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In the fall of 1975, a North Philly house fire caused by a thrown Molotov cocktail rocked the city. A Puerto Rican mother and her children were killed, and authorities launched a big investigation.
History now shows the case was badly mishandled, with the truth eventually coming out after dogged reporting by The Philadelphia Inquirer and pressure from community leaders. In the meantime, a series of what turned out to be coerced confessions exacerbated tensions between ethnic groups and led to innocent people spending time behind bars.
By the end, six police detectives would be convicted of civil rights violations, each serving over a year in jail. The person who finally pleaded guilty to the attack received a sentence of 22 years.
Scroll down to read the thread on how the Feltonville firebombing unfolded.
A heinous crime. A false confession. A federal investigation.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
This week’s “Headline of Yore” focuses on the Feltonville firebombing and the pain it unleashed.
Our headline comes from today’s Inquirer in 1976:
“Top state court denies Wilkinson reversal”
Thread… pic.twitter.com/SriRSUS7ZA
First, let me acknowledge the journalism of Inquirer reporter Jonathan Neumann, whose reporting was critical in this case and many others.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
His timeline of the firebombing is here:https://t.co/7ULYXci6Jj
We start before dawn on October 5, 1975.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
Someone throws a flaming whiskey bottle through the window of the Santiago house, near 4th and Cayuga Streets.
The resulting fire kills Ramona Santiago and three of her children — ages 6, 13, and 14 — as well as a neighbor's child. pic.twitter.com/SYPXedRul5
A 14-year-old family friend was sleeping on the porch at the time.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
He identifies the man who threw the bomb as 26-year-old Robert “Reds” Wilkinson.
Police arrest Wilkinson and an alleged accomplice, Ronald Hanley. pic.twitter.com/i8rB2dBK0o
At the time, authorities said the attack was not racially motivated, but instead the climax of a simmering personal feud.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
About a month earlier, someone had set fire to the Santiago family car.
But as this recap from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania notes, the neighborhood was undergoing a sharp demographic shift. Many Puerto Rican families moved into the area in the 60s and 70s, upsetting older German Catholic residents.https://t.co/G3QTfomyGx
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
And the Santiago family believed they were targeted because of their ethnicity.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
Patriarch Radames Santiago lost his wife, three of five children, and was badly burned in the fire.
“Why should I stay here,” he told the Inquirer after the firebombing. “A bunch of prejudice.” pic.twitter.com/F0ryixjx7m
The firebombing prompted massive protests from the city’s Puerto Rican community, including a demonstration that attracted about 500 people to City Hall. pic.twitter.com/8pYMtgJA4Z
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
But quickly, holes emerged in the police version of events…starting with the confessions made by Wilkinson and Hanley.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
Wilkinson had a severe intellectual disability. In early 1976 a judge ruled that he did not understand his rights when making a confession AND that police beat him to extract the statement.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
A few weeks later, another judge tossed Hanley’s confession because he was *also* severely beaten by police during interrogation.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
And THEN, in late March, another Feltonville resident named David McGinnis came to the District Attorney with critical information.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
He said Hanley plotted the firebombing, but Wilkinson was NOT involved. pic.twitter.com/IoNORKOqjB
Somehow…all of this leads to the DA dropping charges against Hanley…but PROCEEDING with the case against Wilkinson.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
The DA says without Hanley’s confession they don’t have enough evidence. But they do have an eye witness on Wilkinson.
And the DA says nothing about the statement by McGinnis…the one that cleared Wilkinson of wrongdoing.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
Later in the trial, he says he thought McGinnis was a liar and part of a neighborhood effort to cover up the crime.
At the last second ANOTHER eye witness comes forward to say that she saw McGinnis throw the firebomb (NOT Wilkinson).
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
Again…the DA claims this is part of a neighborhood conspiracy to clear Wilkinson.
On April 29, 1976, the jury convicted Wilkinson on charges that carried a mandatory minimum of life in prison.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
But the Inquirer kept reporting, uncovering more and more problems w/the investigation.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
They discovered the first eye witness — the one that IDed Wilkinson — had recanted. And they uncovered that police threatened and/or beat confessions out of at least 7 ppl tied to the case.
By the time of our headline, Wilkinson’s appeals were moving through the courts, and there was some dispute about the proper venue to hear them.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
About two weeks later, a judge overturned Wilkinson’s conviction and ordered a new trial.
The DA actually wanted to pursue a second conviction. But that new trial never happened.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
In July 1977, a Common Pleas judge ruled that the case had to be tossed because prosecutors acted in such bad faith.
In all, Robert Wilkinson spent about 15 months behind bars.
At the request of Puerto Rican civic leaders, federal prosecutors picked up the case.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
Hanley was eventually convicted of instigating the firebombing and received a sentence of life in prison.
McGinnis actually threw the bomb. He got 22 years as part of a plea deal.
But the story wasn’t over.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
Police conduct in the case was so egregious that it spurred a separate federal investigation.
Six Philly detectives were convicted of civil rights violations.
They appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the convictions were upheld. pic.twitter.com/lbPW5QG1LN
Each of the detectives spent 15 months in prison — almost exactly the same amount of time as Robert Wilkinson.
— Avi Wolfman-Arent (@Avi_WA) December 9, 2021
End thread.
