As I’ve written here on Substack (and reported in my podcast), the MOVE members charged after the deadly 1978 standoff with police turned their criminal trials into a three-ring circus.
The circus was a performance directed by MOVE leader, Vincent Leaphart, a.k.a. John Africa (a.k.a. Cuncle Vincent, which I am determined to work into every post until it sticks). By then, Vincent had already been indicted for making and possessing bombs and was hiding out in Rochester, NY to avoid arrest.
Even while on the run, Vincent was in constant communication with his young “performers.”
Sources say he was a total phone-a-holic while preaching against ALL technology. Classic.
It wasn’t that the MOVE 9 were his “favorites.” They were the ones saying his name, getting him the headlines— feeding him the endorphin hits his sociopathic, narcissistic personality craved.
He told them to do something, and they did it.
It was like ordering someone to play Russian roulette — and watching with satisfaction as they pulled the trigger over and over again.
Three of those twelve MOVE members broke away from the other 9 MOVErs so that they could separate their trials and utilize the public defenders: Devita Johnson, Cassandra Davis, and Consuewella “Swella” Dotson.
This A Day in MOVE History focuses on Consuewella Dotson—how she was pulled into Vincent Leaphart’s cult and used for his “revolution”.
Born in Philadelphia in 1953, Consuewella was one of four children of Roberta and Leroy Dotson, Jr.
At 17, she gave birth to her first child, Katricia. It was an unplanned pregnancy with an uninvolved father named Nathaniel Galloway.
Soon after, she went to live with (or was sent to live with) her maternal half-aunt, Elussia Hampton, and Elussia’s husband, James Conrad Hampton. It was while living in that house with her three cousins that Consuewella met and joined MOVE.
In early 1972, she became pregnant with her second child, Zanetta. The man responsible was James Conrad Hampton—her uncle by marriage. He manipulated her right inside his own house, but make no mistake: this was on Vincent’s orders. Conrad also recruited a family member of his - Edward Goodman aka Eddie Africa.
Consuewella already had one child, and that put her on Vincent’s build-a-cult shopping list. He loved single mothers who were fertile and vulnerable. Hampton delivered exactly what Vincent wanted: another young recruit, another child born into MOVE.
Consuewella hid the pregnancy from her family. No prenatal care. Sources say she even bound her stomach to keep it secret.
At seven months, she went into early labor and was rushed to the hospital. Zanetta Dotson was born on 08/22/72.
With her toddler-aged children in tow—and always put at risk—Consuewella followed MOVE Law and never questioned Vincent aka “John Africa, The Coordinator”.
That’s how she ended up arrested in 1975.
Her third child, a son named Lobo (Lionel Dotson), was born in 1977 inside MOVE’s fortified headquarters during the year-long armed standoff. He came into the world surrounded by more than 40 dogs, rats, and guns, and without clean water, electricity and medical care. He would never know his two half-sisters because they had been sent to Richmond, Virginia. His MOVE parents, Consuewella and Charles Sutton Morris, aka Beowulf Africa, but they were not a couple and never married.
Consuewella, aka Swella or “Swell,” carried Lobo into the MOVE headquarters in early August 1978 as part of her “activity”—an armed confrontation with police on August 8, 1978 that ended with 8 police and firemen getting shot, one police officer dying, and Consuella getting arrested along with 11 other adults.
It’s hard enough for any parent when their child gets arrested.
I can imagine it is even harder if you worked in law enforcement and then your daughter is charged with the murder of a police officer and 7 other counts of attempted murder of officers.
Consuewella’s father, Leroy Dotson, Jr. was retired Philadelphia Cop!
Makes perfect sense why Vincent would want to bring Consuella into MOVE beyond her being a single mother with a baby and could make more MOVE babies. She was the ultimate example of MOVE vs. The System - a cop’s kid chooses MOVE Law over the government’s laws.
Her retired cop Dad turns on the local news and sees the nightmare: officers shot, his own daughter marched out in handcuffs, his infant grandson taken into protective custody—and his two granddaughters missing. Vincent got to break Leroy twice—once as a father, and once as a cop.
Consuewella’s father and mother took custody of Lobo (Lionel), made efforts to find Katricia and Zanetta, and convinced Consuewella NOT to tie her case to the other MOVE members and to listen to her court-appointed attorney.
But then Consuewella’s mother fell ill and died in 1980 leaving Consuella’s father to grieve and continue to battle the MOVE cult to save his daughter and grandchildren.
It was too much, and Consuewella was too far gone.
August 20, 1980
Forty-five years ago today, Consuewella appeared in court with her lawyer on 3rd degree murder charges and proceeded to go “Full MOVE":
Talking in court when it’s not your turn.
Ignoring direct orders from the judge.
Long Live John Africa this, ON A MOVE that.
Consuewella was such a pain in the ass that her lawyer, A. Benjamin Johnson, took drastic measures in trying to protect her from herself.
MOVEr Gets Carried Away - by Her Own Lawyer - Dave Racher
In yet another of a series of bizarre happenings at the MOVE murder trials, defendant Consuela Dotson was bodily carried from the courtroom yesterday by her own lawyer after she ignored an order to stop talking.
Dotson, a member of the radical, anti-establishment MOVE organization, and MOVE sympathizer [Cas]Sandra Davis are charged with murder in the slaying of Police Officer James Ramp in a shootout at MOVE’s Powelton Village Headquarters on Aug. 8, 1978.
Common Pleas Judge Levy Anderson frequently has ordered Dotson to leave the courtroom because of unruly behavior during the nearly two weeks of trial.
She had also been excluded from the courtroom yesterday, but was brought in to be identified by a witness, Police Inspector George Fencl.
As she came into the room, Dotson immediately launched into a speech to the jury. She claimed her rights had been violated, insisted she did not want a jury trial and said she did not want her court-appointed attorney, A. Benjamin Johnson, to represent her.
As Anderson tried in vain to quiet the woman, Johnson quietly stood at the defense table, removed his jacket, his wristwatch and a bracelet and walked behind his client.
Johnson—a 200-pounder who kept in shape by jogging—slipped his hands under Dotson’s armpits, lifted her off the floor, and hauled her into the anteroom.
“Let me go! Get your hands off me! You’re a turncoat!” she shouted, kicking and squirming. Johnson, unmoved, calmly carried her out of the courtroom.
The admirable legal and physical efforts of Johnson were no match for cult control. Consuewella stuck to her ‘MOVE activity’ and Vincent’s tank-the-defense plan—fail on purpose, go to prison, and call it revolution. She was found guilty in 1980, and in 1982 sentenced to 10–20 years plus 42 months for contempt.
While she sat in prison, her two daughters were briefly removed from MOVE by a Virginia court for neglect and abuse. But MOVE abducted them back, hiding them in the house of Vincent’s sister, Louise James. The girls ran away, got caught, dragged back, and locked inside the boarded-up garage. That’s where they died on May 13, 1985—just shy of 15 and 13 years old.
Two years later, in 1987, Consuewella’s father, Leroy, died—knowing his daughter was in prison and his granddaughters were gone.
In 1990, Consuewella signed over power of attorney to Alberta Wicker for the wrongful-death lawsuit over the five children killed on May 13, two of them her own.
She was released from prison in 1994, went straight back to MOVE HQ, and—according to multiple sources—tried and failed to claim her daughters’ share of the $2.5 million settlement Alberta kept in trust.
Fast-forward to 2021: after contracting COVID at the May 13th program, Consuewella is hospitalized, put on a ventilator, and two weeks later, Sue LeVino (a.k.a. Ria), holding power of attorney, made the call to pull the plug ending Consuewella’s life.
MOVE then posted to their website www.onamove.com
On that same page, you are prompted to “Donate to The MOVE Organization” —monthly, PayPal, or credit card.
For 49 years, MOVE controlled Consuewella’s life. Exploited her death. And for 40 years, they’ve squeezed sympathy—and millions of dollars—out of the suffering and deaths of her 2 children.
They even sell $30 t-shirts with Consuewella’s daughters’ names silkscreened on the back. All proceeds go to Mike Africa Jr.
Katricia Dotson 09/15/70 - 05/13/85
Zanetta Dotson 08/22/72 - 05/13/85
Consuewella Q. Dotson 08/11/53 – 06/16/21
I've always felt sorry for Consuella. Her entire life in MOVE was filled with tragedy. Even her death was decided by the cult. I had no idea her dad was a cop! Joining MOVE might've started as just a big f*ck you to daddy.