The Courier-News from Bridgewater, New Jersey • Page 1

FINAL EDITION Tonight, Tomorrow: Very Cold Details on Page 23 42 Pages Gannett Newspaper Plainfield, New Jersey, Thursday, January 8, 1970 10c Phone 757-4000 1 Mi C1 IIU WW 1.1 TTTT 71 uentz ties anc Zero Weather Due Another influx of frigid arctic air will give us near zero weather tonight and keep us in the deep freeze for at least another 36 hours according to Mrs. Vivian J. Scherer, area weather observer. Tomorrow the temperature will only rise to the upper teens, even with the. assist of some sun.

It will be bitterly cold and partly cloudy tonight with the chance of occasional snow flurries. The high yesterday was 26 and the overnight low 13. alia Assoc! lation nth ttie Hoods Governor Asserts Angry denials that they have had any association with the Mafia have been made by some of New Jersey's top political and law enforcement officers reacting to publication yesterday of taped conversations of underworld figures. i il" v) i I ill If 5 5 jf vv I 4 i U.S. Atty.

James Brickley in Detroit had assured him that no evidence had been uncovered linking a pro football player with gambling activities. "The same is true of our own investigation," Rozelie said. Pro football has a 29-man security staff. In Detroit, Brickley said he doubted there would be many more arrests "maybe one or two" before a grand jury is asked for indictments. A grand jury convenes Jan.

20. So far, 14 persons from four states Michigan, Nevada, New York and Mississippi have been arrested on charges of violating federal wagering laws. More than $600,000 has been seized in cash and checks. Asked whether pro football had been scarred by the developments, Rozelie said: "Well, it isn't healthy." activity. He said these companies wrote about as much business as the Aetna company.

In addition, Shumake said. Mutual Insurance of Hartford and its affiliated Covenant Insurance which have only about 300 policies outstanding, announced their withdrawal from insurance business in New Jersey as of Dec. 31. Shumake said the Aetna notice, which was brought to his office by messenger at 4 p.m., complained the company's business cutback was prompted by Bryant's statement Monday that he was retracting an earlier move to Boiler Room Girls In Edgartown EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) Five young women whom tragedy has jolted from obscurity return to an old county courthouse on a wintry island to tell what they remember about the last night in the life of a friend, Mary Jo Ko-pechne.

The girls are Rosemary Keough, 24, of Drexel Hill, Maryellen Lyons, 26, of Milton, her sister, Nance, 25, Susan Tennenbaum, 24, and Esther Newberg, 27, all of Washington, D.C. Like Mary Jo, all five worked for the late Robert F. Kennedy during his ill-fated presidential campaign, and Nancy Lyons is now on his staff. TJ. S.

Combat Dead Now at 40,044 SAIGON (AP) Sixty-five Americans were killed in combat in Vietnam last week, the second lowest weekly toll in three years. But this sent the total of U.S. combat dead in the war past 40,000 to 40.044 since Jan. 1, 1961, and at least 30 more Americans have been killed in action since Saturday. The U.S.

Command's weekly casualty summary also reported 477 Americans wounded in more than two years. This raised the total American wounded to 263,003. The Saigon government reported 304 of its troops killed in action last week, an increase of 61 over the week before. Government wounded totaled 796, the lowest in two months. Major Offensive By Enemy Doubted WASHINGTON (AP) A sharp drop in enemy infiltration of South Vietnam is raising doubt in the State Department that Hanoi will mount a major offensive during the Tet holiday next month.

-But State Department officials are nof ruling out the possibility of sharp battles, short of major offensvies, by late February or early March. There is also official speculation that enemy forces will wait until the end of the year, when U.S. troop withdrawals may open the way for larger military operations by North Vietnam. Army Serves Charges Against Neivscaster SAIGON (AP) The U.S. Army served court-martial charges today on one of the two GI newscasters in Vietnam who accusesd it of censorship.

But the Army chose an incident in which censorship was not involved. Spec. 5 Robert Lawrence, 27, of Atlanta, told a news conference that the charges were based on his refusal on Dec. 29 to obey a sergeant's order to stop preparing his nightly newscast and drive some soldiers to their quarters. Five nights later Lawrence ended his news broadcast by accusing the U.S.

Command of suppressing unfavorable news. The command also suspended Lawrence and Marine Cpl. Thomas M. Sinkovitz, 21, of Harrisburg, who endorsed Lawrence's charge. Farm Boy Astronaut Shows Agnew How SUNGEI BULOH, Malaysia (AP) An ex-farm boy named Stafford showed a city slicker named Agnew how to tap a rubber tree today.

"Didn't quite make it, I guess," said Vice President Spiro T. Agnew when the sticky white latex failed to drip from the slash he made in the tree at the Malaysian Rubber Institute's experimental station. Apollo astronaut Thomas Stafford slashed away at the next tree and the latex quickly oozed out. Jablonski Allies Report Phone Threats CLARKSVILLE, Pa. (AP) Investigators say two close allies of the late Joseph A.

"Jock" Yablonski have received threatening telephone calls since the murders of the United Mine Workers union reformer, his wife and daughter. State police said yesterday the first report came from Marion Pellegrini, an official of UMW District 5 from nearby Canonsburg. Later, Elmer Brown, a Delbarton, W. coal miner who was Yablonski's vice presidential running mate in the union's recent presidential election, said he had reported a threat to the FBI. Kail Negotiators Resume Wage Talks WASHINGTON (AP) Railroad negotiators resume wage talks today in a dispute involving 48,000 shop craft workers that could pose the threat of a nationwide rail shutdown next week.

Negotiations, broken off after the workers rejected a two-year pay raise of 68 cents per hour three weeks ago, were scheduled between representatives of the industry's National Railway Labor Conference and four AFL-CIO unions representing machinists, boilermakers, electricians and sheet metal workers. s- fevai If -Wlffii MMM 19.7 Billion Health Bill Veto Is Seen WASHINGTON Sen. Robert P. Griffin, the Republican whip, says there is no prospect Congress will yield to the White House to avert a veto of the $19.7 billion health, education and welfare appropriation bill. The Michigan senator anticipates a veto, President Nixon's first, and he expects enough Republican to get in step to uphold the administration.

Even as Griffin worked to round up Republican votes against the appropriation, first order of business when the Senate reconvenes Jan. 19, he acknowledged the measure undoubtedly will go to the President as now drafted. The White House has said if Nixon gets the bill unchanged, it absolutely will be vetoed because the administration considers it inflationary. "I just don't know how you could change it now," Griffin said in an interview. The measure awaiting Senate action is a compromise already approved by the House.

To change it, the Senate would have to reject the compromise, presumably in favor of new negotiating sessions with House draftsmen. A single Senate roll call would send the bill to the President and the threatened veto. The veto would face action first in the House, which originated the bill. "They would have a good chance of sustaining the President there," Griffin said. But a veto would put nearly half the Republicans in the House in a difficult position they voted twice for the $1.26 billion increase Nixon objects to.

Aetna By JOHN O. DAVIES The Courier-ISew Bureau TRENTON As a major car insuror gave notice it was abandoning all New Jersey business, the state Banking and Insurance Department sought today to prevent a sudden epidemic of insurance policy cutbacks by the industry. Aetna Casualty Surety which writes about $13 million in premiums in this state, hand-delivered a formal notice to the department late yesterday of its intention to refuse to renew all New Jersey policies. The notification took the de- i 1 i AP Wirephoto Bearing up under the weather? In Chicago there are some bare knees, some not, in zero temperatures and in Milwaukee a polar bear barely thinks it's cold. Vikings' Super Bowl Odds Rise in Wake of Arrests Denials have been issued by outgoing Democratic Governor Hughes, national Democratic Committee and Middlesex County Democratic leader David T.

Wilentz, Superintendent of the State Police Col. David B. Kelly, former State Police superintendent Dominic R. Capello and former Middlesex County Sheriff Robert H. Jamison.

Similar denials were issued earlier by Middlesex County Prosecutor Edward J. Do'n and Somerset County Judge Arthur Meredith. Named in Conversations All had been named in conversations of reputed Mafia Chieftain Angelo 'Gyp' DeCarlo of Mountainside with some of his associates at The Barn in Mafia tapes indicate Geno-vese ordered slaying of Strollo. Page 3. Route 22, Mountainside, and at other haunts from 1961 to 14.

Many of the conversations, electronically recorded by FBI officers, related to payoffs made for protection of gambling and loansharking, according to the FBI. A transcript of the conversations was released by U. S. District Court Judge Robert F. Shaw during the extortion trial of DeCarlo and three other men in Newark.

Governor Hughes reacted to a part of the transcript in which DeCarlo was quoted as saying that "if Hughes gets elected, we're all right." The governor commented: "It is back fence gossip in which hoods brag to each other about how big and important they are." He added: "The unfortunate thing about tapes is that there is no protection for innocent people." The transcripts include a cautionary note by the FBI to the effect that those bugged may be embellishing the truth, ex-aggerating their influence to impress underlings. Wilentz, a former attorney general, said there was no truth to an alleged statement by De-Carlo that "We paid Wilentz." He rated DcCarlo's boast a "total fabrication." The Perth Amboy lawyer also criticized Judge Shaw for releasing the transcript. "It is utterly outrageous that Tlease Turn to Page 42 Mercury Low, icnipcrs uisc BERNARDS TOWNSHIP-Sub-freezing temperatures brought rising tempers to police and motorists alike at the Lake Road crossing of the Gladstone branch of the Erie Lackawanna Railroad this morning. The lowered gates stuck and lights began flashing at 7:27 a.m. Police directed motorists to weave their cars through the gates one at a time until railroad crews arrived to free the gates.

Cars grant another major insuror "interim" rate relief for fear it might prejudice the rate case pending before the Supreme Court. Since the "prospect of a continued freeze on any rate increase cannot be accepted," Aetna notified the department, "we have therefore most reluctantly concluded to begin today to send notices of our intent not to renew any policies to our New Jersey private passenger auto policy holders." Shumake estimated the company does more than 4 per cent of the total insurance business written in the state. Sapcrstcin Said Frantic For Money NEWARK (AP) A government witness has pictured the late Louis B. Sapcrstcin as so desperate for money to pay off alleged loansharks that he behaved like one himself, using threats to try and borrow cash. Gerald Martin Zclmanowitz testified yesterday at the extortion trial of reputed Mafia boss Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo and three other defendants that Sapcrstcin threatened Zelmanowitz and his family if Zclmanowitz didn't come across with cash.

The government contends that Saperstcin had to pay $400,000 to DeCarlo and the other defendants or be murdered. Zelmanowitz described himself as a partner of Saperstcin's in securities dealings. Asked for $80,000 He said that at one time Saner-stein demanded $80,000 and another time asked for a $5,000 loan and that each time Sapcrstcin appeared terrified. He said Sapcrstcin left empty-handed. "He left in despair and drove off." Zclmanowitz said.

Zelmanowitz, who spent the entire day on the witness stand, described a meeting between Saperstcin, a Newark insurance broker, and Daniel "Red" Ce-ccre, a tavern owner from Orange. Saperstcin died of arsenic poisoning in November 1968. Zelmanowitz said that Cecere gave Sapcrstcin $50,000 cash, telling Sapcrstcin to obtain another $50,000 the next day in various locations. Zelmanowitz said Cecere wanted to be a partner in overseas' securities trans- Please Turn to Page 42 Fire Razes CNJ Station NORTH BRANCH A boiler explosion at 8:45 a.m. today touched off a fire that destroyed the 2-story Jersey Central Railroad Station on Station Road.

William Strasncr, 23, who lived in an apartment in the 70-year-old building escaped unharmed. Somervillc Postmaster Peter Bakutcs said all mail in the branch post office in the station was lost. North Branch, Green Knoll and Country Hill volunteer firemen, hampered by lack of water, were forced to pump water from the nearby North Branch of the Raritan River. They were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the adjacent Bowen Engineering Laboratory Co. The fire did not delay commuters as both passenger trains serving the station had departed.

Inside THE COURIER-NEWS Classified Comics 35-40 41 26 29 15-20 23 31-33 30 28 Editorials Entertainment Family Obituaries Sports Stocks Television ON PAGE 15 Early American art captures couple. ON PACE 25 Police learning how to reduce highway carnage. 1 2 4 i terback of the New York Jets, greeted news that he also might be summoned for questioning with the terse remark: "Hell, a subpoena, that's nothing. That just means they want to talk to you." Pete Rozelie, the pro commissioner, arrived in New Orleans last evening and called a press conference to announce that 6.4 Per Cent Increase In N.J. Revenue Told TRENTON (AP) State revenues from major tax sources were up $14.4 million to 6.4 per cent during the first quarter of the current fiscal year, State Treasurer John A.

Kervick reported yesterday. NEW ORLEANS (AP) An edgy uneasiness hangs over the Super Bowl, although both the pro football commissioner and the government insisted today there is no evidence linking any player with a broad probe of sports gambling. Len Dawson, veteran Kansas City quarterback who leads his team against the Minnesota Vikings Sunday for the pro championship, admitted that his concentration had been affected by reports naming him among six football personalities to be questioned. "I haven't slept too well the last month," he said. "The season's been that way." Meanwhile, odds on the game jumped from 11 points in favor of the Vikings to 13 or 14, depending on the bookmaker.

In Miami, Joe Namath, quar partment by surprise but Commissioner Horace J. Bryant immediately sought a conference on Jan. 14 with W. O. Bailey, senior vice president of the company, based in Hartford, Conn.

Since a 20-day period must elapse between Aetna's notice to its policy holders and agents, the company's cannot start to fail on its estimated 70,000 customers in New Jersey until Jan. 28, according to W. Shumake, assistant deputy commissioner for insurance. Shumake said he has been informed by some of the com Will top Insuring N. J.

pany's agents that its instructions to them included orders not to write any new business. The insurance official said the Aetna action was the most serious to confront the department since the car insurance industry's request for a 26 per cent rate hike was rejected, provoking a legal battle that now is before the state Supreme Court. According to Shumake, two East Orange-based companies, Royal Globe and Home Insurance, have "greatly restricted" their new business.