Leadership of New Pro-Police PAC Has History of Violence and Hateful Social Media Posts
Content warning: The below information contains disturbing images and social media posts, violent language, and descriptions of police violence from news sources.
Formed in June 2020, the Protect Our Police Political Action Committee (POPPAC) is a Philly-based political action committee working to elect, campaign for, and promote pro-police candidates. Their most immediate target is Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, as detailed in an August Inquirer article. The organization purports to have raised $750,000 as of early August and claims to have received over 3,000 donations already. At the time of publication, no contributions have been recorded in the PA Voter Services electronic database.
The leadership of POPPAC includes retired police officers with a history of violence and hateful and violent social media posts, as documented by the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Plain View Project, a database of public Facebook posts and comments made by current and former police officers around the US.
Here’s a rundown of POPPAC leadership - who they are and what they’ve said publicly:
Bob Walls - Board Member
With 25 years of Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) service including SWAT duties, 12 years of Army National Guard service, and 3 years of Navy service, Walls has the most checkered past of any of the POPPAC leadership. He shot a man in the stomach while off duty in a bar in 1991.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer Archives, 22nd November 1995.
An Inquirer article about the shooting states:
[Walls] was on the floor when he shouted that he was a cop and reached for the loaded semiautomatic pistol he had tucked in the back of his pants. According to Giovinetti's account, which was supported by a witness, the fight stopped when the gun came out and Walls fired a shot into the ceiling. The big man [Giovinetti] said he began backing away, but was penned in by the crowd now fleeing the men's room. Outside, bar patrons screamed and many dropped to the floor. Hemmed in, Giovinetti said, he stood horrified as Walls, with his right hand, pointed the gun at him and shot him in the stomach . . . When traffic slowed, he ran for his car, in a lot across the street. Walls followed. The off-duty officer caught up to Giovinetti in the parking lot and began kicking at him, trying to knock him to the ground. “Please leave me alone,” Giovinetti said he told Walls. “I'm already dead.”
Walls was “found to have acted within [PPD] policy guidelines,” according to the article. Walls stated that he believed officers should have the right to carry their weapons into bars, even when they plan to drink.
He stated in a 2017 interview regarding the downing of a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan that:
“This is about the truth. This is about a government that lies to you, me and everybody else,” said Robert Walls, a retired member of the Philadelphia Police, while also warning the crowd to tell their children that “the media will lie to them.” “They lie all the time for political reasons,” he said.
The event featured pro-Trump and Obama/Muslim conspiracy theorists. In addition, Walls has made Islamophobic comments on social media as documented by the Plain View Project, as well as made overt threats of violence against the public. He has 35 entries from the Plain View Project that exposed hateful social media posts.
He created a new Facebook profile on July 6th, 2020:
Contact information for Robert Walls, as well as POPPAC President/Treasurer Nick Gerace, can be found on the PA Voter Services filing for POPPAC.
Efrain Rios - Board Member
POPPAC’s website states that “Over the span of his career, Rios has served as a city-wide mediator, conflict resolution specialist, gang control/prevention specialist, drug prevention specialist. He has worked very hard to get guns and drugs off the streets. He was assigned to the 24th district and stayed there for his entire career. He was also assigned as a community policing officer under the COPs AHEAD program funded by the National Institute of Justice where he worked with children in their classrooms or assemblies to ‘bridge the gap’ between the community and police. He was also made Police officer of the year in 2000 in the 24th District. After faithfully serving 13 years, he officially retired in 2007 from an on-duty injury.”
He has multiple Plain View Project postings, including Islamophobic messages:
Nick Gerace - President/Treasurer
Gerace is a third generation police officer who infiltrated protests in the 2000 Republic National Convention as an undercover agent. He was active in the North Philadelphia district from 1999 to 2011. He was nominated as Officer of the Year for the 24th District in 2006. A contact email for Gerace is listed as ProtectOurPolicePAC [at] gmail [dot] com, according to POPPAC’s PA Voter Services filing.
Dominic “Nick” Mangoni - Chair
Mangoni served the PPD for 35 years and was the City of Philadelphia’s highest paid employee in 2012. His son is a federal law enforcement officer in an undefined branch of the federal government. When not running pro-police political action committees, Mangoni is in his third year as an assistant soccer coach at Temple University. Mangoni holds certifications including the NSCAA National and Advanced National Diplomas, a Brazilian FA license, and a UEFA license from the Irish Football Association. He has coached at the youth level in the Elite Clubs National League with FC Bucks. He has also been a Senior NIEC EMS Trainer.
Cathy Teti - Board Member
Teti retired in 2007 after 20 years with the PPD. She is active with the Philadelphia Police and Fire Pipes and Drum corps.
Resisting the Political Influence of the Police
Philly Power Research will continue to monitor the Protect Our Police Political Action Committee as political contribution reporting information becomes available. For more info on Philadelphia political influence and spending, check out our Campaign Finance Data Explorer. To track which local politicians have been receiving campaign contributions from the Fraternal Order of Police, we created this Google spreadsheet.
Some groups to follow to keep in the loop on organizing efforts working toward police and prison abolition and resisting the political power of the Fraternal Order of Police: