Cops

DEFENSE attorneys for two men charged with murdering four people with a car speeding away from an armed robbery persuaded a judge Thursday to bar the most graphic death-scene photos from the trial. The photos of the severed limbs and crushed bones of the three children and young mother killed on the sidewalk at 3rd and Annsbury streets on June 10, 2009, would serve no purpose other than to inflame jurors' passions, said attorneys for Ivan Rodriguez, 23, and Donta Craddock, 21, who are charged with four counts of second-degree murder.

A 14-YEAR veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department was arrested Monday for allegedly engaging in an ongoing conspiracy to steal from a local toy store, police said. Bridgette Paris, 48, was charged with retail theft, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, forgery and related offenses, police said. The charges followed an investigation by the department's Internal Affairs Bureau and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. Police have not identified the store that Paris allegedly targeted.

Michele Martines doesn't allow guns in her house. Not even water guns. She's hated them since goons with guns riddled her father, mob associate Frank "Frankie Flowers" D'Alfonso, with bullets in 1985 and shot her husband, Ronald Martines, to death the next year in a drug dispute. So when the cops pounded on her door before dawn Saturday, demanding to search her South Philadelphia house for guns and gunmen, she didn't hesitate to let them in to look around, even though they had no warrant.

MEN SHUFFLED along Chancellor Street toward the Gold Club early Saturday, nearly getting past a line of Dumpsters to the strip club's dingy red carpet before cops standing outside told them that the business was closed for the night. After the guys walked back down the alley, police led two women from the club in handcuffs toward 15th Street, where a police van was waiting with its back doors flung open. The Pennsylvania State Police busted the pair of buxom blondes earlier in the night in an undercover prostitution sting.

THE PAGAN stationed on a corner of Atlantic Avenue in Wildwood stood with his burly arms crossed over his belly, guarding the infamous motorcycle club's hotel-turned-fortress like a living, breathing gargoyle. Behind him, yellow caution tape and blue tarps draped the Binns Motor Inn - a signal from the Pagan's Motorcycle Club for "citizens" and nosy cops to keep out during the 2011 Roar to the Shore biker rally this month. It's the same hotel where federal prosecutors say that leaders of the Pagan's Long Island chapter at last year's rally told their minions to prepare for death or prison as they plotted a hand-grenade attack on the rival Hells Angels.

DOES THE Philadelphia Police Department have a "no snitching" policy for its men and women in blue? That troubling question is at the heart of a federal civil-rights lawsuit filed Thursday by Lt. Leonard Logan and Sgt. Andrew Little, who allege that the department's top brass punished them for blowing the whistle on widespread problems in the Firearms Identification Unit. The issue dates to August 2009, when two problems arose in the FIU, the lawsuit says. Chief Inspector Evelyn Heath and Deputy Commissioner William Blackburn, both of whom oversaw the unit, wanted the FIU's backlog of firearms that needed to be examined to drop from about 1,500 to 500, the lawsuit alleges.

The Democrats, at long last, had strung together a good day. They forced House Republicans to return, grumbling, from summer vacation for votes that allowed Democrats to show support for teachers, cops, and strong borders. Then they got Rangeled. "For what purpose does the gentleman from New York seek recognition?" the speaker asked of Rep. Charlie Rangel, the fallen Ways and Means chairman, when he rose from his seat early Tuesday afternoon. The gentleman from New York sought recognition to deliver, without warning, one of the most extraordinary pieces of political oratory in recent memory.

Investigators believe an argument triggered a triple shooting that left a 19-year-old man dead in Hunting Park Monday night. The slaying victim was identified Tuesday morning as Devin Brown of the 400 block of Caskey Street in the neighboring Feltonville section. Of the other victims, a 22-year-old man was treated for a graze wound to the neck and released and a 16-year-old boy was reported in stable condition Tuesday morning at Temple University Hospital with gunshot wounds to the leg and face, police said.

LET'S TALK about crooked cops. Philadelphia is known for many things - like cheesesteaks, pretzels, sports teams, and, yes, "crooked cops," too. It's a reality that has tarnished the image of this police department, and upsets the overwhelming majority of good cops who are doing a great job out there. I won't criticize any member of the public for making comments about crooked cops in Philly - instead I get disgusted with the dirty cops who give us this image. In my opinion, they are nothing but filthy pigs, and I'm tired of being embarrassed for their actions.

HAD THESE casinos broken ground, we would have had the money on the table to maybe have more police so they could keep from being shot and killed. All these people yapping not here, not there, no casino should be held responsible for the city not having the money for overtime. Moses Cook Philadelphia

DOES THE Philadelphia Police Department have a "no snitching" policy for its men and women in blue? That troubling question is at the heart of a federal civil-rights lawsuit filed Thursday by Lt. Leonard Logan and Sgt. Andrew Little, who allege that the department's top brass punished them for blowing the whistle on widespread problems in the Firearms Identification Unit. The issue dates to August 2009, when two problems arose in the FIU, the lawsuit says. Chief Inspector Evelyn Heath and Deputy Commissioner William Blackburn, both of whom oversaw the unit, wanted the FIU's backlog of firearms that needed to be examined to drop from about 1,500 to 500, the lawsuit alleges.

Q. Some time ago, you had a letter regarding parking in the center lane of South Broad Street. The city lost revenue because there were no tickets. Well, I have a related problem with cars running the red lights at Bustleton Avenue and Hartel Street. This happens many times an hour. I live nearby and I have never seen a police car staking out that light. I often see police cars parked at the nearby Dunkin' Donuts just a stone's throw away with the cops just talking. A little more patrolling would net the city plenty of extra revenue from the tickets that would be issued.

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER A federal civil rights lawsuit alleges that the Philadelphia Police Department's top brass conspired to punish two veteran cops who blew the whistle on widespread problems in the Firearms Identification Unit. The lawsuit, filed May 17, pits Lt. Leonard Logan and Sgt. Andrew Little against Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, several deputy commissioners and other high-ranking cops over a scandal in the FIU that was exposed last August by the Daily News.

A 14-YEAR veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department was arrested Monday for allegedly engaging in an ongoing conspiracy to steal from a local toy store, police said. Bridgette Paris, 48, was charged with retail theft, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, forgery and related offenses, police said. The charges followed an investigation by the department's Internal Affairs Bureau and the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. Police have not identified the store that Paris allegedly targeted.

An attempted-robbery suspect who got into a violent confrontation with a police officer Saturday morning in West Philadelphia — allegedly beating the cop with the cop's baton before the officer shot and injured him — was identified Sunday as Sidney Clayton, 31, of 34th Street near Haverford Avenue in Mantua. Police Lt. Ray Evers said Clayton, who is at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in critical but stable condition, was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, possession of an instrument of crime and related offenses.

Authorities say an uncle stabbed his 20-year-old nephew to death during an argument in the Deptford Township apartment they shared with the victim's mother. Chad Gatewood, whose age was not yet available, was charged today with murder, according to the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office. The victim, Elijah P. Gatewood-Gabriel, 20, died early this morning from the attack around midnight at Inverness Apartments on Route 47. Gatewood-Gabriel's mother attempted to intervene during the argument, authorities say and was cut on the hand.

DEFENSE attorneys for two men charged with murdering four people with a car speeding away from an armed robbery persuaded a judge Thursday to bar the most graphic death-scene photos from the trial. The photos of the severed limbs and crushed bones of the three children and young mother killed on the sidewalk at 3rd and Annsbury streets on June 10, 2009, would serve no purpose other than to inflame jurors' passions, said attorneys for Ivan Rodriguez, 23, and Donta Craddock, 21, who are charged with four counts of second-degree murder.

COLWYN POLICE Cpl. Trevor Parham said the movie he was making with his identical-twin brother would be "like the black ‘Godfather.' " After his arrest Thursday, he may be gaining the right experience to make the film. Parham, 40, of Drexel Hill, was charged with simple assault and official oppression for an April 24 incident in which he shot a juvenile with a stun gun while the boy was shackled in a holding cell, according to court documents. Parham turned himself in to county detectives and was released on $25,000 unsecured bail.

A PHILADELPHIA man who had avoided conviction in city courts, despite multiple arrests for robbery and other crimes, was sentenced on Tuesday to 37 years in a federal lockup for two gunpoint robberies in the far Northeast in December 2007 and October 2009. U.S. District Judge Anita Brody also ordered John Gassew to pay $7,194 in restitution to two victims. Gassew, 25, was found guilty in February of two robberies and of using a firearm. He was cleared of one robbery and one gun charge.

Sixty-seven Philadelphia police officers are going to Chicago this week to assist in security operations for this weekend's NATO summit. The officers, who will be drawn from around the city, will be in Chicago Friday through Tuesday, said Officer Jillian Russell, a Philadelphia police spokeswoman. The summit is scheduled for Sunday and Monday and is expected to the target of a variety of protests. Police from Milwaukee and Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., also will be helping their Chicago counterparts, the Associated Press reports.