On May 13, 1985, Philadelphia dropped a bomb from a helicopter onto a residential neighborhood.

That sentence is not metaphorical.

In this episode of Paul G’s Corner, we examine the MOVE bombing on Osage Avenue. A standoff between the city and a radical communal group escalated step by step until authority, certainty, and momentum converged into fire. Eleven people died, including five children. Sixty-one homes were destroyed. The event unfolded live on television, and then, somehow, slipped out of collective memory.

This is not a story about villains in dark rooms.It’s a story about reasonable people, confident plans, procedural logic, and the moment when “under control” quietly started meaning “let it burn.”

Episode Title

The Day Philadelphia Dropped a Bomb on ItselfWhen “under control” meant let it burn

Topics Covered

The MOVE organization and its leader, John Africa

Mayor Wilson Goode and the city’s authority dilemma

Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor and the final decision

The helicopter drop and the fire that followed

Aftermath, accountability, and collective forgetting

Learn More / Primary Sources

MOVE Bombing Overview (Encyclopedia Britannica):https://www.britannica.com/event/MOVE-bombing

Philadelphia Inquirer archive coverage:https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/move-bombing-philadelphia-history.html

PBS: Let the Fire Burn documentary background:https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/documentaries/let-the-fire-burn/

City of Philadelphia official apology (2020):https://www.phila.gov/2020-11-13-philadelphia-apologizes-for-1985-move-bombing/

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Just make sure you’re not the one expected to live next door to it.

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