City Council President Anna Verna has called for a November special election to fill the vacancy for the seat vacated after Mariano was convicted of fraud. The Latino leaders are demanding an immediate meeting with U.S. Rep. and Democratic Party Chairman Bob Brady in the hopes he will support Quinones Sanchez, a grassroots activist who unsuccessfully ran against Mariano before. (Among those who signed the letter are Carmen Bonilla of the National Conference of Puerto Rican Women, community activist Rafaela Colon , El Sol Publisher Ricardo Hurtado and Pedro Rivera , president of the Philadelphia Association of Hispanic Administrators.) Ward leaders in the district will nominate the candidate who will appear on the November ballot; Brady could be instrumental in their vote.

The Latino consortium is also at odds with Brady and the party for not supporting Latinos enough in general. In the letter to Brady, the group writes, "For many years the Latino community has supported the Democratic Party, giving Democratic candidates an overwhelming percentage of its votes. But our community has often been rebuffed by the Democratic Party leadership when members of our community seek its support. ...

"We believe that it is time for the Democratic Party to reciprocate and support a candidate who has the experience, skills and dedication to best represent the interests of all the neighborhoods and people of the most diverse district in city."

Other names being bandied about as potential Mariano replacements are 56th Ward leader John Sabatina Sr. and 23rd Ward leader Dan Savage .

Verna has also called for a special election for the 4th District seat, formerly held by Michael Nutter , who resigned in July to run for mayor, and the at-large seat held by David Cohen , who died last October.

Hill has tackled controversial topics before. His last documentary, Shame of a City, chronicled the 2003 mayoral race between Democratic Mayor John Street and Republican challenger Sam Katz . It followed the campaign through the FBI bug found in the mayor's office and the convictions of Street fundraiser Ron White and City Treasurer Corey Kemp .

In his new project, with a working title of 13th and Locust, Hill said he wants to show what really happened that night and explore the international Abu-Jamal phenomenon.

He expects to conduct extensive interviews with numerous subjects from both the Faulkner and Abu-Jamal sides.

"What I really want is to interview Abu-Jamal's brother," said Hill, "because I don't think he has ever testified." He declined to say if he was taking a position on Abu-Jamal's guilt, and has no plans to try to interview Abu-Jamal, aka Wesley Cook , who was convicted of fatally shooting Faulkner in the face after the officer had stopped his younger brother for a traffic citation.

The Free Mumia movement grew out of supporters who claim Abu-Jamal was framed; two out of the four witnesses on the street, who identified Abu-Jamal as the killer, later changed their statements, and the gun found near the scene was never confirmed to be the murder weapon. Abu-Jamal never testified at his own trial, maintaining he had inadequate legal representation. A jury convicted Abu-Jamal and he was sent to death row. Then, a district judge overturned Abu-Jamal's death sentence in 2001 because of discrepancies during the trial. There was no new trial, but the prosecution appealed to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the death penalty. If that effort is successful, Gov. Ed Rendell , who was district attorney at the time of the murder, would have to sign Abu-Jamal's death warrant.

Hill said a main component of the film will be the number of organizations and individuals who rallied around Abu-Jamal. With supporters contending Abu-Jamal never got a fair trial and that he was set up by "the white man," he's become the poster boy for political prisoners and those that oppose the death penalty.

In April, a street in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis was named after Abu-Jamal, causing a stir here. Yesterday, at 15th and Cherry streets, a large rally was scheduled for the American Friends Service Committee to welcome a French delegation that intends to defend the street naming.

Hill said he is not concerned that there have been several documentaries about Abu-Jamal over the years, such as The Framing of an Execution in 2001 narrated by Danny Glover . Hill said that film was biased and only showed one point of view.

(rcpatel@aol.com)