, burst into the West Philadelphia home.

They ordered the occupants into the dining-room area, then sprayed them with semi-automatic gunfire before fleeing.

When police arrived on the scene, they found the carnage, though there was little blood because it was freezing cold inside and the blood coagulated quickly, they said. Some drug paraphernalia was found at the scene.

The house was a filthy, disgusting scene. The upstairs toilet was backed up, and what appeared to be feces was smeared on the tub. Detectives yesterday afternoon carried out an odd assortment of things, including a car door, a cat carrier and two cats.

Although electricity was activated in the property, a Peco Energy spokeswoman said the company had no record of any paying customer living there.

Three of the victims lived at the property, police said, but it was not clear whether they were squatters. Cops would not say which three lived in the house.

Ed McLaughlin, chief of the city's Department of Licenses and Inspections, said his records listed the owners as Willie and L. Butts, but it was not clear how or if they were related to the victims.

Neighbors and community activists said the neighborhood has been on the decline.

Police and members of the community met last night at the 16th Police District headquarters, 39th Street and Lancaster Avenue, to discuss the incident.

"In this neighborhood, you go out to the store, you come back and you keep your mouth shut," one elderly woman who has lived there for about 23 years, told a reporter earlier in the day.

A few other elderly residents have stuck it out, but an increasing number of younger, less stable tenants have moved in, said the woman, who would not give her name.

C.B. Kimmins, a local anti-drug activist, called the area "a cesspool of violence."

"We have parts of the city that are just hellholes," he said. "We've been on that street and tried to rally before. We've asked the neighbors to come out and they won't."

Larry Falcon, another anti-drug activist, said the house where the murders occurred has been a problem since last summer.

"I have a friend who lives over there and he pointed it out to me," he said. "We've had several vigils there within the last six months but the neighbors are really afraid to get involved."

But Brady insisted cops responded to just one call at that address in the past year.

Inspector Jeremiah Daley, commander of the Narcotics Division, said several drug organizations with between six and eight members that sell crack-cocaine and marijuana operate in that area.

"They're generally smaller, neighborhood and family-based groups," he said.

He described the dealers in the area as mainly African-American and Jamaican.

"They're turf-oriented. They set up shop on a particular street or corner or in public housing. They define their turf - and if someone encroaches, they lash out."

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-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), December 30, 2000

Answers

I wonder why this slaughter has received less attention than the one-man mass murder in Wakefield MA?

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), December 30, 2000.

Lars,

If it is true that this slaughter has received less attention than the other one, maybe it is because America is more shocked (and thus it is more newsworthy) when people are killed while working in the office of a consulting firm (normally a safe area), then when they are killed while selling drugs from a dilapidated slum house (normally a dangerous area).

-- J (Y2J@home.comm), December 30, 2000.