[Mr. Quarterpanel]

...However, instead of waiting them out, or deploying police in the specific units in which the criminals were holed-up, the Philly police dropped some kind of jury-rigged incendiary device out of a helicopter on to the row houses/townhouses. They pretty much wiped out an entire city block...

You are correct, except that it was a bomb that they dropped to knock out a fortified installation on the roof. It started a fire from gas cans that were up there, and the result was what you recall.

Whenever there is a standoff situation, the Police try to force a conclusion by aggressive engagement (They attack) and it almost NEVER ends well (Can you say Waco?).

People always die every time it has been tried.

[WayneS]

Thanks for the additional information.

I KNEW I should not have relied solely on my increasingly-faulty memory...

;-)