After the Bomb

Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode was the picture of control last May after a police confrontation with the radical black group Move left eleven cult members and children dead and ignited a fire that swept through 61 houses. Under his leadership, Philadelphians rallied to assist the 250 homeless residents of the Osage Avenue neighborhood; the city pledged to rebuild their destroyed houses and repair all damage caused by the fire, at a cost of some $12 million. The mayor also accepted full responsibility for what had happened. As he explained then: "People like a decisive leader (who) does not try to find scapegoats."

The picture was quite different last week, as Goode testified before an eleven-member commission he had appointed to investigate city officials' handling of the episode, particularly the decision to drop a bomb from a helicopter onto the roof of the heavily fortified Move row house. The police hoped the explosion would blow an opening for their tear-gas charges; instead it ignited the fire. Claiming that he had been misinformed and disobeyed by then Managing Director Leo Brooks and Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor, Goode said, "They did not follow my directives."

During two days of testimony, Goode described to the panel how he had monitored the police action from his home and his office, using radio and telephone links with Brooks, who was on the scene. The mayor testified that he had never been told that a helicopter would drop a bomb, and was informed only 17 minutes beforehand that explosives might have to be employed. Not so, said Brooks, who resigned as managing director soon after the disaster. He insisted that the mayor had approved key elements of police contingency plans, including the use of explosives, well in advance. That claim was strongly supported by Police Commissioner Sambor. Said Sambor: "I told the mayor that the insertion teams were going to use explosive charges to breach the walls so * they could insert gas through the holes."

Goode refused to comment on the discrepancies in the testimony given last week, except to say, "I told the truth as I know it. If there are differences, it is up to the commission to resolve them." The investigation is to be followed by four others, by the Philadelphia district attorney, the Pennsylvania senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Justice Department.