PHILLY KILLZ

A student pilot practicing takeoffs and landings for his flight test crashed a small plane into a warehouse parking lot Thursday, killing the pilot and an instructor.

The plane, a Grumman AA-1C, went down near Northeast Philadelphia Airport just before noon, first hitting the parking lot and then skidding under a row of trailers parked along the T.J. Maxx warehouse. No one on the ground was hurt and the fire was under control within 20 minutes, officials said.

The control tower had just told the student pilot to make a right turn, but he apparently made the turn to steep, said Herbert Hortman, the owner of Hortman Aviation Services Inc., a flight school and rental company that owns the plane.

The National Weather Service reported that the wind was blowing at around 10 mph at the time of the crash, but Hortman said it should not have been a factor.

The student was making final preparations for his flight test and the instructor was a veteran pilot, Hortman said. The plane was a few hundred feet off the ground at the time of the accident, Hortman said. There were no signs of mechanical failure or other problems before the crash.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, said Holly Baker, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman in Atlantic City, N.J.

The names of the victims were not released.

Northeast Philadelphia Airport is the smaller of the city's two airports. Both it and Philadelphia International Airport, which is at the other end of the city, are owned and operated by the city government.

Airport spokeswoman Phyllis VanIstendal referred calls to Hortman Aviation.

The alleged mastermind of an insurance scam that involved a Philadelphia police officer was charged yesterday with defrauding 10 insurance companies of more than $1 million through an elaborate scheme of fake car accidents and fraudulent police reports.
The former officer, Deshane Riggins, 28, was charged in January in connection with writing a host of phony, accident reports.

The District Attorney's Office announced yesterday that authorities nabbed the alleged ringleader, Wallace Morris, Sr., known as "Pops," of Hatfield Street near 57th.

Morris was charged with 187 counts of insurance fraud, bribery, conspiracy, perjury, theft and related charges, District Attorney Lynne Abraham said.

Morris and Riggins worked in unison for more than two years to swindle at least 10 insurance companies through more than 187 phony claims, Abraham said.

The insurance companies - Progressive, State Farm, AIG, Allstate, Cambridge, Erie, GEICO, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide and American Independent - paid out more than $1 million to the claimants and numerous doctors and lawyers allegedly involved.

The plot involved hundreds of people, including friends and family members, along with a wide array of doctors and lawyers, Abraham said.

Morris and Riggins allegedly conspired to create fake accidents, explaining that if somebody had some damage to their car, they "agreed with Morris to get a corrupt agreement together to make a few illegal bucks from claiming insurance," Abraham said.

The scheme worked like this: There were two cars with two passengers in each, making a total of six people altogether who could file.

Riggins, with prior knowledge of the faked accidents, wrote the fraudulent police report to strengthen the insurance claims, Abraham said. Morris then steered the claimants to doctors and lawyers who were also in on the scheme.

Morris got money from both ends of the shady deal, Abraham said. He allegedly received a fee from each doctor or lawyer he sent to them, and also wanted a piece of the insurance payout that the claimants received from the insurance companies.

The plan unraveled, Abraham said, when investigators from Progressive questioned one of the claimants, who then admitted the accident was faked. Progressive then tipped off the D.A.'s office, which led to the arrest of Riggins and Morris.

Riggins, a seven-year veteran of the force, was assigned to the 14th District when he was placed on administrative duties and later fired in February.

Riggins was charged with 19 counts each of insurance fraud, tampering with public records, bribery and criminal conspiracy.

Abraham said that Morris and Riggins raked in up to $100,000 in the scheme.

Riggins, facing "a lengthy prison term," has been cooperative with investigators, Abraham said, and her office will soon arrest the lawyers and doctors involved in the plot, once their complicity is established.

"These cases simply cannot exist unless there is an agreement, a conspiracy, between doctors, lawyers, police officers in this case and a mastermind," Abraham said. "And in this case, Morris appears to be the mastermind." *

With a pink baseball cap on her head and three grandchildren in tow, Patricia Stewart was at Eakin's Oval at 6:25 this morning.
A little over an hour later Stewart would join more than 6,000 other breast cancer survivors for the "Parade in Pink" down the art museum steps to kick off the 18th annual Susan G. Komen Philadelphia Race for the Cure.

On this brisk, bright Mother's Day morning 45,000 people ran, jogged and walked the 3.1 mile course to raise money and awareness for breast cancer.

"I'm on a mission to touch the life of every woman who has had this illness," Stewart said who is a 25-year breast cancer survivor.

In Pennsylvania and New Jersey an estimated 15,720 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and nearly 3,600 will die of the disorder, according to the American Cancer Society.

Nationally the disease is the second leading cause of cancer death among women behind lung cancer. The cancer society estimates that 182,460 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with the disease this year and nearly 40,500 will die of it.

The Race for the Cure has become a Philadelphia tradition since 1991 when 1,893 people took part in the first race here.

"Our message to everyone who is fighting this disease is simple: we can win this battle," said Elaine I. Grobman, executive director of the Philadelphia affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure who has led the effort for 18 years.

Today, the race course was jammed with men and women, young and old, black and white supporting survivors, honoring the memories of those who died, and hoping to help prevent the spread of breast cancer.

Margarett Zuccott, a breast cancer survivor, won the 3.1 mile race in the survivor category.

"I think it is important to be out to support all the other survivors and their families," said Stewart, 66. "Also it is a reminder of how blessed I am to have survived."

Thursday will be the anniversary of the killing of Police Officer Gary Skerski, who was shot to death May 8, 2006, when he responded to a holdup at a bar in Northeast Philadelphia.
There may be a certain irony in the fact that Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski was shot to death Saturday, five days before that date, while responding to the robbery of a bank.

Liczbinski became the third Philadelphia police officer shot to death in the line of duty in the last two years.

The other was Chuck Cassidy, who was shot and killed on Oct. 31 when he interrupted the robbery of a Dunkin' Donuts store on Broad Street near 66th Avenue, West Oak Lane.

Skerski's murder was the first in the city since Officer Lauretha Vaird, 43, the mother of two, was shot to death Jan. 2, 1996, when she responded to a burglar alarm at the PNC Bank in Feltonville.

Skerski, 46, a 16-year veteran cop who was highly regarded in the Northeast community he patrolled, was working overtime when he and a partner interrupted a holdup at Pat's Cafe, Castor Avenue and Arrott Street. He was hit in the neck with a shotgun blast and died a day later.

Solomon Montgomery, 26, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

Cassidy, 54, a 25-year veteran and father of three, was shot when he entered the doughnut store. The killer picked up Cassidy's service revolver and ran off.

The suspect, John "Jordan" Lewis, 21, fled to Miami, where he was arrested on Nov. 6. He is awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges. Also injured in the last two years were:

Nov. 28, 2007: Officer Sandra Van Hinkle was shot and wounded in the right leg when she and other police officers tried to disperse a crowd outside a nightclub in University City.

Oct. 30, 2007: Mariano Santiago, 44, was shot in the shoulder in Center City while pursuing an alleged gunman.

Sept. 24, 2007: Richard Decoatsworth, 21, a rookie, was hit in the face with birdshot after a routine traffic stop in West Philadelphia. *

Investigators this morning are probing a double shooting in West Philadelphia that left two dead and riddled with bullets, police said.
Officers were called at 12:38 a.m. to the 300 block of N. 62nd St. They found a 19-year-old woman shot twice in the chest and a 19-year-old man shot in the head and buttocks, police said.

The woman was rushed to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where she was pronounced at 1:20 a.m.; the man was taken to HUP where doctors declared him dead at 1:05 a.m.

Police have no suspects or motive.

Four men are in Pennsylvania State Police custody and 50-kilograms of cocaine have been seized after a routine traffic stop on I-95 Thursday afternoon. Police are now working with the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Association in Camden, and hope to identify the men soon.

Shortly after 1pm, a state trooper patrolling I-95 north noticed a black Suburban on the highway. State Police Captain David Young:

"It was showing signs of aggressive driving, that's following closely, it would come up on the bumper of one vehicle, those vehicles would move over then he would quickly move up on the next vehicle, so basically he was being an aggressive driver, which is something we are targeting at this time on I-95."

The suburban was pulled over and the trooper gave the driver a written warning, then asked for consent to search the vehicle. The driver agreed, and the trooper discovered luggage in the storage area filled with cocaine. Young says the street value of the 50-kilos of cocaine is approximately $5,000,0

MARVIN Harrison's life story was once the kind of tale fathers whisper to their sons at bedtime - a local guy who worked hard and achieved impossible dreams.
Harrison started turning heads almost 20 years ago as a two-sport wonder at Roman Catholic High School.

The skinny kid from North Philly went on to Syracuse University, where he starred as a wide receiver alongside future Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.

Harrison has since found fame and fortune in the NFL, where he breaks receiving records seemingly at will. He even won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts in 2007. But now those close to Harrison are wondering if the quiet, widely respected star has fumbled away his Hall of Fame-caliber career with an alleged senseless act of street violence.

Philadelphia police acknowledged yesterday that Harrison, 35, is under investigation for allegedly being involved in a shooting earlier this week in his old North Philadelphia neighborhood.

The shooting occurred about 5 p.m. Tuesday up the block from a garage and car detail shop that Harrison owns at 25th and Thompson streets, police said.

Six shots were fired in all during the incident. An unidentified 32-year-old man - who had just been involved in a fistfight with Harrison - took a bullet to the hand. A 2-year-old boy suffered a cut under his eye from shards of glass that showered the area when an errant bullet exploded through a car windshield, police said.

From there, the story gets complicated.

The gunshot victim was dropped off at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood. Initially, the man told investigators that he had been wounded while driving on 61st Street in West Philly, police sources said.

Eventually, though, he acknowledged that he had been shot in North Philly. The man refused, however, to identify the person who wounded him.

Investigators later learned that the gunshot victim had been kicked out of Harrison's bar, Playmakers, on 28th Street near Cambridge, two weeks earlier, and had bickered with Harrison ever since, sources said.

On Wednesday, detectives visited Harrison's garage and detail shop, which he purchased in 2006 for $200,000, according to tax records.

Sources said that Harrison had a Belgian firearm, an FN5.7, in his garage. Harrison handed the high-powered weapon - which fires armor-piercing rounds - over to investigators.

He then spent about four hours at Central Detectives, accompanied by his attorney, Jerome Brown.

Neither Brown nor Harrison's agent, Tom Condon, could be reached for comment last night.

During a lengthy interview, Harrison acknowledged owning the gun and being involved in a fistfight on Tuesday, but said he had nothing to do with the shooting, sources told the Daily News.

Investigators informed him that ballistics tests confirmed that five of the six shell casings found at the shooting scene came from his gun, the sources said.

Last night, detectives were searching for another man who contacted them and claimed that he had been shot by Harrison, although that report remains unconfirmed, sources said.

Harrison, meanwhile, has not been charged with any wrong-doing.

"No one has actually come in here and said that he shot them, and we don't have any witnesses," one investigator noted.

But reports of the investigation, which quickly became national news, stunned those who knew Harrison, who maintained an impeccable image even after he became a wealthy NFL star.

"His nature was so calm. He literally never caused me any trouble at all," said Dennis Seddon, the head coach of Roman Catholic's basketball team.

Harrison was named the Catholic League Southern Division MVP while he was on Roman's basketball team during his senior year.

"He carried himself in a business-like manner even then, and he carried that over to his professional career," Seddon said.

"Knowing Marvin's character . . . it's beyond belief that he could be involved in something like this."

There wasn't much of a crowd at Playmakers, last night. Two people hovered near the bar, while another tended to a lonely pool table.

"Don't nobody believe none of this s- - -!" bellowed a bouncer who puffed on a cigarette outside the bar.

The bouncer, who didn't give his name, said Harrison is at his bar "from time to time" and "looks out for everybody."

Indeed, Harrison seemed devoted to giving back after he achieved stardom.

According to the Colts' Web site, Harrison has raised money for the March of Dimes, underprivileged children in Syracuse, N.Y., and also sponsors one Philadelphia high school student to attend Syracuse University every summer.

McNabb, his old Syracuse teammate, was being inducted to his high school hall of fame last night and wasn't available to comment, said McNabb's spokesman, Rich Burg. In a brief e-mail, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said: "We are aware of the report and we are looking into it." *

A Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed with a military assault rifle late this morning when he confronted at least two robbers who had just held up a Bank of America branch at a Shoprite supermarket in Port Richmond.

Another officer, responding to a “flash” that had been broadcast on police radio, ran into the robbers at Schiller and Almond streets and shot one of them dead, officials said.

One, perhaps two, of the robbers remained at large late this afternoon as hundreds of police officers searched a wide swath of the city looking for bandits and their getaway car.

“This is a tragedy for the entire City of Philadelphia,” Mayor Nutter told a reporter outside of Temple University Hospital, where the slain officer was taken.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey identified the slain officer as Stephen Liczbinski, 40, a 12-year police veteran assigned to the 24th District in Port Richmond who recently had been promoted to sergeant.
Liczbinski’s wife, Michelle, and their three children — Matt, Steven and Amber — were escorted into the hospital by police officials.

At 11:26 a.m., police received a report of a robbery at the American Bank at 3547 Aramingo Avenue. There was no immediate word on the details of the robbery.

Police weren’t certain if there were two robbers or three.

Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, described one as a man wearing “Muslim garb” and carrying a shoulder bag.

He said that a second, who might have been a woman, was wearing “light brown Muslim garb.”

A third possible robber, a man, was described as having worn a “dreadlock wig” and a “construction mask.” He had on blue jeans and a flannel shirt.

Liczbinski ran into the robbers sometime after they fled the bank. Officials said the weapon used to kill him may have been an AK-47 style assault rifle, used by numerous armies and insurgent groups around the world.

A short distance from the bank, at Schiller and Almond streets, a canine-unit officer encountered the getway vehicle. Shots were fired, and one of the robbers was fatally wounded. Police officers no immediate details on what happened.

The series: Flyers lead the Eastern Conference semifinal, 3-1.
Turning point: One of Montreal's many misfires spun all the way around to the opposing point, initiating an odd-man rush that resulted in R.J. Umberger's goal to make it 1-0 at 7:47 of the second period. It was the fourth straight game the Flyers have scored the first goal.

Did you notice?: Jaroslav Halak, inserted in place of Carey Price in goal, allowed as many goals in Game 4 as Price did in Games 1 and 3.

Hit of the game: Sami Kapanen, heading to the bench with his stick broken, laid out Tomas Plekanec as he tried to maneuver in the neutral zone with the puck in the second period.

Key number: Umberger, bounced around on lines throughout the playoffs, scored his sixth and seventh playoff goals last night, including the fifth and sixth of this series. Umberger has scored the first goal in three of the four games.

Another conspiracy theory?: There seems to be a sentiment among those visiting for this series (and some who have been here all along) that the Flyers are pumping crowd noise through their sound system, or at least amplifying the existing cheers. Of particular suspicion is the swelling of noise at the precise same points of the Kate Smith/Lauren Hart "God Bless America" duet during Games 3 and 4.

Save of the game: Marty Biron had at least a half-dozen that fit this, but his multiple saves on Mark Streit's second-period power-play slapper preserved the 1-0 lead they had just attained.

What's next: Game 5 is at Montreal's Bell Centre Saturday night at 7.