The Island of the Sharks
Ten-year-old Georgienne Bradley enjoyed helping her parents out at the marina they operated off Pennsylvania’s Delaware River. One day in the early 1970s, as she tied off a speedboat, she spotted her father. He was walking with Frank Rizzo, Philadelphia’s police chief and future mayor, and his younger brother, Joe, the city’s future fire department chief. The Rizzo brothers were carrying an old metal tub between them. It held a large snapping turtle they’d just caught in the nearby swamp. Snapper soup was a common dish in Pennsylvania at the time.
Young Bradley couldn’t stand to think of the turtle being eaten. While the three men were inside celebrating their catch, the girl tipped the tub over and shooed the turtle away. “What in the world?” one of the brothers exclaimed when they returned.
