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STATE SUING GRAVANO Vacco sees Son of Sam law violation By MICHAEL O. ALLEN Daily News Staff Writer

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

Thursday, April 17, 1997

The state slapped mob turncoat Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano with a lawsuit yesterday, charging that the admitted killer who helped put John Gotti away is illegally profiting from his new book.

Attorney General Dennis Vacco filed a suit under the state’s Son of Sam law that named Gravano and Peter Maas, the author of “Underboss.”

The law is designed to bar convicted criminals from profiting from their crimes.

The papers were filed as ABC News began airing a two-part interview with Gravano, who recently bolted from the federal witness protection program. During the lengthy talk with newswoman Diane Sawyer, Gravano recounts his life in the mob and reveals he once plotted to kill Gotti.

But it is the 19 hits Gravano has admitted to that prompted Vacco to file the suit.

“We should not allow a guy like Sammy Gravano, or any other criminal, to profit from their criminal conduct,” Vacco said.

Vacco alleges publisher HarperCollins and Maas failed to inform the state Crime Victims Board of Gravano’s contract and pay, as required under the Son of Sam law.

Gravano, he added, was allowed by the federal government to keep money from his past criminal activity when his testimony helped put John Gotti behind bars.

“The fact that he is now, within five short years of having participated in the demise of John Gotti, back on the street to earn a profit by telling his story seem patently offensive to me,” Vacco said.

Ginger Curwen, a spokeswoman for HarperCollins, insisted that the company paid Maas, not Gravano.

“HarperCollins’ contractual relations for this book are with Peter Maas and there is nothing unlawful about those arrangements,” she said.

Michael Dowd, Maas’ attorney, defended the writer.

“Who the hell does [Vacco] think he is,” Dowd asked. “By suing an author, Mr. Vacco is moving into an area that has been protected from time immemorial by the Constitution of the United States.”

Dowd insisted that Maas did not pay Gravano.

Ronald Kuby, an attorney for relatives of nine of Gravano’s victims, accused the publisher of paying Gravano.

“They should come clean and disclose the amount of blood money they are paying to Gravano,” Kuby said.

“They have structured this book deal like a Mafia deal. They should be ashamed of themselves.”

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Crime Victims Board, named as co-defendants T.J.M. Productions Inc., a company Maas formed last year, and HarperCollins.

It also named HarperCollins chief executive officer Anthea Disney and News Corp., the multi-national conglomerate that owns the publishing house.

April 17, 1997
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RUDY DISSES STATE DEPT: Curbs Diplo Parking Plan By MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

Sunday, April 13, 1997

Mayor Giuliani opened a new front in the New York City vs. the Rest of the World battle over diplomatic scofflaws, threatening to withhold scores of extra parking spaces promised to foreign envoys.

The mayor announced the get-tough plan in retaliation for the U.S. State Department’s revision of the terms of a crackdown on diplomats, many of them United Nations envoys, who rack up scores of unpaid parking tickets.

Giuliani said the original plan called for the city to designate 310 additional curbside spaces for diplomatic parking. In exchange, the city was authorized to tow and yank the license plates of diploscoffs who build up unpaid tickets for more than a year.

But after the State Department modified that plan Friday, Giuliani said the city wouldn’t come through with the extra parking.

“We’re certainly not going to go forward with all of those parking spaces,” he said.

What’s more, the mayor warned, the city may take back some of the 110 new spots that have already been designated for diplomats.

“This is an old rule I have. When I make a deal, I keep it. If you make a deal, you have to keep it — and they haven’t,” Giuliani said of the State Department.

“We haven’t decided yet exactly how many we are not going to go forward with, but we are definitely going to refuse to go forward with some percentage of them because the State Department has not gone forward with their part of the deal.”

Neither State Department officials nor UN representatives could be reached for comment yesterday.

However, the new skirmish may escalate international pressure for action at a UN General Assembly session on the dispute that was authorized last week.

Foreign diplomats voted for the session because, they say, the original crackdown plan violated principles of diplomatic immunity.

Original Story Date: 041397

April 13, 1997
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Rudy: Plan Won’t Spur Evictions By MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

Friday, Aprill 11, 1997

Mayor Giuliani yesterday said the city won’t evict current tenants of city public housing as part of an effort to place higher-earning residents in the buildings.

The mayor and Housing Authority officials also said they would not immediately try to relax the federal rule that bars charging tenants more than 30% of their monthly household income for rent.

The announcements came in response to protests over news that the city may apply to participate in a new federal program that would change the rents that may be charged for public housing.

“Once the rules are lifted, that’s it,” said Jenny Laurie, executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Housing.

Called Moving to Work, the program would authorize selected public housing agencies to charge some tenants more than 30% of their household income for rent, while charging less than that from others.

Officials in municipalities around the nation are vying for inclusion in the program, which will be instituted at 30 of the most successful public housing agencies.

The aim of the program is to give public housing agencies flexibility to both increase rental income in the face of cuts in federal housing subsidies while at the same time aiding tenants whose welfare subsidies are cut.

“Last year we got approximately $62 million less than we needed to run our developments, and we foresee that continuing to happen,” said Housing Authority Chairman Ruben Franco. “We have to do creative things in order to stay solvent.”

The city must apply for inclusion by May 19. But the application is not a done deal, Franco said. Housing Authority officials will hold hearings and meet with associations that represent the city’s 600,000 public housing tenants before applying, he said.

“We are not going to use it to raise people’s rent so that public housing is unaffordable for them,” said Franco. “We are not going use it to evict people. We are going to use it to strengthen our ability to house the people that we are mandated to house.”

But housing advocates were not convinced.

“In theory it sounds wonderful, and it would be great if it turns out that they did not displace anyone,” said Laurie. “But in reality there are not enough units to go around to cover all the people who need very-low-rent apartments.”

Original Story Date: 041197

April 11, 1997
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Now Call Interboro Jackie’s Basepath By MICHAEL O. ALLEN and JON R. SORENSEN, Daily News Staff Writers

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

Thursday, April 10, 1997

The Interboro Parkway, 5 twisting miles that often require major league reflexes from drivers, will be renamed for baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson, officials said yesterday.

The change is expected to be made official by Monday — the eve of a Shea Stadium celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the day the Brooklyn Dodger great broke baseball’s color barrier.

New 6-by-8-foot signs will name the route Jackie Robinson Parkway.

“We want to do it in time for the game on Tuesday night, so that when people go to that game they can travel on the Jackie Robinson Parkway,” said Mayor Giuliani, who asked state lawmakers and Gov. Pataki to make the change.

“It’s appropriate that we are naming a parkway for him because Jackie Robinson paved the way for all of the African-American ballplayers that came after him,” said Giuliani.

Charles Cesaretti, executive vice president of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, called the renaming “a marvelous way . . . to not only remember Jackie Robinson the man, but also a man who contributed a great deal to the City of New York.”

Word of the renaming came as former Robinson teammate Don Newcombe said the Dodger great should have a national holiday named in his honor. “Why hasn’t the government honored him the way it should?” the former pitcher asked.

Robinson joined the Dodgers in 1947 and sparked Dodger teams that won six pennants and one World Series before he retired after the 1956 season.

The parkway being renamed in his honor winds from Jamaica Ave. in Brooklyn — a long fly ball from the site of the old Ebbets Field, where Robinson starred — to Kew Gardens in Queens, not far from Shea Stadium.

Fittingly, the tree-lined road that was first opened in 1935 even passes by Cypress Hills Cemetery in Queens, the site of Robinson’s grave.

Like Robinson, who was a terror on the basepaths to opposing teams, the Interboro has had a reputation as dangerous for drivers because of its narrow lanes and hairpin curves. A $43.1 million upgrade in 1989-91 widened the roadway, improved the dividers between lanes and installed other safety features.

“Jackie Robinson was baseball as far as my family was concerned,” said Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry (D-Queens), co-sponsor with Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Queens) of the Albany bill needed to approve the name change.

Original Story Date: 041097

April 10, 1997
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77th Pct. Is Champ on Crime: Felonies Take 40% Fall By JOHN MARZULLI, MICHAEL O. ALLEN, and ALICE McQUILLAN, Daily News Staff Writers

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

nullMonday, April 7, 1997

Once notorious for corrupt cops and bloodshed, Brooklyn’s 77th Precinct has a tough new reputation — tough on crime.

It leads the city with a 40% decrease in major felonies — nearly triple the city’s average decline of 15.5% for all five boroughs.

“This place is like a sponge, and we’re still wringing more crime out of it,” said Capt. Ronald Wasson, commander of the 77th.

This turnaround in Crown Heights is among the success stories found in the Police Department’s crime statistics for the first quarter of the year. Throughout the city, an assault on drug-related crimes is credited with the continual drop in crime, quarter after quarter.

It happened in the heart of Brooklyn North where the department a year ago mounted an intensive narcotics campaign intended to make streets safer and to reduce shootings.

A decade ago, 13 cops from the 77th Precinct were charged with ripping off drug dealers. Shootings were so common that one minister recalls the sound of gunfire interrupting his Sunday morning sermons.

Now the area has calmed, both inside and outside the Utica Ave. stationhouse. Instead of constant complaints about gunfire, Wasson said, people call to gripe about loud music.

He credits the change to a crackdown on quality-of-life crimes. His 10 plainclothes anti-crime officers — so effective that all were recently scooped up by the citywide street crime unit and dispatched to other hot spots — took 67 guns off the streets last year. Beat cops shut down more than 80 alleged storefront drug spots for simple administrative violations.

“It’s really the cops, they are doing some job,” Wasson said. “A guy stopped for urinating in the street was found to be carrying two guns. If you keep the pressure on, it really quiets things down.”

The Rev. Frederick Foy, pastor of the Mount Zion Baptist Church on Ralph Ave., has lived in the neighborhood for 38 years and says he feels safer seeing more cops on the streets and in patrol cars.

“I know at one time back in the ’70s there were some people who stopped coming to this church because their cars were burglarized during service,” Foy said. “I haven’t heard of a car being burglarized for quite some time now.”

Each of the five boroughs saw double-digit drops this period, but Brooklyn North led the way with a 21.3% nosedive. Inspector William Taylor of Brooklyn North credits the success to a laser-beam focus on drug trafficking, the engine of most crimes.

“People involved in narcotics either did the crime [or] they know who did it or have the ability to find out, and if they are asked the appropriate question and we have them under arrest, they are more inclined to be cooperative,” he said.

Expanding into upper Manhattan and parts of the Bronx, the anti-drug push has driven down crime across the city, officials said.

Fourteen precincts have yet to log a slaying this year — and nine haven’t recorded a single shooting. Gunfire cases fell by almost 30% throughout the city and, at this rate, New York this year will record the fewest slayings and robberies in a generation.

There were also impressive drops in fatal shootings on the street and in lobbies or hallways — the most common places for strangers to attack. These plummeted by 53%, from 113 in the first quarter of 1996 to 53 during the same period this year.

Still, crime rose in some areas: Rockaway, 9%; Bayside, 3%, and Forest Hills, 3%, in Queens; the lower East Side, .3%; Central Park, 3%, and Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, 5%.

Car thefts dropped by 20.4% citywide, leading the seven major felonies in declines.

But Queens remains the migraine for auto crime cops. Eight of the worst 10 precincts in the city for car thefts were in Queens, topped by a surprise No. 1 — the leafy streets of Forest Hills.

The 112th Precinct in Forest Hills led the city with 486 cars stolen, yet officers there haven’t made a single arrest for auto theft so far this year.

“The 112 is like the bank — that’s where the cars are,” said Capt. Daniel Carlin, head of the department’s auto crime division.

April 7, 1997
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Yearbook Protest Planned by Advocates By MICHAEL O. ALLEN and DON SINGLETON, Daily News Staff Writers

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

Sunday, April 6, 1997

Civil rights advocates yesterday announced a protest rally over Police Department efforts to get high school yearbooks for use in identifying potential crime suspects.

Accompanied by parents and students, New York Civil Liberties Union officials said protesters will rally outside Police headquarters in lower Manhattan on April 27, then march to City Hall.

“Our phones have been ringing, and people have been stopping me in the street and saying, ‘We’re with you on this one, Civil Liberties,’ ” said Norman Siegel, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The protest was sparked by the Daily News’ disclosure that police bosses ordered detectives around the city to obtain copies of all high school yearbooks in their precincts.

Cops said they want the yearbooks because the photos in some cases could help identify suspects.

But the request drew criticism from parents, students and some public officials. Schools Chancellor Rudy Crew said the high schools won’t routinely hand over the yearbooks.

Instead, they will consider police requests on a case-by-case basis, Crew said.

Mayor Giuliani yesterday repeated his call for Crew and Police Commissioner Howard Safir to resolve their disagreement over the issue.

“I think that the best solution to this is that they try to work it out,” Giuliani said at a Little League baseball game in Brooklyn.

“There are legitimate interests and concerns on both sides.”

April 6, 1997
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Big Apple’s Falling For Millenni-Mania By MICHAEL O. ALLEN and DAVID L. LEWIS, Daily News Staff Writers

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

nullSaturday, April 5, 1997

New York is getting ready to stage a millennium party for the ages.

We’re talking about a year-long celebration that’s intended to blow away competition from other cities vying to be ground zero for the millennium.

The big show will kick off with a Times Square New Year’s Eve bash unlike any other. The teeming throngs will be able to watch jumbo television screens showing a 24-hour live broadcast of scenes from each of the world’s 24 time zones.

At the Jacob Javits Convention Center, a small gathering of 40,000 people is planned, with music, performers, a gourmet dinner and, of course, fireworks over the Hudson River.

“This is the beginning of what I think will be one of the great, great New York celebrations as we lead up to the year 2000,” the city’s chief cheerleader, Mayor Giuliani, said yesterday. “It’s an opportunity for us to show off what has become really . . . the central part of the world.”

Seeking to draw more tourists than ever before, organizers will kick off a 1,000-day countdown to the millennium tomorrow in Times Square with musicians from more than 50 college and high school marching bands.

The countdown will lead to a year-long celebration that will begin when the ball drops at midnight Dec. 31, 1999, and end at midnight one year later.

A high point will be July 4 celebrations in the year 2000, featuring Op Sail 2000, billed as the world’s largest parade of tall ships, representing 50 countries and stretching for 10 miles.

The Javits party will take place on four stages, a total of 2 million square feet of dance floor with the hottest talents of the day entertaining the audience, said Steve Leber, chairman of the event, Celebration 2000.

The party will launch a week-long show of collectibles — everything from rare stamps to comic books, Leber said.

Officials could not say how much the festivities would cost or who would pay for them. But Giuliani guaranteed that returns to the city “conservatively will be 10, 15, 20 times the cost of it, probably a lot more than that.”

Giuliani yesterday named the New York City Convention and Visitors Bureau as the official Millennium Committee, to prepare and market the city as the world’s most sought-after destination to ring in the next thousand years.

The bureau has set up shop on the Internet (http://www.nycvisit.com) to receive applications for its millennium logo contest, which will select a design to promote events through the year 2001.

It also has set up the Millennium Club, in which — for a $20 fee — members will get the inside track on news and planning for millennium-related events.

Giuliani was asked if he had any fear the hoopla could bring more people to the city than it can hold.

“We’ll test the outer limits of it,” he said. “We’ll see how much New York City can take.”

Highlights of the Millennium Celebration

1,000-Day Countdown — The clock starts ticking at noon tomorrow with a Times Square performance of the Millennium Marching Band, 1,000 high school and college musicians. The 30-minute ceremony will feature Mayor Giuliani conducting “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

Times Square 2000 — Starting at 7 a.m. on Dec. 31, 1999, giant television screens in Times Square will begin a 24-hour live broadcast of people and cultures from each of the world’s 24 times zones.

The Millennium Ball Drop — The traditional New Year’s Eve countdown in Times Square will take place Dec. 31, 1999, with special hoopla that’s still being planned.

Celebration 2000 — A New Year’s Eve extravaganza for 40,000 people at the Javits Convention Center, complete with music, performers, a gourmet dinner and fireworks over the Hudson River.

Op Sail 2000 — Billed as the world’s largest parade of tall ships — representing 50 nations and stretching for 10 miles — will fill New York Harbor from July 3 to 9, 2000. President Clinton will be on hand for the July 4 celebration.

April 5, 1997
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Rudy Tarnishes Golden Parachute By MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

Saturday, April 5, 1997

Mayor Giuliani yesterday moved to limit the golden parachutes that enable top aides to bail out of government with hefty payouts — but he didn’t cut the cord entirely.

In an executive order, Giuliani amended a regulation that enabled top city officials to accumulate 228 days of unused sick leave and vacation time — and cash in that time when they leave office.

The crackdown came one month after the Daily News disclosed that Giuliani failed to limit the lucrative payouts even though he pledged reforms three years ago.

Under the April 1 executive order, top appointees will be allowed to accumulate vacation time amounting to no more than a half year’s pay.

Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said the administration should get credit for cutting back on a practice that has cost thousands of dollars. For example, First Deputy Mayor Peter Powers left government with $14,627 in accumulated leave after 21/2 years in office, The News reported last month.

“It’s appropriate to have these kinds of restrictions,” Mastro said of the cutback.

Asked why Giuliani continued to let top aides cash out with a half year of unused vacation pay — which in some cases could total nearly $70,000 — Mastro said, “You have to work a number of years to accumulate” that much leave time.

The change took effect Tuesday and won’t apply to appointees who recently stepped down, including Deputy Mayor Fran Reiter and welfare adviser Richard Schwartz.

Original Story Date: 040597

April 5, 1997
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Rudy: McCall Playing Politics By MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

Sunday, March 30, 1997

Mayor Giuliani snapped off a defiant reply to state Controller Carl McCall’s complaint that the city improperly blocked two state auditors from checking on city agencies: See you in court.

Stepping up a long-running political feud, Giuliani accused McCall of misusing the controller’s office by flooding city agencies with performance audits that far exceed McCall’s authority.

Giuliani vowed to fight a promised McCall legal challenge over the decision to stop the state auditors from analyzing records at city health and social services offices on Friday.

“We are happy to meet him in court,” Giuliani said, citing a 1977 state court ruling that he said restricts McCall’s office to financial audits. “The fact is he has no right under the Constitution of the state to do performance audits of the city.”

The Republican mayor, who is seeking reelection in November, charged that the Democratic controller had launched numerous audits in a bid to cost him votes at the polls.

“This isn’t looking at the books, the accounts and the records of the city,” Giuliani said. “These are audits to create negative, political audits that he’ll release in August, September and October.”

McCall fired back, insisting that his office was fulfilling its oversight role by auditing delivery of city services.

“The mayor has yet to deal with the substance of any audit,” said McCall. “He has not identified any particular audit that was inaccurate, or incomplete. All we get is the response that it’s political. And I say, ‘Where is the evidence?’ ”

McCall said his office would seek court subpoenas to get city records needed to complete the audits. The audits focus on the city’s screening of welfare applicants and handling of requests for birth and death certificates.

While gearing up for reelection, Giuliani has touted his success in shrinking the welfare rolls and speeding response to requests for copies of birth certificates.

He vowed to block McCall from conducting any further audits at least until after this year’s mayoral election.

“If he wants to subpoena records for these broad-based performance audits, we are happy to test our legal position in court,” Giuliani said.

Original Story Date: 033097

March 30, 1997
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29 Job Agencies Cited as Slackers By MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer

By Homepage, New York Daily NewsNo Comments

nullThursday, March 27, 1997

Job-seeking New Yorkers are being ripped off by unscrupulous employment agencies that charge illegal fees, refuse to give refunds and violate other regulations, a new city investigation shows.

Six consumer investigators who went undercover and applied for jobs through 29 employment agencies this month uncovered violations of city rules at all but three of the firms.

In all, the investigators found 51 violations — like those that confronted Deirdre Archibald, a Brooklyn mother of two who said she got a runaround when she sought a job through a Queens employment agency in 1995. The investigation found:

Six of the 29 firms operated without required city licenses.

Nine companies illegally charged fees as high as $100 before placing the applicants in jobs. Fees may be charged only after placement.

Ten of the firms failed to post required signs indicating their license numbers, fee schedule and where dissatisfied clients can file complaints.

City consumer investigators padlocked two other Manhattan agencies — J & U Employment Agency and 8 Chatham Square Employment Agency — for continuing to operate without a license after being cited by investigators last year.

“It is really unconscionable and a disgrace that employment agencies throughout the city are luring the public in with false hopes of jobs and ripping them off,” said Consumer Affairs Commissioner Jose Maldonado.

If found guilty, the companies could face fines totaling $37,100.

Archibald, a Grenadian immigrant, said she found out about unscrupulous practices she went to the City Wide Employment Agency in Queens to seek a secretarial position. Her resume outlined her work experience in Grenada and New York.

Archibald said the company charged her $100 up front — then failed to deliver and gave her the runaround when she demanded a refund.

“I was very angry. It was very stressful,” said Archibald. “They gave me a lot of petty excuses.”

Archibald said she demanded her money back after months of constant calls to the firm produced just one job interview — and she did not get that position.

“When I went back for the refund, it was such a hassle,” Archibald said. “Every time I went there, somebody had a backache and couldn’t look through the books right now.”

She filed a complaint with the Department of Consumer Affairs in August. The complaint produced an $80 refund in December. The refund helped the firm avoid being cited for a consumer violation.

The owner of City Wide Employment Agency denied Archibald’s allegations. The woman, who declined to give her name, said Archibald missed several appointments to settle her refund application. One refund check even was reissued because it expired, the woman said.

“This license is my life, my bread and butter,” she said. “Whatever we do, we have to do honestly. It is my life.”

March 27, 1997
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