The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 15

Y.W Philadelphia Inquirer B7 Obituaries IWTJII1I.IH!I II 1 I i '1 'Z 44 ti -if a i It li i il If 5 1 eter Maggio maneuvers through road work along westbound Route 70. Finding a shortcut is "like Running the Route 70 gantlet P. Weathers, a pioneer in stereo sound By S. Joseph HitKcnmayor 1 STOMAL TOTHKIMJIIIIKR Paul Weathers, 86, an audio electrical engineer and inventor responsible for important advances in stereophonic design during the 1940s and 1950s, died Sunday at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Camden. He had lived in Haddon Heights for almost 50 years.

Mr. Weathers "revolutionized the high-fidelity world" with an advanced phonograph stylus in the early 1950s, recalled his daughter Barbara Johns. He received numerous patents for his work. In 1950, Mr. Weathers founded his bwn firm, Weathers Industries, in Collingswood and later in Barring-ton, to market the then-state-of-the-art, lightweight phonograph arm.

In addition to the stylus, Mr. Weathers' firm introduced one of the first three-piece speaker systems in the late 1950s. The firm was eventually merged with Advanced Industries. Mr. Weathers began his career working for RCA Camden, and after 15 years with RCA founded his firm.

He was named to the Hi-Fi Hall of Fame in the mid-1970s, according to his daughter. In addition to his daughter Barbara, he is survived by a son, Paul Scott; a daughter, Elizabeth Kaspar; eight grandchildren, and two greatgrandchildren. Friends may call at Iredell-Francesconi Funeral Home, 402 White Horse Pike, Haddon Heights, between 7 and 9 p.m. today. The funeral will be at the home at 11:15 a.m.

tomorrow, with burial following at Siloam Cemetery in Vineland. V. Bompiani, 93, publisher ASSOCIATKDI'KKSS MILAN, Italy Valentino Bompiani, 93, founder of one of Italy's most prestigious publishing houses, died Sunday at his home here, his company said. He had been suffering from heart and lung ailments. He founded the Bompiani Milan publishing house in 1929, originally working out of three rooms.

Its choice of authors and publication of anthologies and literary criticism soon established it as a major contributor in the development of Italian literature this century. Mr. Bompiani's list of Italian and foreign authors includes 17 Nobel Prize winners. Alberto Moravia and Umberto Eco, author of the international bestseller The Name of the Rose, are among its Italian writers. In later years, Mr.

Bompiani served on the board of directors of Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri-Bompiani, after the Fabbri group bought out his publishing house in 1973. He started off as a journalist and then worked for the Mondadori publishing house before moving out on his own. He wrote nine plays, with moderate success, and several books of memoirs and on Italian cultural life. Deaths here 4 mile-long snarl at the Ellisburg Circle. "It was a combination of an educated guess and following where most people went," Maggio recalled.

"I just kept trying to keep myself parallel to 70, and then I came out on the other side." He added: "It's like exploratory surgery." Frank DeAngelis, who lives in Cherry Hill, has his own way of looking at Route 70 survival: "This is like the Road Warriors," he declared. As a traveling salesman and supervisor for Duplex Products, a business-form company in Philadelphia, DeAngelis spends much of his week on the road. Most of the time, he scrambles to get out last-minute orders. "With business forms, people never think of them unless they run out of them," he said. "We're always putting out fires." DeAngelis opts for a more aggressive approach when it comes to the Route 70 construction.

"You've always gotta drive in the lefthand lane. You get the Iwomen withl the gray- and the blue-tint hair who drive in those lanes," he said, pointing to the right. "They cause all the accidents." afternoon, as DeAngelis' gray Pontiac Grand Am zoomed toward the jammed rim of the Race Track Circle, his face wrinkled into a sar A killer gets life i in prison Ruling blocks death penalty By Linda Loyd INljllKER STAFF WHITISH Reputed mob associate Joseph Rido was sentenced yesterday to life in prison for the 1983 slaying of a mar'i-' juana dealer after a judge ruled that the evidence had not met the standard for a death penalty. A Common Pleas Court jury, which convicted Rico, 45, of first-degree murder Friday in the shooting death of Robert Hornickel, was supposed to deliberate yesterday on whether Rico should be sentenced to death or a mandatory life term in prison. But, before the penalty hearing, defense attorney Jack Myers argued that the evidence at trial did not prove any "aggravating" circumstances required under state law to warrant the death penalty.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Campolongo asserted that HornickeJ, 30, had been tortured and that his death was a "contract killing" by La Cosa Nostra. In addition, the prosecutor sought to prove that Rico and an associate, Ronald "Cuddles" DiCaprio, took $7,000 from Hornickel after killing him on Jan. 17, 1983, in South Philadelphia. No aggravating factors i But the jury acquitted Rico of the robbery charge Friday. And Judge Carolyn E.

Temin, in ruling yesterday that she would not allow the death question to go to the jury, said there was no evidence that Hornickel had been tortured, or that Rico had been promised money or had an agreement to kill Hornickel. "I have found as a matter of law that the statute of Pennsylvania will not permit any sentence other than life in prison," Temin told the jury. "Therefore, the sentence will be mandatory life in prison, and there will be no need to deliberate on the penalty." Several jurors, who asked not to 6e identified, said afterward that they were relieved, but that they had found the evidence "strong" in convicting Rico of first-degree murdeY. Jurors said the testimony of April Woltemate, DiCaprio's former wife, who said Rico and DiCaprio told her they killed Hornickel, was corroborated by other evidence, such as telephone calls Hornickel made to Rico between November 1982 and Januafy 1983. And a former convicted drug trafficker, Bruce Tullio, testified ne had given Hornickel $14,000 to buy marijuana that never arrived.

Hornickel was killed in a dispute over a drug deal involving $14,000. Killing and bragging Woltemate, now in the federal witness-protection program, testified that Rico bragged to her that he killed Hornickel to become a member of the crime family headed by Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo. Rico and DiCaprio told her that Hornick-el's murder had been approved by mob captain Joseph "Chickie" Cian-caglini, she said. Woltemate testified against DiCaprio, to whom she was married briefly and then divorced, at a federal trial in 1987. DiCaprio was convicted by a federal jury in May 1987 of racketeering offenses including the Hornickel murder and marijuana trafficking and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Hornickel, a carpenter from Maple Shade, was shot three times, strangled, stabbed and thrown into the trunk of his car. His body was found 10 days later, on Jan. 27, 1983. Jurors said yesterday that they acquitted Rico of the theft of $7,000 from Hornickel because of lack of evidence. "April Woltemate was the only person who put $7,000 in his hands that night," said one juror.

Woltemate testified that Rico a graduate of Michigan State Unvier-sity who was known as Joseph Gavel until he legally changed his name in 1989 and DiCaprio told her they had found the money on Hornickel and kept it before abandoning the victim's car at Sixth and Bainbridge Streets. I 1 it college days in Santa Cruz, during the Summer of Love and how much worse the traffic gets in Los Angeles. "It was just unbelievable," Maggio said, recalling a recent business trip there. "You'd get traffic jams at 3 in the morning." Route 70 may not get that bad, but Maggio acknowledged that construction-related delays had been popping up at the most unpredictable times. "If they're doing any construction in the morning, it gets stuck." Commuters detoured out of the left lane have shied from using the shoulder as an alternate lane, which is legal in the Route 70 construction area.

"You'll find there's times that everybody uses it, and other times when nobody uses it," Maggio said. "I don't know. They must not be commuters." The shoulder-lane reluctance "is a psychological thing," Insisted Randy Linthurst, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Transportation. "There's always supposed to be two lanes open." When those open lanes clog up, Maggio resorts to that tried-and-true timesaver, the shortcut. Several weeks ago, he ventured on a wild ride through three Cherry Hill neighborhoods he had never seen before Erlton, Windsor Park and Kingston Estates and ditched a The Sptcul to Tht Inqunar SHARON GtKOSKI exploratory surgery," he says.

castic leer. "These circles are great," he griped. "You need a shoehorn to get through these things. The cars with the most scratches are the ones that get through first." DeAngelis swatted the air like someone shooing a fly, as a squat driver in a beat-up brown Ford LTD blocked his path. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon!" he urged.

"When you drive into circles, you have to drive with no fear," DeAngelis said. "If you start being a gentleman and let other people go first, you'll never get through." DeAngelis smiled at the thought that Route 70 circles will soon be history. He thinks the construction, in addition to erasing the circles off the map, will shore up older sections of the road, some of which date to the 1930s. "Where it's concrete and stones, you always see people slipping and sliding," he said. "They need to put those bumpers like you see in bowling alleys on the side of the road." Thirty minutes after he fetched his car from a Center City garage, DeAngelis pulled into his driveway on Wexford Court.

Aside from the usual logjam at Marlkress Road, the commute flowed pretty well, DeAngelis said. "Even as it is with the it's a great area to commute in and out of," DeAngelis said. "It's nothing like New York." mother, Jean, await a train, the Tuesday, Feb. 25, 1992 Phila. travel agent accused of bilking senior citizens ROUTE 70, from Bl a.m.

and gets ready for opening if all goes according to plan. Beating the traffic begins with the cornerstone of Maggio's morning ritual: tuning his car stereo to the traffic reports. On a recent weekday morning, Maggio tuned into WXPN-FM's 8:30 report and caught wind of two accidents; one, on the Walt Whitman Bridge, meant a flood of cars on the Ben Franklin, his route into South Jersey. The other fender bender, at the Race Track Circle, meant a last-minute audible. "I had originally planned to go to the food center, but I was concerned about running into a morass," he said.

"It's going to slow us up." Maggio hoped that by skipping the food center, he could make up time and avoid a major Route 70 tie-up. The move paid off: Eight minutes after paying the bridge toll, Maggio was darting around the Race Track Circle, past the accident scene. "Once in a while, you get someone who's not a commuter who stops and looks around and is obviously lost," Maggio said. "It just messes the whole circle up." The Route 70 construction didn't cause Maggio too many headaches. While other drivers weaved and stopped short, Maggio stayed mellow.

He cranked up some world-beat dance music and talked about his Ex-mayors convicted in conspiracy ASSOCMTKI) PRKSK TOMS RIVER, N.J. Two former Manchester Township mayors were convicted yesterday of participating in a conspiracy that looted the municipality of $2.25 million. A jury deliberated just four hours before finding Joseph Murray, 75, guilty of stealing $177,175 in township funds. Ralph Rizzolo, 44, was convicted of embezzling $23,335 as part of an illegal check-cashing scheme that lasted from 1983 to 1989. Rizzolo closed his eyes and bowed his head as the verdicts came in last night, shaking his head as a list of guilty verdicts was read to Superior Court Judge Peter J.

Giovine. Murray, who had a heart attack over the weekend, was not in the courtroom when the verdicts were announced. He was listed yesterday in serious but stable condition in Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center in Camden. Rizzolo was also convicted of four counts of official misconduct, two counts of tampering with records, and one count of theft and misapplication of entrusted property. Murray was convicted on one count each of official misconduct, theft and misapplication of entrusted property, and four counts of state income-tax evasion, from 1986 to 1989.

Both men also were convicted of conspiracy to commit racketeering, racketeering and conspiracy. E. David Millard, first assistant Ocean County prosecutor, said the verdicts showed that the jurors had little doubt about "what they thought of what went on in Manchester Township." "This is such a betrayal of the public trust that IRizzolo and Murray! should be punished severely," Millard said after the verdicts came in. Murray's attorney, Robert P. Ward, called the verdicts "sheer absurdity." "Six weeks of testimony, four hours of deliberations and no questions.

I find that incredulous," he said. Rizzolo would not comment. Four defendants pleaded guilty in exchange for their testimony. Former Mayor Joseph Lynch, 81, was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial, although the charges against him have not been dropped. The indictment charged that the alleged mastermind, former Township Administrator Joseph Portash, stole $900,000.

Portash died in Febur-ary 1990 before he could face itiV'W. A'K O'j. ".4,1 to Collette Tours of Rhode Island, sponsor of the cruise, according to Cohen, but instead sent only $24,450. A few weeks before the June 8 sailing date, Diab Gerban sent a check for the remainder of the money to Collette Tours, but the check bounced, Cohen said. When Collette Tours demanded the rest of the money that was due, Diab Gerban stated that he did not have the funds and was unable to comply, according to Cohen.

He said Gerban used the senior citizens' money to pay expenses of Globe Tours. Collette Tours arranged for the senior citizens' group to go on the cruise as scheduled if each passenger paid an additional $1,250, Cohen said. This was done, and the money went directly to Collette Tours. The night before the cruise sailed, Cohen said, Hope Gerban contacted the senior citizens' group. She stated that she had just become aware of the problem and promised to make restitution when the cruise returned, Cohen said.

To date, Cohen said, Globe has made restitution in the amount of $5,798 to one couple, leaving $34,330 outstanding, Cohen said. By Linda Loyd and Michael B. Coakley INtJI'lRKR STAFF WR'ITKKS An official of a Center City travel agency was arrested yesterday and charged with bilking a group of senior citizens out of $34,330 they paid for an Alaskan cruise. Diab Gerban, 37, of Globe Travel surrendered at the District Attorney's Office and was awaiting arraignment on charges of theft, writing bad checks, deception and criminal conspiracy, according to Assistant District Attorney Denis Cohen. Globe Travel one of the oldest travel agencies in the city, has offices in the 200 block of South 15th Street and in the 1700 block of Market Street.

Gerban, of the 200 block of Henley Street in Wynnewood, is married to Globe Travel owner Hope Gerban and is an officer in the firm, Cohen said. Cohen said that 23 members of a senior citizens' organization paid Globe Travel a total of $64,578 for a 13-day Alaskan cruise. The funds were paid to Globe for a cruise that was scheduled to begin June 8, 1990, Cohen said. Globe was supposed to turn over all the money Raymond W. Norton, 87, of Lansdale, who operated new car dealerships in Philadelphia and Burlington, died Saturday at Sacred Heart Hospital, Norristown.

Mr. Norton was born in Easton, graduated from high school there and attended Bethlehem Prep School. He was employed by Commercial Credit Corp. for about 20 years before opening a Chevrolet dealership on Rising Sun Avenue. He later was a partner in a Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Burlington.

He retired in the late 1970s. He was a past president and former board member of both the Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Automotive Associations. He was the widower of Elizabeth R. Norton. Survivors: brothers, Sherwood and Joseph.

Services: viewing, 11 a.m. tomorrow, St. John's Lutheran Church, Fourth and Ferry Streets, Easton; burial, Easton Cemetery. Sister Grace Margaret, SSJ, 75, a former teacher and school administrator, died Saturday at Chestnut Hill College, where she has been archivist since 1983. Born Marie Rafferty in Philadelphia, she attended our Lady of Mercy School and Hallahan High, and worked for a time in the Department of Agriculture in Washington.

She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill in 1937 and taught at the Holy Cross parish school in Mount Airy and at St. Andrew's in Drexel Hill. She received a bachelor's degree from Chestnut Hill College and a master's in history from Catholic University of America, Washington. She taught for 10 years at Mount St.

Joseph Academy, now in Flourtown, and was a part-time teacher at Chestnut Hill College for many years. For about nine years she taught history at Archbishop Prendergast High-School in Drexel Hill. In 1969 she was appointed registrar at Chestnut Hill College. Survivors: sisters, Agnes Baker, Margaret O'Neill and Marie Kranick, and a brother, Bernard Rafferty. Services: Mass of Christian Burial, 4 p.m.

Thursday, St. Joseph Villa, Flourtown, following a viewing from 2 to 4 D.m.; burial, St. Joseph Villa. 7 Fire destroys Downingtown train station FIRE, from Bl tration and finance, said the borough and Amtrak will be discussing how to replace the highly trafficked station. "We'd like Amtrak to maintain a station in Downingtown, naturally," said Farrelly.

"That's what we're looking at now." The train station fire was the second major blaze in less than 24 hours in Chester County. The former Bernard F. Schlegel American Legion Post 134 on North New Street in West Chester was demolished in a fire that burned from about 8 p.m. Sunday into early yesterday morning. Chester County Fire Marshal Bill Winters said firefighters had problems with live ammunition stored in the building.

The fire set off some ammunition and hampered firefighters' efforts to battle the blaze. The cause of the American Legion fire also is being investigated by local, county and state officials. yw 9 -V Sit 1 pW it w- 1 I w- T. '-y-" V. Special to The Inquirer ROWAN Linda Kennedy (left) and her gutted station in the background..