Richard Harris, known as Red Paul, was shot and killed inside a bar at the corner of 17th and Dauphin Streets in North Philadelphia on the night of February 1, 1972. His killing is described as an execution tied to the city’s narcotics trade; contemporary accounts link Harris to the criminal organization called the Black Mafia and say the slaying followed a dispute over a drug deal in which Harris allegedly cheated James P.I. Smith.

Smith was himself found shot to death in a parking lot at 3700 Brown Street in March 1972, a killing reportedly connected to the same drug transaction and to accusations that Smith had cheated Tyrone Fat Ty Palmer. On Easter Sunday 1972 Palmer was then publicly executed at Club Harlem in Atlantic City, and the gunman was identified as a founder of the Black Mafia.

What new leads or memories do readers in Philadelphia have about the bar at 17th and Dauphin or anyone connected to these events?