Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

consistently ranks above the national average in terms of crime, especially violent offenses. It has the highest violent crime rate of the ten American cities with a population greater than 1 million residents as well as the highest poverty rate among these cities. It has been included in real estate analytics company NeighborhoodScout's "Top 100 Most Dangerous Cities in America" list every year since it has been compiled. Much of the crime is concentrated in the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, and

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

sections of the city. The legal entities responsible for maintaining law and order are: *The

Philadelphia Police Department The Philadelphia Police Department (PPD or Philly PD) is the police agency responsible for law enforcement and investigations within the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The PPD is one of the oldest municipal police agencies, fourth largest ...

(PPD) is the police department. *The

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

Philadelphia County Philadelphia County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the most populous county in Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, Philadelphia County had a population of 1,603,797. The county is the second smallest county in Pennsyl ...

(1st Judicial Circuit) is the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

trial court A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually made by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). Mos ...

. *The Philadelphia District Attorney is the district attorney. *The

Defender Association of Philadelphia Defender Association of Philadelphia is a non-profit corporation, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that provides defense on a court-appointed basis for criminal and delinquency cases in which the defendants and respondents are indigent adults a ...

is the government-funded independent public defender office.

Notable cases and incidents

* Philadelphia Election Riot (1742) * Lombard Street Riot (1842) – Three-day race riot. * Philadelphia Nativist Riots (1844) * The

Schuylkill Rangers Schuylkill may refer to: Places * Schuylkill, Philadelphia, neighborhood in South Philadelphia * Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania * Schuylkill Expressway, portion of I-76 in Philadelphia * Schuylkill Gap, water gap through Blue Mountain in Pennsyl ...

– (mid-1800s) criminal gang – see

Jimmy Haggerty James "Wild Jimmy" Haggerty (died January 25, 1871) was an American criminal and well-known underworld mob figure in Philadelphia and later in New York City during the mid-to late 19th century. Jimmy Haggerty was the leader of the Schuylkill ...

* Kidnapping of Charley Ross (1874). * Race riots in Philadelphia during the 1919 Red Summer (1919) - Incidents in May and July. 5 dead. *

Willie Sutton William Francis Sutton Jr. (June 30, 1901 – November 2, 1980) was an American bank robber. During his forty-year robbery career he stole an estimated $2 million, and he eventually spent more than half of his adult life in prison and escape ...

"The Robin Hood of Brooklyn" (1930–1950s) – Robbed most Philadelphia Banks, some twice, captured and tunneled out of

Eastern State Penitentiary The Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at 2027 Fairmount Avenue between Corinthian Avenue and North 22nd Street in the Fairmount section of the city, and was operational from ...

was recaptured and sent to

Holmesburg Prison Holmesburg Prison, given the nickname "The Terrordome," was a prison operated by the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Department of Prisons (PDP) from 1896 to 1995. The facility is located at 8215 Torresdale Ave in the ...

which he subsequently escaped from by ladder. * Philadelphia Poison Ring (1938) – At least 70 people poisoned with arsenic, several by their wives. *

Philadelphia 1964 race riot The Philadelphia race riot, or Columbia Avenue Riot, took place in the predominantly black neighborhoods of North Philadelphia from August 28 to August 30, 1964. Tensions between black residents of the city and police had been escalating for seve ...

(1964) * Marie Noe (1949–1968) – Murdered eight of her children. * Jospeph Augustus Zarelli (1957) – Four-year-old boy found dead in a cardboard box. * Dolores Della Penna – 1972 abduction and dismemberment of Tacony teenager remains unsolved. * Carl Gugasian – "The Friday Night Bank Robber" (1972-2002) – Perhaps the most successful in American history – robbed banks up and down the east coast. *

Joseph Kallinger Joseph Kallinger (born Joseph Lee Brenner III; December 11, 1935 – March 26, 1996) was an American serial killer who murdered three people, and tortured four families. He committed the later crimes with his 12-year-old son Michael. Early ...

– Schizophrenic Serial Murderer. (1974–75) *

Ira Einhorn Ira Samuel Einhorn (May 15, 1940 – April 3, 2020), known as "The Unicorn Killer", was an American convicted murderer and environmental activist. He was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Holly Maddux. On September 9, 1977, Maddux di ...

, "The Unicorn Killer" (1977) – Popular counterculture figure killed his girlfriend and hid her body in his closet. * Ed Savitz (1975–1992) – Sexual predator thought to have abused hundreds of teenage boys. *

Mumia Abu-Jamal Mumia Abu-Jamal (born Wesley Cook; April 24, 1954) is an American political activist and journalist who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1982 for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner. While on death ...

(1981) – Convicted for the murder of PPD officer

Daniel Faulkner ''Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Mumia Abu-Jamal'' was a 1982 murder trial in which Mumia Abu-Jamal was tried for the first-degree murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. A jury convicted Abu-Jamal on all counts and sentenced him to death. Ap ...

in 1981. * Joseph Kindler – Serial burglar convicted of 1982 murder, sentenced to death, escaped prison twice, extradited from Canada. *

MOVE Move may refer to: People * Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver Brands and enterprises * Move (company), an online real estate company * Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer * Daihatsu Move Go ...

(1978,1985) – Activist group which was harassed by the PPD, resulting in the police's purposeful destruction of 65 homes along with 11 deaths in Cobb's Creek neighborhood. *

Abscam Abscam (sometimes written ABSCAM) was an FBI sting operation in the late 1970s and early 1980s that led to the convictions of seven members of the United States Congress, among others, for bribery and corruption. The two-year investigation init ...

- Several Philadelphia/Delaware valley politicians taken down in FBI investigation, videotaped accepting bribes from an Arabian company in exchange for political favors. * Frankford Slasher (1985–1990) – Thought to have killed several women. Never caught, though a prime suspect referred to only as 'The Minister' was known to police. *

Gary M. Heidnik Gary Michael Heidnik (November 22, 1943 – July 6, 1999) was an American criminal who kidnapping, kidnapped, tortured, and raped six women (murdering two of them), while holding them captive in a self-dug pit in his basement floor, in Philadelph ...

(1986–1987) – Kidnapped, imprisoned, raped, and tortured six women, two of whom he murdered. * Harrison Graham (1986–1987) – Killed seven women. * Raymond Carter (1988) – Convicted of killing Robert "Puppet" Harris; verdict overturned in 1996 due to likelihood of false testimony. *

39th District corruption scandal The 39th District Corruption Scandal refers to a persistent pattern of brutality and corruption among a cadre of Philadelphia Police Department officers, primarily from the Department's 39th District. The scandal emerged in late 1995 and received ...

(1990s) – Police corruption which led to the overturning of 160–300 cases and release of 100 prisoners. * Eddie Polec murder case (1994) *

Troy Graves Troy Graves (born May 4, 1972) is an American serial rapist and murderer of Shannon Schieber. He committed a series of rapes in Philadelphia between 1997 and 1999, where he was known as the " Center City rapist". He also committed rapes in Fort C ...

"Center City Rapist" (1997–1999) – Committed five rapes and one murder *

Lex Street Massacre The Lex Street massacre is the name, given by a '' Philadelphia Daily News'' reporter, to a mass murder that took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States on December 28, 2000. It was the deadliest mass murder in Philadelphia history. ...

(Dec. 28th, 2000) – 7 people were murdered in a crack house. * Murder of Jason Sweeney (2003) – 16 year old murdered by his friends for his paycheck. * City Hall corruption scandal (2003–05) – mayor's office bugged by FBI, several convictions resulting.U.S. Bug in Mayor's Office Roils Philadelphia Race
/ref> * Tainted Justice- A group of officers from the police department's narcotics unit illegally raided homes and stores in inner city neighborhoods during drug investigations and engaged in illegal activity such as groping women, taking money from cash registers and knocking out store security cameras. *

Kermit Gosnell Kermit Barron Gosnell (born February 9, 1941) is an American former physician and serial killer. He provided abortions at his clinic in West Philadelphia. Gosnell was convicted of the murders of three infants who were born alive after using ...

(?–2010) – Abortion doctor convicted of killing newborns. *

Earl Bradley Earl Brian Bradley (born May 10, 1953) is a former pediatrician from Lewes, Delaware and convicted serial child rapist. He was indicted in 2010 on 471 charges of molesting, raping, and exploiting 103 child patients (102 girls and 1 boy). Some ...

(?–2010) – Pediatrician charged with hundreds of sex crimes against children. * Philadelphia basement kidnapping, October 2011, an ongoing investigation into alleged kidnapping of four mentally disabled adults, who were held in a Northeast Philadelphia basement.

Homicides

Organized crime

Philadelphia crime family The Philadelphia crime family, also known as the Philadelphia Mafia, the Philly Mob or Philly Mafia, the Philadelphia-South Jersey Mafia, or Bruno-Scarfo family is an Italian-American Mafia family based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Formed and ...

– An Italian American group based in

South Philadelphia South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west.New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

such as Atlantic City and Newark; largest

organized crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

unit in the area. *

K&A Gang The K&A Gang, currently known as the Northeast Philly Irish Mob, is a predominantly Irish American criminal network based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The K&A Gang was started following World War II and controlled the city's Irish-American cr ...

– Based in

Kensington, Philadelphia Kensington, colloquially known locally as “Kenzo,” is a neighborhood in Philadelphia that belongs to or divides Lower Northeast and North Philadelphia. As with all neighborhoods in the city, the lack of any official designation means the b ...

. One of the largest Irish American gangs in the country. *

Philadelphia Greek Mob Philadelphia's Greek Mob, also known as the Philadelphia Greek Mafia or simply the Greek Mafia, are a low-profile criminal organization of ethnic Greek Americans in Philadelphia with alleged connections to the Italian Philadelphia crime family an ...

Black Mafia The Black Mafia, also known as the Philadelphia Black Mafia (PBM), Black Muslim Mafia and Muslim Mob, was a Philadelphia-based African-American organized crime syndicate. The organization began as a small criminal collective, known for holdin ...

and Junior Black Mafia – An African-American group based in West Philadelphia. * Warlocks Motorcycle Club – A

motorcycle club A motorcycle club is a group of individuals whose primary interest and activities involve motorcycles. A motorcycle group can range as clubbed groups of different bikes or bikers who own same model of vehicle like the Harley Owners Group. Ther ...

involved in drug dealing

Documentaries

* '' Law and Disorder in Philadelphia'', 2008 * ''

The Fear of 13 ''The Fear of 13'' is a 2015 British documentary film by David Sington. It tells the story of Nick Yarris, who was convicted and sentenced to capital punishment for a 1981 kidnapping, rape and murder, and spent 22 years on death row in Pennsy ...

'', 2015

References

External links

Down With Crime
a project of ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Crime In Philadelphia