The Journal News from White Plains, New York • Page 21

5un6aij ournaHNrcUrs Police track pelts to catch burglar' METRO ROCKLAND COUNTY, N.Y., SUNDAY, APRIL 5, 1987 B7 wpiiiMin" 11 i- tw A Officials check ticket sales scam involving Intrepid NEW YORK (AP) The firing of five ticket sellers last month at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum has stopped the Westies gang from skimming box-office receipts at the aircraft carrier, a museum official said Saturday. Federal and local authorities said they are investigating a racketeering scheme involving the theft of the receipts by members of the longshoremen's union who were employed as ticket-sellers at the museum. The investigation, which also uncovered "no-show" jobs at the aircraft carrier, was first reported Saturday in The New York Times. Intrepid Executive Director Wayne W. Schmidt said the museum had lost "at least several hundred thousand dollars." The chief of the Rackets Bureau in the Manhattan District Attorney's office, Martin Cherkasky, said "we're talking about millions of dollars" over the last 10 years.

"We don't know how long it's been going on," admitted Larry Sowinski, deputy director of the museum, on Saturday. He said the museum lost "$100,000 to $120,000 a year" over at least the past two or three years. NEW YORK (AP) Police followed a "furry trail" of stolen pelts out of a cracked vault, up 10 flights of stairs and onto the roof of a midtown Manhattan building, where they closed the trap on an alleged fur burglar early Saturday. I At least two other suspects escaped, but authorities recovered 1,091 pelts and a sable coat jaken from the safe at Bill and John's Furs on the fourth floor of 308 W. 30th said Sgt.

Raymond O'Donnell, a police spokesman. 'Z "It was a furry trail that led us to the perpetrator," said Sgt. Michael Keavenery of the Midtown South Precinct, whose officers made the arrest. I The burglars entered the building at about 2 a.m. and rode the elevator to the fourth floor, where they apparently had a key to open the door, police said.

They broke a two-foot-square hole in a wall to enter the fur vault. c. But they triggered a burglar alarm and ran up the stairs to the roof as police arrived, plugging furs as they went. "There were furs all up and down the stairs," O'Donnell said. Police chased and arrested George Koutsakis, 34, of Astoria, Queens, who faced charges of burglary and possession of stolen property, 'O'Donnell said.

The police recovered $250,000 in animal skins. "I got four big green garbage bags full of Jt them. Then I got 50 rings hanging with them," Keavenery said. "I got minks, ermine you name it." 0 AP Connecticut flooding Boat owners row into a marina in Portland, Saturday to check on their vessels. Heavy rains again pelted the state and several businesses were flooded along the Connecticut River in Portland, Middletown and Cromwell.

The National Weather Service posted a flood watch for all of the state through Sunday. to tali stsmd son mh trial On March 13, five women who were members of Local 1909 of the International Longshoremen's Association were fired from their jobs as ticket sellers. According to a contract, the local hired the ticket-sellers with no input from the museum. "We have management people running the box office and will be putting in additional security measures to see that it doesn't happen again," Sowinski said. "It definitely is under control." In future hiring of ticket-sellers, he said, "Obviously, something like this can't be repeated.

We will make sure that these people are selected by us." The Intrepid Sea-Air-Space museum, docked along the Hudson River on Manhattan's West Side, is operated by the not-for-profit Intrepid Museum Foundation which filed for reoganization under federal bankruptcy laws in June 1985. It claimed debts of $28.4 million and assets of $16.5 million. The revelations came out during an investigation by the U.S. Attorney's office, the FBI, the district attorney's office and New York City police. That probe has resulted in convictions and indictments of many members of the Westies on murder or racketeering charges.

Investigators have also uncovered racketeering links betweeen the Westies and Local 817 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which delivers stage sets and props on the West Side. The scams involved payoffs from trucking companies through no-show jobs and extortion. Representatives of both unions could not be reached for comment. O'Malley prepared the jury for defense criticism of the witnesses by running through their misdoings. He also said that payments to informants were for expenses only, and that much of their testimony will be corroborated by taped conversations and physical evidence.

Legal experts say prosecutors have little choice but to use such witnesses. Government lawyers in the Lucchese trial have been barred from commenting. "Without cooperation from people within organized crime families, you might as well give up," said Rudolph Giuliani, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "It is impossible to investigate criminal organizations without getting evidence from people within them." diagnosed as a schizophrenic with a history of attempted suicide, defense attorneys said.

Alonzo shot one of the defendants, Giacomo DiNorscio, also his cousin, five times in the head, said Justice Department prosecutor V. Grady O'Malley. The government said it paid more than $19,000 alone for fourth months' support of Alonzo and his girlfriend. Alonzo's total bill is estimated at $84,000, according to the defense. A number of defense attorneys have been heartened by the March 13 acquittal of reputed mob boss John Gotti in federal court in New York City.

Prosecutors relied heavily on the testimony of former Gotti associates. Gotti's attorney, Bruce Cutler, called the verdict a repudiation of "paying witnesses who sold drugs and brutalized people, relocating them, cleansing them to get them to say what (prosecutors) wanted." Attorneys in the Lucchese case agreed. "It has become evident from what occurred in that case that jurors are not going to accept the testimony of paid witnesses when they commit serious crimes," said Mario Noto, who is defending Daniel Ricciardi, 32, of Florham Park. NEWARK, N.J. (AP) Attorneys spent the opening; week of a massive federal racketeering trial here hammering away at a theme they hope will persuade the jury to acquit their clients: paid government informants.

Defense attorneys and defendants representing themselves last week urged the jury not to believe witnesses who had committed crimes and were being supported by prosecutors for their testimony. In the words of attorney Milton Ferrell, representing defendant Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo, the government "slept with dogs and got fleas." "Accetturo, 58, of Hollywood, is accused of heading the New Jersey faction of the Lucchese crime family. He and 20 others are on trial before U.S. District Judge Harold A. Ackerman on racketeering charges.

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