and St. Hugh of Cluny. Public libraries The Free Library of Philadelphia operates the McPherson Square Branch at 601 East Indiana Avenue, and the Kensington Branch at 104 W Dauphin Street. Crime Kensington was the birthplace of the K&A Gang, an Irish American organized crime association known for their distribution of methamphetamine in the 1980s. Over time black and Hispanic street dealers took over larger portions of the drug trade, especially heroin, fentanyl, and crack cocaine. In recent years, Kensington has experienced increasing social issues primarily related to drug abuse. Sections of the neighborhood are frequented by a significant number of people experiencing drug addiction and/or homelessness. After Philadelphia Police forcibly removed a large encampment of these people from an abandoned railroad track by Lehigh Avenue, several smaller encampments formed under the tracks. Police, after a year and a half, removed these encampments causing its residents to spread up Kensington Avenue. People suffering from addiction and/or homelessness concentrate around the Somerset and Allegheny train stations, in nearby parks, and on residential streets, angering long-term residents. The neighborhood has gained nationwide attention and great notoriety because of extensive press coverage of its thriving narcotics drug scene, often described as the largest on the east coast. The intersection of Kensington Avenue and Somerset Street was listed number one in a 2007 list of the city's top ten recreational drug corners according to an article by Philadelphia Weekly reporter Steve Volk. It is also known as an area of prostitution. In 2010, three women (Elaine Goldberg, 21; Nicole Piacentini, 35; and Casey Mahoney, 27) were strangled to death in the neighborhood. The killer is referred to by the media as "The Kensington Strangler". A "person of interest" in the case, Antonio Rodriguez, was arrested in January 2011. Rodriguez confessed to the murders and was sentenced to life in prison in 2012. In 2022, multiple gunmen fired approximately 40 rounds into a crowd from a black vehicle near Kensington Avenue and East Allegheny hitting nine people. Notable people !PAUS3, professional musician Eddie Alvarez, mixed martial artist Samuel B. Booth, rector of St. Luke's Church (1914–1918), bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont Frank Cappuccino, boxing referee and amateur boxer Shane Claiborne, founding member of The Simple Way religious group Emanual Davis, basketball player Jehu Eyre, Revolutionary War shipbuilder Edwin Henry Fitler, mayor of Philadelphia William J. Green, III, politician, mayor of Philadelphia Drew Gulak,