Black True Crime Podcast · iHeartPodcasts

The Lex Street Massacre (Episode 208)

·48 min·3 clips

Ten people were forced to lie on the floor, and seven died from automatic gunfire.

1. Black True Crime centers on the Lex Street Massacre in West Philadelphia and says it was the largest single mass murder in Philadelphia history 25 years ago. 2. Hosts Kayla and Nikki frame the case, and their back-and-forth matters because they explain the timeline, the arrests, and the later court problems. 3. The episode asks what the shooting on Lex Street was really about and whether the first police theory was wrong. 4. On Thursday, December 28, 816 North Lex Street was described as an abandoned row house used as a drug house. 5. The hosts say the house sat feet from Martha Washington Elementary School, which sharpened the contrast between the neighborhood and the violence. 6. Ten people were inside that night, ranging from age 15 to 54, and masked men came in with at least three automatic rifles. 7. The men forced everyone into the living room, lined them up, and started shooting execution-style. 8. Seven victims died: Alfred Goodwin, Edward Sudler, Rodnette Abrams, George Porter, Calvin C.J. Heaton Jr., Tyrone Long Jr., and Samuel Malik Harris Jr. 9. Three survivors were named as Bruce Carter, Craig Kilby, and Yvette Long, who was Tyrone Long Jr.’s aunt. 10. The hosts note that the public reacted strongly because Philadelphia recorded 317 murders in that year, but the scale of this attack still stood out. 11. Police first treated the case as a drug-war dispute, and the hosts say that assumption felt too easy for such a large shooting. 12. Two weeks after the murders, the mayor announced a $50,000 reward for information leading to arrests. 13. Investigators arrested Jemeel Lewis, Saekhon Uke, Hezekiah Thomas, and Keontae Perrin, then focused on people tied to George Porter, Malik Harris, and Tyrone Long. 14. Yvette Long later identified Saekhon Uke in a photo lineup, while Jemeel Lewis confessed after questioning. 15. The four men were held for 18 months before being released days before trial because prosecutors lacked enough evidence. 16. The episode says another man, Sheehan Black, later told police the murders were not about drugs but about a car trade involving a Dodge Intrepid and a Chevy Corsica. 17. Black says the robbery crew included Sheehan Black, Dawood Faruqi, Khalid Faruqi, and Bruce Vinny, and that Dawood’s mask fell off during the robbery. 18. A survivor heard one shooter say, 'I got to get this mother effer,' before George Porter was shot three more times in the back. 19. The tone is conversational and accusatory, with Kayla and Nikki interrupting each other while they reconstruct the case. 20. This fits listeners who want a Philadelphia true-crime case with court twists and police errors; skip it if graphic mass-shooting stories are not for you.

As heard by us

A fragile case rests on one identification, disputed confessions, and the limits of what evidence can prove.

The episode centers on a prosecution that kept four men in custody for 18 months, only to release them just before trial after concluding it lacked enough evidence.

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Why you'd press play

You want a multiple-murder case where the evidence keeps changing shape?

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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