Murder at Ryan's Run: exposing the cult of John Africa
A true crime investigation exposing the Philadelphia cult operating as the MOVE Organization. Told by survivors and insiders, Murder At Ryan’s Run reveals abuse, lies, and lost lives—plus exclusive tapes, FBI files, and real-time reporting of a daring cult escape. This is the story MOVE leaders don’t want you to hear.
Murder at Ryan's Run: exposing the cult of John Africa
Straight Outta Holmesburg -MOVE’s Prison Recruiting—and One Inmates Encounter With Their "God"
The shadows of Philadelphia's MOVE organization stretch far beyond the infamous 1985 bombing on Osage Avenue. Through an exclusive interview with Richard Garland—a former gang member who encountered MOVE while incarcerated at Holmesburg Prison—we uncover the cult's prison recruitment tactics and the mysterious figure at its center.
Garland reveals his extraordinary three-day encounter with Vincent Leapheart (John Africa) through prison cell walls, describing a "soft voice that commanded you would listen." His testimony provides rare insight into how MOVE maintained control over members, even those behind bars, through a sophisticated system of coded communications and psychological manipulation.
The interview raises disturbing questions about May 13th, 1985. Was Vincent Leapheart actually in the house when police dropped the bomb? Why did MOVE members tell Garland that John Africa was "still alive" afterward? And what explains the medical examiner's notation that "Body F"—presumed to be Vincent—was missing its head, which appeared to have been "sawed" off?
For decades, these questions have remained largely unanswered as MOVE members have pursued financial settlements rather than scientific verification through DNA testing. Garland's story serves as a crucial puzzle piece in understanding how MOVE functioned both in and out of the Pennsylvania prison system and how 40 years later, there are more stones to turn over in the MOVE story.
As we mark the 40th anniversary of the MOVE confrontation, this episode challenges listeners to examine all aspects of this complicated story—the victims, the survivors, the uncomfortable truths that continue to haunt everyone involved, and the questions that MOVE still avoids answering.
Materials for this episode are on the website - Page S3 Ep 5
Information on Holmesburg Prison:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holmesburg_Prison
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/988758.Acres_of_Skin
The producers of this podcast wish to stress that all individuals reference in this series are presumed innocent unless or until they are proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law in the United States of America.
Executive Produced, reported, hosted, and edited by Beth McNamara
Additional research by Robert Helms
Murder At Ryan's Run
Instagram
Facebook Page
Podcast Press
If you have questions, comments, tips, or media inquiries, please reach out on social media or via email: murderatryansrun@gmail.com
All individuals referenced in this podcast are presumed to be innocent unless or until they are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a United States court of law.
This episode is for all the listeners who have sent me questions about whether I am going to go deeper and whether I'm going to go into some questions related to Vincent Leapheart and May 13th 1985. This episode is for you.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm currently I run a nonprofit called Reimagine Reentry, working with men and women coming out of the state and federal institutions, where I'm getting them into the construction trades. I just recently retired from the University of Pittsburgh as an assistant professor for public health practice.
Speaker 1:This episode is a phone interview I conducted with a little-known MOVE member named Richard Garland, who has been out of touch with MOVE for almost 30 years. He was unaware of the podcast, but wanted to just tell me what he knew.
Speaker 2:I met MOVE when I was incarcerated down at the Holmesburg prison. I'm a former gang member from Philadelphia. I was about the streets and using drugs and drug game and all that I can say this is because of MOVE that I only use drugs or anything like that, and the positive track that I'm on right now is because of the things that I was taught by the teachings of John Africa.
Speaker 1:In this conversation with Richard he's telling me he truly believes that the teachings of MOVE of John Africa were his turning point in prison for him not to do drugs anymore. But it's rooted in his very specific experience that he had with MOVE members, which happened only while he was incarcerated, and I think that's very significant. Can I ask what your sentence was that ended you up in Holmesburg? In what year?
Speaker 2:1979. I was arrested for a homicide, conspiracy to murder and apprehension of prosecution. What that entailed? They were saying that it was a drug war, gang war, where a guy got shot in the face with a shotgun. They said my part in it was that I put him in some trash bags and threw them in a dumpster Something I didn't have anything to do with. But I have a reputation in Philly of being a gang member from the neighborhood that I lived in. I was one of the easiest ones to pin that on, but I don't sit in this interview like I was an angel. As I said, I'm a former gang member. I was about the streets.
Speaker 1:Did you have an arrest or criminal record prior to this charge?
Speaker 2:Yes, I've spent over 23 and a half years of my life in the penitential.
Speaker 1:Richard's 23 years of incarceration involved multiple prisons. He met move at 25 years old when he was at Holmesburg Prison. Holmesburg Prison was operated by the city of Philadelphia from 1896 to 1995 and was nicknamed the Terror Dome because of the terrible conditions, riots and medical experiments conducted on inmates. I'm going to put a link to Holmesburg history in the show notes. It's very interesting and, I think, very important in the context of things.
Speaker 1:Move members were in Holmesburg while on trial for their 1978 felony charges, including manslaughter, while their leader, vincent Leapart, aka John Africa, and his inner circle, which included Alberta Wicker, his quote-unquote move mate, were fugitives evading charges related to May 20, 1977, guns on the porch and a federal bomb plot conspiracy. As the leader of the cult, vincent knew how crucial it was for him to maintain control and blind loyalty from his young followers, both in and out of prison, so he orchestrated a system using coded communications and proxies. Move members were expected to stay loyal and carry out the move activities they were given, one of which was to recruit followers from within prison. Recruitment for all cult-like groups, and cults in particular, are a sales job. Move members are trained how to profile their target in order to identify how to build rapport that leads to a bond that the target believes is a genuine friendship or even more, outside of prison.
Speaker 1:We know that Move likes to start with an invitation to have a meal with them, especially at their house or headquarters. Yet again, another thing not unique to the Move cult the Hare Krishnas are known for having their free community dinners. This is where they recruit. While this meal manipulation tactic works for MOVE in the outside world, it doesn't work in prison. Prison is about survival, which means you need to show strength yourself or make alliances with others who are strong should you find yourself needing protection. Move members had to maintain their physical drills in prison as part of their regiment loyalty and to keep their minds occupied so they would not think for themselves. But also this physical peacocking was a show for potential recruits. Richard tells me that his first interactions with MOVE took place in the yard where MOVE was demonstrating their physical fitness that they say was a result of John Africa's teachings.
Speaker 2:I started working out with them, talking with them, and we came close and everybody thought MOVE is like when they talk about back to nature. You know that they didn't shower or anything like that. That was a lie. You know. I've seen do a whole lot of lies and then when I sat down and started listening to some of the things that they were saying, I kind of embraced them Not kind of I did, actually, when I became a supporter of the MOVE organization because of the things that I started applying, I actually represented myself during trial. I had a homicide with two other co-defendants. I ended up only getting six to 14 years. The reason why I did 12 and a half years is because they gave me all my back time from previous crimes that I had committed or that I've been arrested for.
Speaker 1:Prior to meeting MOVE, Richard had used court-provided counsel. The idea of being his own counsel came directly from MOVE members in Holmesburg Prison.
Speaker 2:You know, Holmesburg is like a holding place until you get sentenced. When I got sentenced, they sent me to Greater Ford. While at Greater Ford, because of the publicity that MOVE got and the reputation that I had, they sent me to Huntington and they sent Mike Africa to Huntington.
Speaker 1:When Richard says Mike Africa, he means Michael Davis, mike Africa Sr, the father of Mike Africa Jr and one of the members of MOVE that was convicted for the killing of James Ramp in 1978 and part of the group of MOVE referred to as the MOVE 9. Richard says he was very close to Mike Davis, mike Africa, but Mike was actually not the first MOVE member he met. It was Phil Africa, william Phillips, the husband of Janine Phillips, janine Smith, janine Africa, and both of them had had three children in MOVE Mike Africa and Phil Africa. They both had their hair in dreadlocks in accordance with MOVE's beliefs.
Speaker 2:Mike Africa. He was in the hole because he didn't cut his hair, because it was religious beliefs or belief in natural law. So he didn't cut our hair and I had dreadlocks. Then at that time the institution had used our dreadlocks as a reason for locking us up. So they put us in the hole. They were real racist.
Speaker 2:Down in Huntington I didn't get along with the guards. They kicked me out of Huntington and they sent me to Western. I spent like another eight to 10 months in the hold there.
Speaker 2:In 1985, when they dropped that bomb on Osage Avenue, I was still in solitary confinement. The warden came to my cell with a bunch of guards and they said to me I didn't know what was going on. They said to me you will know what was going on. They said to me you will never get out of the jail. We want you to know that you'll be in jail for the rest of your life. That's the only way that you're going to walk out of this jail. You know you're going to be in a car. I'm like man, I got a date. I don't know what y'all talking about, but I didn't know what was going on. But there was some other inmates who had just had came to the hold and they told me that they dropped the bomb on move.
Speaker 2:You know I was kind of messed up because I didn't get no mail. I didn't get no mail during the whole 1985 from any of my family members or any of the move folks that was out on the streets that were looking out for move members and supporters. That was away when they finally let me out for members and supporters, that was away. When they finally let me out the hole and I found out about, you know, people had saved articles for me when stuff seemed like they was calming down, that's when they let us out. Let us out the hole and I started going about my business. As far as doing the work, One of the things that I really embraced is I liked the way they ate. I couldn't really eat the prison food so I became a vegetarian and really stuck to a kind of vegetarian diet, you know, even though I ate fish.
Speaker 1:I have a bunch of questions I'd like to follow up on yes, go ahead. You met MOVE at Holmesburg. Do you remember specifically what Move members you met or which one you met first?
Speaker 2:I met Phil Africa first. Me and Phil used to lock cross. He used to lock cross for me and we would always talk. Actually we would always run the yard. I would run the yard with him. Boy in Mike, africa, that man could run for days. It was hard to keep up with him. I met Eddie and I met Delbert. They were really good with embracing people that were interested in what they were really all about All the questions that I had you know why y'all wear your hair like that, why y'all do this and what really happened with the shooting, with Ramp getting killed and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:Can I ask what they told you happened with the Ramp shooting?
Speaker 2:You know, like they said, it was a shooting. You know what I mean. I believe that one of the cops killed Ramp, that nobody from MOVE killed Ramp. Actually, the investigation came out that the guns that they had were inoperable. All the shooting that the cops did during August 8th, you know, really came from them.
Speaker 1:And you got that information from.
Speaker 2:From MOVE members yep.
Speaker 1:Okay, did you ever meet Vincent Lepart, also known as John Africa?
Speaker 2:I did.
Speaker 1:I had not expected Richard to answer that he had met Vincent Lepart ak, known as John Africa. I did. I had not expected Richard to answer that he had met Vincent Leapheart, aka John Africa. I don't ask any questions, I just let him talk.
Speaker 2:While I was at Holmesburg prison. One day I was going to court and I had a on the move badge on.
Speaker 1:When Richard says move badge, he means like a little pin, you know, a pin that you can poke through your shirt. That obviously wouldn't be allowed in prison because it could be a weapon.
Speaker 2:And the deputy sheriff has snatched it off of me, and when I reached for it they jumped on me, so I started fighting them. I had a fight with the sheriff. When I got downtown they separated me from everybody, and then they came in there and they beat me down.
Speaker 1:According to public reporting, the date of this incident is April 23, 1980.
Speaker 2:I actually wore a patch over my eye for a couple years while I was at Holmesburg because of the beating that I took. So I had a civil suit Garland against Selden. They awarded me like $1,500 for damages to me and stuff.
Speaker 1:I have a super interesting footnote here the civil case that Richard Garland brought and won against the guard. He acted as his own legal counsel, but he had assistance from a member of the Pennsylvania Bar and the name of this lawyer will ring a bell, or a few bells Angela Martinez, alberta's lawyer in her custody battle against John Gilbride in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. Angela was also the legal assistance for Ramona Johnson in her criminal trial on charges related to May 13th 1985. And Angela was involved in retaining the civil lawyer for a move that resulted in the $2.5 million settlement for the death of the five children. And remember, alberta became the trustee and then she had her son, zach, and made him a beneficiary of the trust 11 years after May 13th 1985.
Speaker 2:What the suit was really about was they didn't want to transport me or any of the MOVE members to federal court, so the sheriffs had fought against it when I went down to federal court fought against it. When I went down to federal court, john Africa Vincent Leapheart was in the cell next to me and we talked for the whole time that I was down there. He knew who I was from the different movement members that were talking about me.
Speaker 1:How many days do you think you were in the cell next to Vincent Leapheart? John Africa.
Speaker 2:About three days. We talked for the time, for the whole, just about the whole time that we were down there, from the cell to cell.
Speaker 1:For context, at this time, richard Garland is 27 and has been in and out of prison since he was a teenager. Vincent is 51, with one arrested age 17 for auto theft, one charged of domestic violence from his first wife, dorothy, but this is the first instance that Vincent is incarcerated and on trial. How did you refer to him? Did you refer to him as John Africa, the coordinator?
Speaker 2:John Africa.
Speaker 1:Did he ever use his legal name of Vincent?
Speaker 2:No, okay.
Speaker 1:Nope. Richard tells me that John Africa did not mention if he had a mate or children in move, that all he talked about was his teachings, the beliefs.
Speaker 2:Going what's right being strong.
Speaker 1:Did he talk about revolution or overthrowing the system?
Speaker 2:Well, before you know, this is the one thing before you can talk about revolution, you got to change yourself first. You got to change all the thoughts that you have. You can feel the wisdom in whatever we talked about.
Speaker 1:I asked Richard if Vincent John Africa had asked him to relay any messages to MOVE members in prison. He said no. He said that the focus was on him.
Speaker 3:He actually, you know, talked about how much he heard in the progress that I was making as far as being the MOVE supporter, and you know how I was working on myself.
Speaker 1:The federal courthouse in Philadelphia has holding cells on a floor separate from the courtrooms where defendants who are not on bail and have to be transported from prisons are held prior to court proceedings and during breaks. They are not held there overnight, so the conversations between Richard and Vincent Lepart, aka John Africa, were an hour or two at most each day. Richard recalls Vincent's voice.
Speaker 2:He had a soft voice. It commanded you would listen to it.
Speaker 1:Those three days were the extent of Richard Garland's actual experience with the elusive leader and founder of MOVE, Vincent Lepart, aka Johnka John Africa. And Richard only heard Vincent's voice. He never saw him.
Speaker 2:We couldn't see each other. Yeah, we talked just about the whole time that we were down there. You know, he didn't come to court for me, he was on the court for himself.
Speaker 1:Weeks later, vincent Lepart is acquitted by a federal jury on the bomb-making charges. Richard is returned to prison where he continues to receive John Africa's teachings from male MOVE members serving time for the August 8th 1978 police confrontation in which eight first responders suffered gunshot wounds and officer James Ramp died. Richard also received teachings and guidance from MOVE members via mail. Were you ever given any MOVE guidelines?
Speaker 2:I was given a bunch of readings and the conversations that I've had with a lot of different MOVE members. The women used to write me, the men used to write me. That was in different institutions. They would send me letters and stuff, letters of encouragement to keep doing what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:So incarcerated Move, 9 members were sending you communications from other prisons.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, and people from the streets were sending me communications as well.
Speaker 1:Isn't it the rule that if you're incarcerated, you're not allowed to write directly to other incarcerated individuals?
Speaker 2:So they couldn't write directly to me. They were sending letters out and somebody else was sending letters to me.
Speaker 1:So what MOVE members in other prisons were you communicating with?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean Phil, okay, A couple of women Debbie, ramona and then I'm sitting here having a brain fog Merle, merle, merle, woodbright, alberta, janine, alberta yeah, you know, they were right, you know, and every letter that I got was more about you know, them supporting me and the decisions that I was making and becoming a strong supporter of the Move organization.
Speaker 1:Did you ever? Meet any female MOVE members in person.
Speaker 2:Yes, Lamona Sue, I met Debbie and Janine.
Speaker 1:MOVE members in prison are still getting direction from Vincent Lepart in the form of activities. Activities and information are given via letters and in-person visits. As a new prison recruit, richard was given move activities just like every other member, incarcerated or not. Richard's activity at this time was the filing of a civil rights case against the sheriffs for removing his on-a-move pin, which resulted in a physical altercation between Richard and sheriffs. Richard's claim, which of course was move's claim, was that his religious beliefs were violated by the removal of the pin. Richard went to court repeatedly over the next five years seeking $15 million in damages.
Speaker 1:In typical MOVE strategy, richard acted as his own attorney, allowing him the right to legal runners of his choice which could meet with him privately. In all of the MOVE trials the MOVE 9 trials for the murder of police officer James Ramp, vincent Leapheart's federal bomb plot trial, mumia Abu-Jamal's death penalty trial for the killing of police officer Daniel Faulkner In all of those trials, move members were the legal runners, carrying instructions from Vincent, aka John Africa, to his followers on trial. Their legal strategy that they employed in the court was directly from Vincent For MOVE defendants or in the case of Richard Garland, who was the plaintiff, the witnesses called to testify as part of the MOVE strategy are MOVE members. This is how Vincent could put on a show in the courtroom his devoted followers testifying that MOVE teachings were the only moral authority and that John Africa was all-powerful, all-knowing and, as they say, right. Acting as their own attorneys also meant that they could meet with their witnesses privately, so this is how Richard actually met the most MOVE members the ones who weren't in prison with him.
Speaker 2:When I was going on with this federal case, I had them come down to court to testify.
Speaker 1:Richard had requested that 19 MOVE members from prisons all over the state of Pennsylvania be transported to Philadelphia to be his character witnesses and also testifying that MOVE was a religion. Transporting inmates requires a lot of coordination, time and costs from the system. Using the system against itself is move strategy. It's also theater. According to local reporting, richard was allowed to meet with move members who also brought him move food to eat in the courtroom.
Speaker 1:One of the female move members on this activity was 22-year-old Teresa Brooks. She had been recruited in during the MOVE 9 trials and was identifying herself to the court and press as Richard Garland's MOVE wife. Teresa Brooks was later identified in MOVE as the MOVE wife or mate of Frank James, aka Nick Africa, the naturalist minister of MOVE, also the son of MOVE member Louise Leapheart James and nephew of Vincent Leapheart. Teresa Brooks died in Louise Leapheart James' home, 6221 Osage Avenue, on May 13, 1985. She was only 26. Richard was an inmate at Huntington Prison when Wesley Cook, aka Mumia Abu-Jamal, was first sent to death row in 1982 for the killing of police officer Daniel Faulkner in December 1981.
Speaker 2:They had me in the hole with him behind the green door. I used to always yell to Mumia when I was going out into the yard.
Speaker 1:Did you understand Mumia to also believe in the MOVE teachings?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. You know, Mumia was looked at as kind of a celebrity because of his newscast and experience and stuff and he was well-versed. That's one thing I can say about Mumia. He was really well-versed.
Speaker 1:In the MOVE teachings.
Speaker 2:In the MOVE teachings and he was well-versed period.
Speaker 1:Did he ever speak to you about his case?
Speaker 2:A little bit. You know what I mean. See the hardest thing about that, though, when we was in the hole. You know what I mean. You're not going to be shouting out the. You know. You talked out the door. You're not going to be talking about your case and there's a bunch of other folks around about your case and there's a bunch of other folks around.
Speaker 1:While in prison, richard remains a MOVE supporter, really a MOVE member up to May 13th 1985 and after. So I asked him specifically what he was told, if anything, about John Africa and May 13th 1985. Were you under the impression or were you told that he was in the house on May 13th 1985?
Speaker 2:To this day, I don't know. To this day, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Can you explain a little bit more about why you don't know that, why you don't know whether he was or not?
Speaker 2:That's a question I didn't ask.
Speaker 1:To MOVE members.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:What did they say to you?
Speaker 2:That he was still alive. That was good enough for me.
Speaker 1:Richard Garland just said. Move members told him that John Africa did not die on May 13th 1985. Can you tell me who might have told you that he was still alive?
Speaker 2:I mean Phil, Are you talking about?
Speaker 1:alive in the physical sense.
Speaker 2:Yes, so if Vincent Lepart was still alive, that means he wasn alive in the physical sense, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:Yes, so if Vincent Lepart was still alive, that means he wasn't in the house during the confrontation. Right. Do you think that they had information in order to say that, or that was what they wanted to believe because he was their leader?
Speaker 2:I think that's the information that they received.
Speaker 1:They received that from other MOVE members.
Speaker 1:Yes, In 1985, richard Garland only had access to MOVE members in prison and MOVE members were getting communications from each other and from members on the outside. In my research of MOVE I have obtained a handwritten letter that might further explain why Richard Garland might believe what he was told about John Africa not dying inside of 6221 Osage. It's incursive, it's undated and it's not specifically addressed to anybody that the recipient was Ramona Johnson, who was being held in a Philadelphia county jail from May 13th 1985 until she was sentenced in the spring of 1986. The letter reads John Africa is not dead and will never be dead.
Speaker 1:Move people have always been told through our teachings from John Africa that John Africa is not a man. The handwriting is that of Alberta Wicker, africa, who at this time is serving a seven-year sentence in Muncie State Prison with Rhea, debbie, janet, janine Consuela and Merle. The rest of the letter is what I call move circle talk about the system being wrong and John Africa being right so don't listen to anyone who is from the system, et cetera. It goes on and on, like a preacher or a salesman would to try and convince you of something. It makes total sense that if you've been indoctrinated to believe in John Africa as your God. And then May 13th 1985 happens and you hear he might be among the dead. You might freak out and question your beliefs, which is not what MOVE wants. And so they're going to tell you that he's alive or that he's immortal, because otherwise everything you've done in service to John Africa, criminal or otherwise, you're going to realize it's all for nothing. So that makes sense that Alberta would write this letter to Ramona Johnson, who's on trial and the press is there every day and just like all other move trials she's defending herself, putting on a performance of MOVE law and what is right. You got to keep her on track. There was a lot of communication to Ramona about just that.
Speaker 1:But MOVE people weren't the only ones questioning or bringing up that. Vincent Lippard might not have been in 6-2-2-1 Osage on May 13th. The prosecutor from the federal trial of Vincent Leapheart and Alfonso Robbins in 1981, he had questions too. Philadelphia Daily News, may 24th 1985. Headline Founder Dictated Confrontations. Byline Reporter Michael Sokolov. Byline reporter Michael Sokolov quote the suicidal tendency is an agent of clarification, unquote. He preached in a collection of his thoughts obtained by the Daily News the deer jumping off the cliff is driven by freedom. But that didn't mean John Africa would die. Alongside them. There is one male adult left, to be identified among 11 dead from the move compound on Osage Avenue. Those familiar with the cult and its leader doubt very strongly that the corpse is John Africa. The whereabouts of Africa, the former Vincent Leapheart, are unknown. Quote. The record establishes that he is never present when they are provoking a confrontation, says former federal prosecutor L Mark Durant, who is the lead attorney in a conspiracy and explosives trial against MOVE members in 1981. But it would be typical of John Africa to manipulate from afar. Quote. I think it would be a mistake for anyone to minimize his planning in what has happened, says Durant. Now add to this.
Speaker 1:Now consider the hospital interviews with Owee Wolf Ward, aka Birdie Africa, the only child to escape 6221 Osage Avenue. He was 13 years old, he couldn't read or write and was the physical size of a nine-year-old. Due to malnourishment In the hospital he was being treated for third-degree burns but no signs of smoke inhalation, and he provided a list of people inside 6221 Osage to police. Now, 6221 Osage was a very narrow two-story row home with a garage, and it was even smaller inside because MOVE had built walls within walls, fortified for the confrontation. They who was in this house answers my mother, rhonda Teresa Mona. That's Ramona Frank, also known as Nick Conrad Raymond. Those are all the adults. And then he goes on to list the children as Phil, melissa, tommaso Tree, that's Katricia and myself, meaning Birdie. Melissa is one of the names that MOVE used for Delisha, but they also used it for other female children. So that's a big question mark for me. Birdie does not list 13-year-old Netta Zanetta Dotson, zanetta Dotson and Delisha Holloway, who went by Melissa or was listed by Melissa at one time. They have now been listed in every public story and in every lawsuit as having died on May 13th 1985. The Move family was awarded $2.5 million in a settlement in 1990. That's what ended up in the trust that Alberta Wicker was made the trustee of and her son, zachary, was made a beneficiary of. Vincent Lepard, aka John Africa had lots of names. Vincent Lepard, aka John Africa, had lots of names Benny the coordinator, charlie Lee, fart and Ball. All of the kids called Vincent Ball. Bertie does not list John Africa being in the house and he doesn't list Ball being in the house.
Speaker 1:Pathologists and the medical examiner conclude that there were six adult bodies in the house actually seven, but that's a whole other thing I can't get into in this episode with regard to Catricia. So let's just talk about the six adult bodies. The one that they attribute to John Africa is body F. Now, of course, body F can be confirmed or debunked using science, forensic pathology. There wasn't a ton of DNA technology back at the time, so they would use existing medical or dental reports and compare them to the remains of body F.
Speaker 1:Now for Vincent, who served time in the military, and then the reserves. The medical examiner could get those from the government. And then, of course, fingerprint records, because Vincent had been arrested before, both on Philadelphia local charges and federal charges. But there's a problem with that because body F was missing both arms and the head. The medical examiner's diagram of body F indicates the missing head, the missing arms and right at the neck there are arrows pointing and then noted the word sawed S-A-W-E-D. The medical examiner is indicating that the head was sawed off. I know this sounds fucking crazy, but MOVE was not cooperating with any identification of remains and when Ramona Johnson escaped 6220 Sage and surrendered, she refused to answer any questions about who was in the house. Now, when Bob first told me that I should make a podcast about the move people he brought up. Vincent Lee Parts missing head, and so in making this episode, I went back and called him today and this is our conversation. Ok, tell me again exactly how you told me in March 2019 what you said about Vincent Lee Part's body.
Speaker 4:They saw marks on his neck and his head was missing and, if I know the Philadelphia police, I believe for sure that they took it as a trophy. The cops cut the head off, took it as a trophy and stuck it in the urinal at the Fraternal Order of Police Union Hall and I've been pissing on it ever since.
Speaker 1:That's what Bob told me when he was pitching me on doing a move podcast, and that was one of the red flags for me, because I said how in the world would you know that? Now I do feel that somebody in MOVE or a supporter of MOVE told Bob that the head was missing because otherwise how would he know? He had never accessed the MOVE commission files at Temple before and he hadn't done a deep dive into reporting. He was just believing everything that MOVE said to him and anything that any MOVE supporter said to him. He was dyed in the wool for MOVE. And so now here we are, talking about the head. I'm talking to you about the head, and I don't believe in conspiracies, but I do believe that there are unanswered questions. Believe in conspiracies, but I do believe that there are unanswered questions, and I think those questions could be answered using DNA if the remains buried under Vincent Lepart's name were exhumed, but also the remains that came up during the whole Penn Museum scandal in 2021, penn Museum scandal in 2021,. Some of those remains ended up being given to the Leapheart family because they were believed to be also part of Vincent Leapheart. That was an opportunity for DNA testing and you didn't hear about it because Vincent's only sibling at the time didn't go public about it and neither did Vincent's nieces and nephews or great nieces and nephews, which includes Mike Africa Jr. And I've always wondered why. Why did they take those remains from the city and quietly bury them with the other remains thought to be Vincent Lepart, and of course there is a money aspect to this.
Speaker 1:Vincent Lepart in 1985, was still legally married to his first and only legal wife, dorothy Clark. She went by Dottie, she also went by Princess Dottie. She married Vincent and her sister Fanny married Vincent's brother Fonny. The criminal complaint for domestic violence. But they were still legally married which means that Dorothy was next of kin for the remains, his military benefits and any wrongful death lawsuit. But Vincent's siblings, Laverne, louise, fonny, muriel Wayne, had other ideas. They fought Dottie for Vincent's remains because they wanted the right to sue and they won out and they did sue. They ended up getting under tort law in Pennsylvania at the time $500,000.
Speaker 1:So it was split six ways and then Louise herself got $500,000 for her son Frank. So Louise ended up with $600,000 in 1995. And then she never bothered with Move again period. That was a really long footnote, but I think it was interesting and important and I will put all that stuff up on the website for you to look at for yourself. And now I'm going to take you back to my conversation with Richard Garland. Richard was up for parole in 1989, but didn't want to renounce MOVE or stay away from them upon release. So he was denied and he did the remaining two years on his sentence. He was released in 1991. Were there any restrictions on your release?
Speaker 2:I couldn't go back to Philly.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:My restriction was that I had to stay in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1:Were there any restrictions with regard to MOVE?
Speaker 2:Well, no.
Speaker 1:Did you see MOVE members after 1991, including up to now?
Speaker 2:I've seen a couple. I went to Philly a couple times. Anytime I was allowed to go to Philly I used to have to get a travel pass. The one I would see mostly would be Pam and Ramona.
Speaker 1:After getting out, richard focused his time on getting an undergraduate and then a master's degree in public health, focusing on re-entry programs for recently released incarcerated people that needed to find work and stability. Being in prison, richard only knew about the move that was shown to him by move, which was a belief system in the most simplest terms Be healthy, believe in life, follow natural law. That was it. Not earth shattering or novel at all, but most significantly, in my opinion, it was a belief moveVE members could pedal easily to incarcerated people. They were in a restricted environment that isn't easy to survive physically or emotionally, talking for more than an hour and it's clear to me that Richard has no knowledge of MOVE in real life, where the prison is not the state.
Speaker 1:It's a prison that was created and run under the control of the leaders, vincent Lepart and then Alberta Africa, who were victimizing their own members, especially the children. I made Richard aware of the podcast and the stories shared by former members of MOVE and non-MOVE members who were victimized by MOVE, including John Gilbride's family. Richard listened, he asked questions and I could almost hear his brain trying to reconcile what he thought was true with what I was sharing with him. For the next hour I kept sharing more detailed accounts of abuse and move Damn the murder of John Gilbride.
Speaker 2:You know this is a rude awakening for me.
Speaker 1:The disappearance of Shia Halloway and what move is up to now based on public information?
Speaker 2:This is like damn. However, I can help. I will.
Speaker 1:Richard Garland is a small piece of the MOVE puzzle, but one that is unknown to most people who think they know MOVE, who say they know MOVE. Richard himself thought he knew MO Move and he was in it. This supports one of my Move thesis statements, that the mechanics of how Move kept control of their members and kept a lid on their secrets was pretty sophisticated, especially when you see them written about in the most simplistic terms Black liberation, back to nature, communal family. Now, as far as the remains of Vincent Leapheart and the rest of the listed victims, it's a really complicated examination. There's a lot of reports, there's things that I have access to, there's things that I don't have access to and there's things that will never be known because it's 40 years later and a lot of things can never be tested. And the things that can be tested, move does not want them tested. They just want money.
Speaker 1:The late Consuela Dotson, who was awarded a million dollars for both of her daughters dying on May 13th 1985, she turned that over to MOVE, to Alberta. Consuela made a lot of attempts to get out of MOVE and to get the money away from Alberta so that she could get away from MOVE, and she was unsuccessful. She died of COVID in 2021. And then her youngest son, lionel Dotson, who was born in MOVE but then taken out of MOVE on August 8th 1978, and raised with Consuela's family. He filed the lawsuit against Penn Museum, which is University of Pennsylvania, the city of Philadelphia and the funeral home, claiming emotional pain and suffering. He was awarded $250,000 from the city of Philadelphia, which is taxpayer money. He was given a settlement from the University of Pennsylvania, which is unknown, and he still has the outstanding lawsuit against the funeral home.
Speaker 1:After the podcast launched, I was contacted by Lionel Dotson. He wanted to give me an interview about his mother and about the remains. I had no idea he was filing lawsuits or he had retained an attorney. He wanted information from me and I was really determined to give him information about his sisters and documents that I had found that showed that they had been abused in MOVE prior to their death on May 13th 1985. The only thing Lionel Dotson has said about MOVE publicly as part of his lawsuits is that he's not part of the MOVE organization and that his sisters are both Dotsons, not Africas. Sisters are both Dotsons, not Africas. Now Michael Davis, mike Africa Jr. He is actively trying to get the city to give him what he calls reparations. He tried to get it for 6-2-2-1 Osage that he has a mortgage on. It's the second of three properties that he owns and he has plans for Osage Avenue. He wants to make a museum and a monument. He has a GoFundMe and he would like to make a claim, I think, for Vincent Lepart, but he's not next of kin. Vincent Lepart has one remaining sibling.
Speaker 1:This episode shares a lot of information pieces not conclusions but they're pieces that raise real questions, questions that should be posed by anyone in MOVE who is a public figure telling the story of MOVE, especially when they're treated as credible sources, and questions that should be asked by anyone reporting on MOVE, especially this week Because this is the 40th anniversary of a tragic confrontation.
Speaker 1:11 people died, five of them were children, 60 families lost their homes and an entire neighborhood, cobbs Creek, was left to deal with the aftermath of a group that commandeered their block, their peace and their safety. If we're going to talk about MOVE, we should be willing to talk about all of it and debate it vociferously and respectfully on the facts. I'm going to put some documents up on the website so that you can see them, along with some news reporting, as always. If you have any information, if you have any comments, if you have any questions, please reach out on social media or email me. Murder at ryan's run at gmailcom. Please rate, review and share the podcast so that people can find us, and thanks for listening. I appreciate it. This episode was written, edited, hosted and researched by me, beth McNamara, and additional archival research by Robert Helms.
