May 29–June 5, 1997

cover story

White's Cloud

When John F. White Jr. formally announces his candidacy for mayor next fall, he'll have a long record of achievement to brag about. He's been a state representative, a city councilman, the state secretary of health and public welfare, and he iscurrently executive director of the Philadelphia Housing Authority. And though PHA ranks among America's worst housing agencies, White has spent four years restoring PHA housing stock, empowering impoverished residents, and improving the serviceprovided by his employees.

But there's one subject White will not be so eager to address.

That's the subject of John Cresci, the man White hired as PHA police chief on Friday the 13th in May 1994.

Why wouldn't White mention Cresci? Because when the man's three-year run as PHA police chief comes to an end June 30 (Cresci's resigning), the biggest thing he'll be leaving behind is a mess. And an expensive one to boot.

The PHA has paid $2 million-plus in damages, settlements and legal fees following a rash of civil suits against Cresci and his deputies. This past December, a federal jury found that Cresci mistreated, then wrongfully fired ex-PHA cop Jim Curranafter an on-the-job injury. Worse news followed in January when the widow of Detective Albert Nespoli scored a $130,000 verdict against White's chief. The jury found that Cresci squashed a Nespoli drug investigation, then retaliated against him. InMarch 1996, the PHA paid a total of $120,000 to three men to settle their claims that a high-ranking PHA officer illegally strip-searched them.

The verdicts and settlements may yet wind up as footnotes on Cresci's dossier. In a class-action lawsuit filed last October, the Fraternal Order of Housing Police (FOHP) alleges that the chief and his minions run a department much like one you mightfind in Alabama circa 1950.

"Our litigation is simple," says Tom Jennings, the FOHP's lawyer. "Cresci, [Deputy Chief Bill] Drummond and [Assistant Chief Aaron] Hughes are assigning police officers to shifts on the basis of their race. The PHA force is literallyassigning duties based on the color of skin. In this day and age... it's amazing."

The PHA's cesspool of scandals is not a good thing for White, the man who hired Cresci and the man who would be mayor. Nor are the litany of other problems in the PHA police force. Morale is rock-bottom low, with career PHA cops butting up againstformer Philadelphia Police Department officerswho retire with a pension, then jump on the PHA gravy train ("Flunkies who retired," grouses one career PHA man). The troops say that under Cresci, Drummond and Hughes, rules andregulations exist only when convenient. Rumors of sexual harassment run rampant. Officers say cops get overtime and promotions if they are "connected." To prove their point, they single out Cresci's so-called "chief's team." Thefour-man squad — which responds to felony complaints only by order of Cresci or his deputies — earned a whopping $480,000 in overtime pay during Cresci's three-year tenure. That includes $267,500 in 1996 alone.

Racial antipathy among the rank-and-file is another hard fact. Many white officers display open hostility toward a department dominated by blacks (22 of 28 commanding officers — more than 75 percent — are black; nearly 60 percent of the force isAfrican American). At the same time, several black officers resent working for a police force run by a white cop.

Regardless of race, most on the PHA police force complain that Cresci got his job the old-fashioned way — through a political patron. (Several say City Democratic Chair Bob Brady got Cresci the job. Brady did not return calls seeking comment.)

Then there's officer safety. In April 1995, a rookie cop named Alvin "Abby" Palmer died in the line of duty after a robbery suspect shot him under his left eye during a chase gone bad. PHA officers noticed that Andrew Djuginov, Palmer'spartner, was also a rookie. A week later, a thousand cops laid Badge No. 718 to rest in a copper-toned coffin complete with all the pomp and circumstance befitting a cop killed for no damn reason. But nobody asked — or answered — a scary question:Why were two rookie cops riding together?

"I still don't understand how that happened," says a veteran PHA officer. "Palmer died chasing a guy by himself. If a veteran [cop] had been there, they would have known better. Cops only chase suspects by themselves on TV."

Through it all, the PHA cops say there's no way to change the status quo. Challenge Cresci and Drummond, the insiders say, and a cop gets sudden shift changes, loses vacation days and forgoes overtime work.

"The attitude among the leadership is that if you even think of fucking with management, they will fuck you over," says one cop who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "That's the way it is."

"This is a political job," says an officer named 'George.'"The best policy is to work eight hours and go home. It was the first thing I learned here. Don't choose sides, do the work and go home."

The troubles at the PHA police force are hardly a shock, given the history of the housing authority as a whole. PHA has exceeded the lowest expectations for decades: nepotism has thrived, patronage has flourished, and higher-ups have regularlysquashed those who tried to bust their pals.

All White can do to counter the bad is to hype the good.

The PHA's 1996 letter grade from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) helps. Sure, it was horrific again (HUD labels the PHA as "troubled"). But under White, the marks rose by "an impressive" 39 percentbetween 1995 and 1996. Local HUD officials took note, praising White for progress where none had occurred before. Like a huge freighter making a lumbering change in course, White's PHA ship is midstream in a major turnaround.

A tally of accomplishments explains HUD's approval. Apartment vacancies fell from 12 percent to 4 percent. PHA emergency crews tackled calls within 24 hours just about every time they were called. Regular maintenance crews did their part, too,completing the job on time in 90 percent of calls.

There are similar signs on the 203-member PHA police force. White has bought his troops new vehicles, new bicycle patrols, a new headquarters in Northeast Philly and sharp uniforms, too. The PHA built two more mini-police stations and won $2.6million in HUD drug elimination funds.

More significantly, the department is undergoing an accreditation process. White and PHA police spokesman John Gargiulo say PHA cops will be required to pass muster on 426 nationally recognized law enforcement standards. Only seven of the 1,600 lawenforcement agencies in Pennsylvania have passed the test. Should the PHA force win approval, they will receive an imprimatur of professionalism placing them far above the unaccredited Philadelphia Police Department.

If White's dream is to field a lean, keen community policing department, his nightmare is an embittered, indifferent force. The PHA force has a tough mandate. These cops are assigned to keep order inside buildings far less fit for habitation thanfederal prisons. Drug dealers are the cops' enemy, and they are powerful. The sellers control a scarce commodity in the projects — cash. Money brings respect and keeps lips sealed. Guns do too.

"It's all high-crime felonies in there," says one officer.

The rest of the world drives a few blocks out of their way so they don't have to see it. The PHA cops climb up the staircase and knock on the door when lovers battle, jog across the courtyard when shots explode in the night and make $28,000 per yearfor their trouble.

With this type of daily existence, few would blame PHA cops for being afraid to make arrests. Such was the case with two PHA officerswho spoke with City Paper. The reason these cops stated, though, isn't what you'd think. Sometimes it'sbetter to leave things alone, these officers say, than risk busting a suspect who might have political connections. It's not worth losing a paycheck, the two officers say. Not when spiteful bosses might retaliate.

There's one group of PHA cops that isn't afraid to make arrests. The so-called "chief's team" — Donnell Creighton, Tony Mack, Kevin Muldrow and Bernard Russell — handles only the cases they get from Cresci. Last year, the four-man squadmade more than 250 arrests.

To some, the well-paid unit (Russell and Creighton made a shade under $115,000 each — see sidebar) is a sign that PHA police are serious about fighting crime. To others, the existence of a chief's team is a sign of trouble.

"The way the force works is whoever makes the most noise gets the most service," says Virginia Wilks, tenant council president at the Richard Allen Homes in North Philadelphia. "In the summer of 1995, we made a lot of noise about drugsand then we got tremendous police service. Once we quieted down, things went back to the way they are. We shouldn't have any problems. We should be well-protected, well-covered, all the time."

"Those guys are really producing, gangs, narcotics, you name it," says Bob Ferguson, the only PHA cop who allowed City Paper to print his name. "But on the other hand, they make the chief powerful."

"What do you think?" says 'George.'"People who know somebody [in the police administration] just got to pick up the phone and call Cresci [to get police aid]. Is that preferential? You tell me."

PHA Executive Director John F. White Jr. in his office.

It's mid-afternoon in mid-May and it is a gorgeous day in Philadelphia. In John White's office at PHA's 2012 Chestnut St. headquarters, an interview begins. But White poses the first question.He wants to know why the interviewer's here.

White's handlers have already laid out the context of the interview in advance: Will the PHA police department's troubles affect White's upcoming mayoral bid? He knew today's questions would address a downtrodden PHA police force and John Cresci.

But now, on hearing the purpose of the interview, White recoils, quivers and closes his intense brown eyes.

"I didn't believe it," White sputters. "I didn't believe it."

White's theatrics aside, the questions about the PHA force stem from the Nespoli and Curran trials. A similar scenario unfolded in both events.A highly decorated ex-Philly cop (Curran) and the widow of another (Mary Ann Nespoli) won sizablejury verdicts by savaging Cresci and Drummond.

And as lawyers in both cases stressed, John White put Cresci and Drummond in charge.

(Cresci and Drummond have refused several requests for interviews placed through Gargiulo. On May 15, a polite Cresci turned down an offer to tell his story when City Paper visited PHA police headquarters. In addition, four PHA directors,Mayor Ed Rendell, City Council President John Street, AFL-CIO President Joe Rauscher Jr. and well-known political consultant Diana Roca did not return calls seeking comment.)

Nespoli's widow wound up in court because her detective husband dared to investigate reports that PHA executive Dennis Kirkland used and sold cocaine. John White is Dennis Kirkland's friend going back 20 years. To date, Kirkland has not been chargedwith any illegal activities by state or federal authorities and has denied all of the allegations leveled against him.

When Nespoli, "a cop's cop" according to an Inquirer obituary in September 1995, tried to investigate, he found himself transferred. After 29 years with the Philadelphia Police Department, four days off, and another eight years onthe PHA force, it's likely that Nespoli was capable of conducting a fair inquiry. Cresci and Drummond pulled Nespoli off the case, then transferred him to another detail.

Ironically, the cocaine charges against Kirkland had been simmering long before White joined the PHA. In court, White testified that ex-PHA Police Chief Chico Cannon and Elton Jolly, the federal master who ran the PHA from 1991 to 1993, briefed himon drug allegations against Kirkland when he arrived at the PHA in October 1993. White was told that Kirkland refused to take drug tests as ordered by the PHA's ex-Inspector General Brian Dressman.

White told the Nespoli jury that, being new on the job, he was "too busy" to investigate the matter. Still, White admitted that he promoted Kirkland to PHA's director of conventional sites one day after taking command. That job gaveKirkland a fat salary ($75,000, now $81,000 per year) along with control over 15 low-income projects and 500 employees. Meanwhile, White fired Chico Cannon three weeks later and replaced him with interim Chief Bill Bergman. White also named Cresci asdeputy chief. According to testimony, Nespoli's investigation of Kirkland halted shortly after Cresci assumed that role.

In court, Mary Ann Nespoli told the jury that Cresci warned her husband to get off the Kirkland case; Capt. Daniel Rosenstein, former head of the PHA's anti-drug unit, stated that Cresci asked him to transfer Nespoli. Cresci told the jury that henever issued such orders. The jury sided with Mary Ann Nespoli and awarded her $130,000. Though John White escaped without liability, the jury ruled that the PHA's top cop suppressed a drug investigation which targeted White's friend.

To this day, a question lingers.

"What reason did Cresci have to squash the Kirkland investigation except to please White?" asks an attorney close to the case. "John Cresci didn't know Kirkland. Kirkland didn't know Cresci. But Kirkland was White's friend of20-something years. White's a very likable guy, a charmer. The jury bought into that. But nobody answered that question."

Robert Ferguson was the only PHA cop willing to speak on the record to City Paper.

Jim Curran is a third-generation cop. After 26 years with the city force and as a county government detective, Curran gave it up in August 1993 to be a PHA cop. Three years later, Curran stood before a jury, telling them how John Cresci ruined hislife.

In August 1993, Detective Cresci had two years of the PHA behind him and a promotion to deputy chief ahead. Locker room odds favored Cresci to become chief within a year. Cresci openly bragged that he would "take over" once a new directorcame on board and dumped Chico Cannon. That's how it was when Cresci asked Curran to hop on board the PHA gravy train.

Curran told the court that Cresci promised him a detective's job once he became chief. So Curran changed jobs and became a $24,110-per-year street cop. He didn't wait long to prove his worth, tallying the PHA's largest drug bust six weeks aftersigning on.

Then a car slammed into Curran's patrol vehicle on March 8, 1994, and injured his back. Curran, try as he might, could no longer participate in drug raids. Three months later, Rosenstein, the anti-drug unit chief, assigned Curran as"equipment" officer. A day later, Cresci — now the new PHA police chief — gave Curran a different job.

Assigned to a desk by Cresci, Curran reported as ordered, ready to answer incoming calls. Just one problem with Cresci's order: the PHA chief had given Curran a desk without a phone. Later that year, the PHA tested detective candidates. Nobody toldCurran. The beleaguered cop then shuffled off to the radio room for a five-month tour. Curran passed the time taking phone calls from pissed off tenants with clogged toilets and broken appliances. Cresci and Bill Drummond called Rosenstein every dayto check up on Curran's work status.

Then Cresci ordered Curran to his office. No luck of the Irish for Curran on St. Patrick's Day 1995. Cresci bid Curran adieu, citing PHA policy which gives management the OK to fire injured employees in one year's time. A freak car accident, two daysof R&R, and a year of hell left Curran with a one-way ticket to nowhere.

Until Dec. 10, 1996. Seems Cresci and Bill Drummond didn't know that PHA rules give injured workers advance notice of four to six weeks before they're cut loose. The two also didn't know that the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn't let the bosstreat injured workers like dirt when they get hurt on the job or when they complain about poor treatment by managers. The jury gave Curran $1.5 million.

Sordid as the Nespoli trial was, its ugliest moments did not deal with drugs. After attorneys Martin Lentz and Jim Miller asked Cresci and Drummond about their careers, an amazing tale emerged when Cresci told the court about his time on thePhiladelphia Police Department.

Most officers spend their careers shifting between various districts and working different jobs. Not Cresci. Sweating and fidgeting, Cresci recited 23 years' worth of duties at the Civil Affairs unit from typewritten notes. No, said Cresci, I wasnever promoted. Indeed, Cresci had only taken the sergeant's test once in 1979. Cresci said he didn't get the promotion because the brass were giving plum jobs to the women.

So who was your patron when you became chief? asked Lentz. Cresci swore he got his job by answering a want ad in the newspaper, the one a White-led PHA published. That "national search" sought a PHA chief with "an education equivalentto the completion of high school and 10 years of law enforcement," no management experience necessary. The PHA published its requirements in one national publication, Police Chief, plus local papers like the Inquirer and DailyNews.

Never mind that the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association (PCPA) says police chiefs should have a bachelor's degree, preferably a master's degree. Forget those PCPA guidelines asking chiefs to have a minimum of five years' experience as a rankingofficer in charge of something.

One guy who applied for the chief's job fit the PHA's bill of goods like a golfer's glove: John Cresci, a Father Judge grad who spent the better part of 23 years chauffeuring Civil Affairs Inspector George Fencl, the cop who never rose above the rankof officer until he joined the PHA force.

Drummond's story had its own twist. Like Cresci, Drummond fell short when it came to management experience. At least Drummond had supervised the Philadelphia Police Department's lie detector unit, testing recruits for possible drug use, previouscrimes and general truthfulness. But it was there, Drummond told the court, that he came under scrutiny from Internal Affairs. Somebody said Drummond, who is black, flunked a few too many white recruits while not flunking black recruits. Drummondpassed Internal Affairs Department muster in the matter, but word of the scrutiny followed him to PHA.

At the authority, all the white officers who were passed over for promotion wondered about the man who controlled the process. By order of Cresci, Drummond became chair of the PHA panel which controls police promotions. As revealed in testimony,Drummond's status as chairman of the promotions panel armed him with extraordinary power.

Until last year, the PHA did not test promotion candidates. A PHA lawyer, a personnel staff member and a PHA police captain joined Drummond when prospects were interviewed. Different panel members asked different questions to different candidates.When finished, board members jotted down their ratings, folded their paper in two and passed them to Drummond. The deputy tallied the results, then threw away the ballots. Drummond did not leave records behind when he announced the results.

Today, there are five captains on the PHA force — four are black. There are six lieutenants — five are black. There are 17 sergeants — 13 are black.

"Drummond destroyed a lot of lives of a lot of officers with those promotions," says Bob Ferguson, a black officer. "He's vindictive. It's sad."

"The message [behind promotions] is, 'This is a black organization — whites don't belong,'" says a white cop. "The entire [promotions] process is a farce, a charade."

"I agree that the [promotions] process is not a fair process," says White. "It is in the process of being changed."

Everything said, White stands by Cresci, Drummond and Aaron Hughes.

"In hindsight, [hiring experienced managers] may have been the wise thing to do," says White. "But that wasn't the 'pressure' we were under in 1994. It was clear to me then that in order to get a 'development-focused' department up andrunning, [Cresci] was the man we needed."

"John Cresci is my police chief," says White. "He met the mandate that I gave him three years ago. And he met it well."

Outside Philadelphia Housing Police headquarters at 30th and Tasker.

Talking to a PHA cop isn't easy. One officer spread a reporter's legs and conducted a 90-second search for electronic devices. Kevin Givens, the FOHP's president, set up an interview but didn't show. And Givens stopped returning pager calls. Themajority of PHA officers simply laughed when asked what they think.

Especially about the FOHP's potentially explosive racial discrimination suit.

"That's not a policy they have, that's just something they started doing two years ago," chuckles the black officer named 'George.'"In January 1995, the tenant council president at MLK [South Philly's Martin Luther King housingcomplex] complained there were too many white officers in her project, so they busted the white boys up. After that, it was only black-and-black or salt-and-pepper."

Though the FOHP's claim is just an allegation, FOHP lawyer Tom Jennings swears discrimination exists and says John White has done nothing to stop it.

"White knew about this," says Jennings. "I know for a fact that John White knew about it. I don't think he designed it, but he knew. It came down from Cresci with Drummond and Hughes implementing it."

Why didn't White stop it?

"You'll have to ask John White," says Jennings.

White says there is no policy where patrols are assigned by race. At least none that he knows of.

"I am certainly not aware of any [discriminatory] policy that existed," White says.

"There was never a policy that said whites couldn't work with whites," adds Gargiulo. But, he admits, "There were lots of teams that were biracial."

Either way, like the Nespoli and Curran cases, the FOHP's suit is a land mine that could explode White's mayoral hopes. All White can do is wait.

"Folks are pleased with the direction we are taking with the [PHA] police department," avers White. "For legal reasons I can't comment on [the FOHP suit]... but I was very disappointed at the allegations raised in [the Curran andNespoli] cases. In some respects, they tarnished the entire force. But we've rebounded from that. It's over and done with. Now is my chance to make sure that there's no basis for allegations like that in the future."

Some say it's too late.

"Most officers will be glad to see Cresci go," says Ferguson. "Here's a guy who went from being a driver for George Fencl to being a police chief. Just like that. Now John White inherited a lot of our bullshit. But he hired Cresci. IfWhite's gonna be mayor, he's gonna have to deal with that."