FLOYD NAILED IN SW PHILA.

Eric DeShawn Floyd, one of three men allegedly involved in the assault-rifle slaying on Saturday of police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, was arrested inside a vacant house on Windsor Avenue near 54th at 11:15 p.m..

Police arrested Floyd and his girlfriend - whose name was not immediately released - in a second -floor bedroom in a vacant house. There were no guns and no resisting arrest.

"I'm feeling great," Police Commssioner Charles Ramsey said last night. "We're very relieved that we finally have him in custody. I just talked to Mrs. Liczbinski and there's great relief from the family.

Ramsey later gave a thumbs-up to reporters on the scene and said, "We got him!" His officers later handcuffed him with Liczbinski's handcuffs - a department tradition - and took him to police headquarters, according to a police source. They had been eager to arrest Floyd before the sergeant's funeral tomorrow.

When Floyd arrived at the Roundhouse, Mayor Nutter was there to meet him. "I looked him dead in the eye when he came in," he said. "I told him how disappointed I was in him. He will face prosecution and of course pay a price for what he did."

"But this is a good moment for this department." the mayor added. "I know the officers are very happy. I talked to Michelle Liczbinski earlier this evening. She's certainly very pleased. We can not bring Stephen back, but we can certainly bring some closure to this entire matter."

Floyd's arrest ended a massive police manhunt, aided by the FBI and other federal agents, that lasted for more than four days and sent cops not only across the city but as far as north Jersey - where officers chased down an apparently erroneous tip he'd been spotted on a train. A reward for apprehending Floyd had grown to $150,000.

He is one of three men allegedly involved in a Saturday morning robbery at a Bank of America branch inside a Shoprite supermarket in Port Richmond and then the murder of Liczbinski.

The robber believed to be the triggerman, Howard Cain, was killed by police. A second suspect, local heavyweight boxer Levon Warner, was arrested on Sunday.

At 12:16 a.m. this morning, a swarm of helicopters hovered over police headquarters, and moments later a stream of police cars with their lights on streamed into the parking lot.

A wagon from the 24th District backed into a loading dock for prisoners and Nutter, wearing a suit strode in to meet the van with a stern look on his face. Officers hugged one another as the door to the loading dock closed.

Nutter later added: "I told you earlier today that we would drag him from out from under whatever rock he was hiding behind and we would bring him to justice. There's never been a doubt that this would happen. It was only a matter of time."

Back at the arrest scene, a mother and daughter who didn't want to be identified were taken by surprise when a fleet of police kicked down the door to an abandoned house across the street and two doors down from them. When they stepped out of their house and onto the porch, the women saw police escort the man they've seen on the news for days.

He walked calmly to the police car in handcuffs, the mother said. "He didn't seem to give trouble." The women were shocked that the fugitive was in their neighborhoods "right under their noses."

"If I had known he was in there I would have turned him in myself, said the elder woman.

The property is a dilapidated two-story row home with boarded-up windows in the middle of the nearly-uninhabited block. The front lay crumbling, and its lopsided concrete steps add to the eyesore. On one side of the property stood another abandoned home in equally deteriorating condition.

On the other side are inhabited rowhouses, with residents asleep after the night's spectacular display. *