A police car sat outside of the "Tacony dungeon" on the 4700 on Longshore Avenue. No members of student press were allowed on the premises. Photo by Pamela Seaton.

In a basement of a small apartment in Tacony, four mentally disabled adults were found chained to a boiler and locked behind a steel door on Saturday. Philadelphia police described the location as a “dungeon,” a “cellar” and of having a rotten smell.

The captors—alleged ringleader Linda Ann Weston, 51, Gregory Thomas, 47, and Eddie Wright, 50—are believed to have had held the victims for years, traveling from Texas to West Palm Beach, Fla., and finally to Philadelphia, stopping at many cities along the way.

Weston had more than 50 Social Security numbers on her person the day of the arrest, leading police to believe she tortured the captives into giving her their Social Security payments.

She was charged in 1985 for locking a man in a closet and starving him to death.

“These are…things that people have possibly never seen before,” Mayor Michael Nutter said in a press conference Wednesday. “This is quite possibly one of the most visible signs of man’s inhumanity to man.” continue reading »

District Attorney Seth Williams talks about changes he's made to the office and tough cases he's pursuing.

District Attorney Seth Williams fulfilled his promise to Lawncrest residents when he returned Tuesday night to the Lawncrest Community Association. He was there last year during his District Attorney campaign, and vowed to come back.

He covered several different topics, including the shift in prosecution to geographic areas — much the way police districts are set up. The Northeast has its own prosecutors and its own floor in the DA’s office. continue reading »

Captain Joseph Joseph F. Zaffino, Commanding Officer of the 7th District Police Department shakes hands with a representative of Target and accepts a check on behalf of the Captain of the 2nd District police department, Captain Michael McCarrick who was not able to attend tonight's festivities. In the background watching, is Community Relations Officer of the 7th District Officer Rich Simon.

Fox Chase Town Watch President Steve Phillips told NEast Philly Monday (you can catch the full story in Wednesday’s Metro newspaper) that the 2nd and 7th Districts were expecting about 2,000 people for Tuesday’s National Night Out event at Fox Chase Elementary. continue reading »

Friday — District Attorney Seth Williams hosted Take Back the Night in Frankford in the neighborhood’s ongoing effort to prevent crime and foster neighborhood relations. A group of residents, politicians and community leaders came together and walked the streets of Frankford between 9:30 p.m. and midnight. continue reading »

Community leaders in Frankford announced this week a weekend event called Take Back the Night.

On Friday, July 23, District Attorney Seth Williams, along with Frankford residents, business owners and neighborhood organization leaders, will walk from the Frankford Terminal at Bridge and Pratt streets to the Margaret-Orthodox stop along the El to “reclaim the streets of Frankford. continue reading »

District Attorney Seth Williams at the June Northwood Civic Association meeting.

Seth Williams says he doesn’t always wear his seat belt while driving.  Philadelphia’s District Attorney also says he was recently caught by a red-light ticket camera.

Lessons for enforcing driving in a town whose DA has broken a law or two can be implemented citywide. So Williams told 30 residents at Tuesday’s Northwood Civic Association meeting in the basement of St. James Church.

“It’s not the severity of punishment that changes behavior,” he said. “It’s the certainty of punishment.”

It was one of four hallmarks he gave for his developing administration, before taking questions from a community that has characterized itself in a quality-of-life war against blight and crime.

continue reading »

District Attorney Seth Williams, who was sworn in Jan. 1, told those at a town hall meeting last night that he’s planned “a lot of changes, very soon.”

And the Democrat detailed some of those changes during the 90-minute meeting at Rhawnhurst’s Pelbano Rec Center — one of several across the city.

Noting that Philadelphia leads the nation in homicides by handgun, and in the number of felony cases that get thrown out, Williams said he wants to assign assistant district attorneys in the same way crime occurs, and the way police officers are assigned: geographically. continue reading »

District Attorney Seth Williams addresses the Frankford Civic Association meeting Thursday, March 4, 2010 inside Frankford Hospital. Image from Frankford Gazette

District Attorney Seth Williams will assign his assistant district attorneys to specific geographic areas to increase accountability and familiarity, according to his presentation at Thursday night’s Frankford Civic Association meeting, as reported by the Frankford Gazette.

The meeting also featured a series of updates from City Councilwoman Maria Sanchez’s office, including her hesitance to support Mayor Nutter’s proposed “soda tax.”

See video of Williams and other updates from Jimmy Smiley at the Gazette.

District Attorney Lynne Abraham says a temporary farewell to Burholme's community groups.

There is nothing more important than a community “involved in its own life,” District Attorney Lynne Abraham said to attendants at last night’s monthly meeting of the Burholme Civic Association and Town Watch groups.

Abraham, a frequent guest of the Burholme groups, came to say farewell, as she is stepping down as District Attorney after 19 years on the job. She will be replaced by Democratic District Attorney-elect Seth Williams. continue reading »

Democratic District Attorney-elect Seth Williams addresses Shallcross Academy students about youth violence.

Camelot Schools held its sixth-annual anti-violence program for the first time ever in the Northeast.

Nearly 200 students at Shallcross Academy on Woodhaven Road gathered Tuesday to hear Democratic District Attorney-elect Seth Williams discuss how to avoid, prevent and overcome violence. Williams made curtailing youth violence a priority in his campaign, citing examples of how his own upbringing inspired his race for office. continue reading »