They were back-to-back mega-news stories, compelling sagas that broke within 14 hours of each other.
One Inquirer journalist, photographer Chip Fox, covered them both — Ira Einhorn’s return to justice in Philadelphia and the verdict in the trial of reputed mob boss Joey Merlino.
If that weren’t enough, Fox capped the week by shooting Madonna as she began the U.S. leg of her world tour.
“I was glad when the week was over,” Fox, 41, said of the hottest news stretch in Philadelphia this summer.
Fox’s marathon is hardly an everyday occurrence in the newsroom. But it reminds us that news happens on its own clock and that covering it involves a bunch of waiting, a lot of resourcefulness and a bit of luck.
Fox began the night shift on Thursday, July 19, with word that the chartered plane carrying Einhorn from Paris would arrive in Philadelphia about 2 a.m. Friday.
The fugitive, convicted in absentia of murdering his girlfriend, Holly Maddux, was coming back in handcuffs after more than 20 years of stolen freedom. Einhorn’s return would attract dozens of photographers, and Fox wanted to get in position for a clear shot. He arrived by 10 p.m. at Atlantic Aviation, the private hangar near the Philadelphia airport. But what he saw distressed him.
The press was being kept behind an 8-foot-tall, chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Fox staked his claim at the fence by spreading a tripod, then turned and drove to his Wallingford home to retrieve a stepladder.
Back at the fence, he used the ladder to check the view above the fence and a clamp to hold his strobe light in place. Then came the long wait.
The plane didn’t land until 4 a.m., and then officials boarded the plane. Perched on the ladder with no support for his back, Fox kept his long, 300mm lens pointed at the doorway. A half hour went by.
“My forearms were cramping up. I was fearful that at any moment, if I put the camera down, there he was going to be,” he said. “It’s a very small pocket of time to either get the shot or not.”
Suddenly, Einhorn filled the doorway. Fox got off 12 shots, head-on frames of a clearly recognizable Einhorn descending the steps of the plane.
Though it was hours before the newspaper’s print deadline, the online version of The Inquirer was awaiting images from Fox. From home, Fox transmitted his best images via a laptop computer and phone line before crawling into bed at 7:30 a.m.
Fox reported to the newsroom later that day, about 5 p.m., only to learn that a verdict in the Merlino trial was imminent. After a 15-week trial, and deliberations over seven days, the jury had reached what turned out to be a complicated decision.
Fox staked out the front door of the federal courthouse as part of a four-member photo team, knowing what awaited him. “This is journalism at its worst. There’s always a big mob scene, a lot of people converging in one small area,” he said.
As family members and one of the seven defendants emerged, Fox shot from the front of the crowd. But as more people came out in waves, the crowd shifted, and, at times, he found himself at the back. That’s when he raised his camera over his head, and began taking what photographers call “Hail Mary” shots, praying someone important was in the viewfinder. “I was not always sure who I was getting,” he said. He got enough to have a photo published the next day.
There was no doubt who would fill his viewfinder the next night, Saturday, at the First Union Center. Photographers would be allowed access during Madonna’s first three songs.
Before the concert began, he phoned Jim Selzer, photo editor for the Sunday paper, to check deadlines. “I feel like I had to pitch back-to-back World Series games,” a weary Fox told Selzer.
“But you won both games,” came the friendly reply.
“Yeah, but I don’t have anything left,” Fox said.
Of course, he did. He went out and captured the image of the Material Girl that ran in last Sunday’s paper.
