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Neighbor Janis Fontecchio can’t believe that Fursan Alhasasna carried out his chicken runs in broad daylight for a year.
From her house, she has a clear view of the common driveway where the formerly poultry-packed garage is located. The home it’s attached to is across the street from the Naval Defense Supply Center.
"These vans would come, and a car would drive into the alley," Fontecchio told the Times. "They’d back the van into the garage."
Boxes of chicken, purchased from Wilson’s Meats in Olney, which typically sells packages of 15 to 34 pounds of chicken for between $20 and $40, were then loaded onto the vehicles, Fontecchio said. The vans would drive off, apparently to make deliveries to local restaurants.
"I would not have been that bothered if I wouldn’t have been afraid that someone was going to die," she said. "That has to be the most filthy and vile act that someone can do."
Once they discovered what was going on in the garage, Fontecchio and other neighbors made repeated calls to the city Department of Licenses and Inspections and the Department of Health. But for 12 months, she said, the city made no attempt to investigate the property. NBC-10, in its report, said it had contacted the health department in early September to determine if officials were aware of Alhasasna’s operation.
The health department confiscated the chicken inventory and alerted its Division of Disease Control, which issued a health alert so that investigators could monitor any illness that might be linked to the illegal operation. None were identified, said health department spokesman Jeff Moran.
A dozen restaurants were listed as potentially having bought chicken wings from Alhasasna. After additional health inspections, two eateries in the Lower Northeast — whom Moran would not identify — had voluntarily shut down to address violations.
Moran said citations issued during inspections often were for violations not necessarily related to the chicken operation, primarily because the health department couldn’t always establish a definite link.
The health department then contacted L&I to issue the cease-operation order to Alhasasna, and requested that the U.S. Department of Agriculture conduct a further investigation of the chicken vendor’s garage, Moran said.
The health department has taken no action against Alhasasna.
"Because the operation was not a legal, licensed one, citations were not issued," Moran said.
L&I did post two cease-and-desist orders charging Alhasasna with operating a business without a license and causing a public nuisance. Several calls to the department had not been returned as the Times went to press this week.
L&I said in previous reports that, contrary to neighbors’ claims, it had received no complaints about Alhasasna’s business. Similarly, Marion Thompson, legislative aide to City Councilwoman Marian Tasco (D-9th dist.), whose district covers the location of the garage, said that her office received no calls about the issue.
Though the newscast identified Alhasasna as the operator of the chicken business, city tax records list J. Thakadiparambil Thomson as the owner of the rowhome. The only phone number listed for the property is disconnected. No one answered when the Times knocked on the door of the Tabor Avenue rowhome on Thursday.
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Standing in Quality Pizza’s spotless kitchen during the Times’ surprise visit last Thursday, the apron-clad Said ruffled through a thick packet of receipts. His chicken, he said, pointing to the paperwork, comes from the company Cedar Farms Inc., not from Alhasasna.
In a Sept. 19 follow-up report of their visit to Quality Pizza, city health inspectors agreed. The eatery received two critical violations — for fly presence and for failure to protect food from flies — but they have nothing to do with the illegal chicken operation, Said explained.
"A visit was made to determine if this establishment purchased chicken wings from an ‘unlicensed’ business owner," the city report read. "The owner did not meet or purchase any product from this person."
Dashnor Dosku, who owns Valentino Pizza, located down the street from Said’s store on Torresdale Avenue, admits to buying wings from Alhasasna twice over the summer.
Dosku, who said he normally does business with larger companies, said Alhasasna came around in a van and seemed like a nice man.
"I didn’t do anything to hurt my customers," Dosku said. "He betrayed us."
Valentino Pizza will remain open but must correct several critical health violations, including a faulty refrigeration system, but nothing related to the chicken flap, according to the pizzeria’s Aug. 31 inspection report from the city.
Moran, the health department spokesman, said restaurants are required to purchase from a licensed distributor, but the pizzerias involved in this case don’t face any ramifications other than having to remedy any health violations.
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According to L&I procedure, Alhasasna, who currently faces no criminal charges, cannot apply for a license and reopen his garage in another location of the city.
That matters little, since Fontecchio wonders if Alhasasna is still up to his old tricks at his Tabor Avenue location. She still sees vans coming and going, though not as often as before.
"I went outside one day and just as I got out there, I said, ‘Oh my God, the guy’s still doing it!’" she said.
Moran said inspectors have revisited the site and observed no activity since Alhasasna’s operation was ordered closed in early September.
City Controller Alan Butkovitz says it’s no surprise that the city took so long to respond to the illegal chicken operation. In the past, he has criticized L&I’s limited manpower and response to issues, and last week he issued a report on the health department’s poor bookkeeping.
While he commends neighbors for staying vigilant, he wonders how other city workers, like trash collectors or street cleaners, never noticed anything suspicious at the chicken house.
"There should be a culture within the city government that people notice the environment generally and cross-reference to the appropriate people," he said. "The bell should have gone off that this is a public health issue."
While he’s happy that Alhasasna has been shut down, Dosku, the Valentino Pizza owner, thinks the man should face criminal charges.
Said hopes that his pizzeria can survive being wrongly linked to the chicken exposé.
"I’ve been here thirteen years with no problems from anyone," he said, "and now all of a sudden, everyone hates me." ••
For information about city health inspections of restaurants, visit the Web site at www.phila.gov/health/units/EHS/Restaurant_Inspectio.html
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com