D.C. “Antifa Leader” Is Third Man Charged in Marine Attack in Philadelphia

Joseph Alcoff in his Philadelphia Police Department mugshot.

It has been more than two months since two United States Marines said they were assaulted in Philadelphia by a “mob” just blocks from the controversial We the People Rally, and now a third man has been charged in the attack.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has charged 37-year-old Washington, D.C., resident Joseph Alcoff with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation, and conspiracy — all felonies — among other charges. He has pleaded not guilty and is currently out on bail.

Alcoff joins codefendants Tom Keenan and Thomas Massey in the case. Both Keenan and Massey were arrested at the end of November and are also out on bail awaiting trial.

Suspects Thomas Massey (left) and Thomas Keenan (right) in their Philadelphia Police Department mugshots.

The incident occurred on the afternoon of November 17th.

According to court documents, Marines Alejandro Godinez and Luis Torres, who were not in uniform, were approached by a group of 10 to 12 activists on the 100 block of South Front Street in the Old City section of Philadelphia.

Investigators say that the activists, who have been linked to the antifa movement in blog posts, news accounts, and in courtroom testimony, had been counter-protesting at the We the People rally.

At a preliminary hearing for Massey and Keenan in December, the two Marines testified that the activists attacked them, allegedly calling them “nazis” and “white supremacists,” using ethnic slurs against them (both Marines are Hispanic), punching and kicking them repeatedly, and macing them.

On the stand in December, the Marines testified that they had no knowledge of the We the People rally and that they were in town for a Marine ball at a nearby hotel.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the Alcoff case, Torres was reading online stories about the attacks when he came upon an article on the Tucker Carlson-founded Daily Caller website that connected Keenan to Alcoff.

That article called Alcoff “D.C.’s radical antifa leader … who’s advocated for violence and for the overthrow of the government.”

Torres saw a photo of Alcoff in the Daily Caller story and contacted detectives in Philadelphia, claiming that he recognized Alcoff as another member of the group that attacked him.

Investigators say that Torres then showed the detectives photos that he took of the suspects at the time of the attack, and police “strongly agree” that Alcoff was the person in Torres’ photos.

According to an NJ.com article from 2011, Alcoff and Keenan were arrested in Bordentown that year and charged with rioting.

Alcoff has had a long history of protest. The below video captures him in the mid-2000s saying “I’m a Communist, motherfucker” before spitting at the person recording him.

Alcoff’s next appearance is scheduled for February 11th in Common Pleas Court.