Daily News from New York, New York • 5

DAILY NEWS, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1978 By D.J. SAUNDERS and DONALD SINGLETON Federal authorities who raided the ultra -chic Studio 54 discotheque Thursday morning were in- vestigating a tip that led them to suspect that the operators of the club had skimmed off "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in cash, and used portions of the money to repay large loans from individual mobsters, the Daily News learned yesterday In another development, it was learned that the arrest of one of the club's owners could jeopardize the nightclub's liquor license. Officials close to the investigation said their information before the raid came from "a solid source." Large numbers of financial records were seized at the club, and one of the owners was arrested on a charge of possessing two ounces of cocaine worth $3,000 to $6,000. On Thursday morning, federal agents at the scene had said that five ounces of cocaine were seized. The quantity of cocaine was later reported to be only two ounces, after analysis by experts of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Yesterday, two of Studio 54's owners, Jack Dushey and Ian Schrager, spent the morning with one of their attorneys at the 20th-floor headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service at 120 Church St. Agents of the IRS were taking in-seized during the Thursday morning raid. ventory of the boxes of financial records The attorney, Louis Biancone of the firm of Saxe, Bacon Bolan, attended the inventory session with the partners after another member of the law firm, Roy Cohn, had put in a phone call to the office of Federal Judge Robert Carter. Cohn said the IRS had promised on Thursday to permit Studio 54 representatives to be present during the invento- News photos by Michael Lipack Steve Rubell, co-owner Diane von Furstenburg and attorney Roy Cohen at Studio 54 on Thursday night. ry, but had initially refused the permission yesterday until the phone call was made to the judge's office.

Meanwhile, federal authorities declined to identify the "solid source" who provided the information that led to the raid by more than two dozen IRS agents working with the Organized Crime Strike Force from the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office. One dfficial told a News reporter, "If we told you the person's name, you wouldn't recognize it." The officials said the possibilities of a skimming operation at Studio 54 were considerable. "This place has a larger cash flow than almost any other place of its type in the city," said one official, estimating that the club has taken in well over $7 million in cash in door in prison on charges of possession of the drug "with intent to distribute." If Schrager is convicted, "the club could iose its license," said the source. "The person convicted of a felony would be ineligible to hold a license and the corporation would be ineligible to hold a license if any of its principal officers were convicted of a felony." Furthermore, even if the convicted person should be removed from the corporation, "it would be discretionary with the authority" whether the club could continue to have a license, the source said.

"We would have to take into account the nature of the offense, whether it took place on or off the premises, and the history of the receipts alone since it opened a year ago last April. Cohn said yesterday that he is considering filing a lawsuit for the partners Dushey, Schrager and Steve Rubell claiming "damage to the characters of the owners" of Studio 54, as well as physical damage to the premises during the raid and "relief for the establishment itself." "I am not aware that the agents did any damage whatsoever," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Sudler, who is in charge of the investigation. Meanwhile, a source close to the State Liquor Authority said that the agency will be keeping a close watch on the cocaine-possession case against Schrager, a 31-year-old lawyer who faces a maximum sentence of 15 years JFK bandits left bundle of blunders but not the 7 A1 that Whelan, far from being knocked unconscious by a pistol-whipping, was alert enough to see the men full face. Whelan, a key witness, is under 24-hour protection.

Last night authorities said they have at least two more workers who claim to have glimpsed one or two of the bandits. Other boo-boos that have popped up in the weeklong investigation are: leaving the cutting tool (without fingerprints) used to open the padlock around the hangar; leaving three fingerprints on the recovered getaway van -and a fourth fingerprint on a wallet taken from the night manager; leaving leather glove and jacket in the getaway vehicle; and the mistake made by one of the stickup men in calling several of the handcuffed employes by their first names, suggesting an inside job. Most damaging, say authorities, is that the robbers did not burn the getaway vehicle, a normal ploy, or give it to a junk dealer who could compress it into a true compact. New Jersey Lottery Pick It: 364 Straight Payoff: $322 Pick 4: 3173 Straight Payoff: $3,867 Connecticut Lottery Daily: 260 hearsed this 10 times before they did it." Anyway, as the investigators see the bandits made a number of mistakes, though one well-reported error may have been part of the strategy. This was the action of two of the robbers in removing their stocking masks after beating up a part-time guard, Kerry Whelan, on the approach road to the hangar.

Under protection "They took off their masks for a very good reason," said a detective. "They were entering the hangar, don't forget, and the idea was to arouse as little suspicion as possible. To do that, you approach clean-faced, then don the masks again." One of the breaks In the case was By WILLIAM FEDERICI and OWEN MORITZ Federal and state investigators have tied together what they call a "bundle" of blunders and missteps made by six bandits in the proverbially "perfect crime" of heisting $7 million from Lufthansa's Hangar 261 early Monday. On the other hand, the bandits have something" investigators don't have the $7 million. And they're still at large after pulling off the cash heist of the century.

Must have rehearsed it "These guys are very intelligent, if not professionals," said one detective. "These are people who must have re Singers grass greener-400S green pushed back. But if you are really in there fighting for something you will get it. The law works, you just have to hang in there." Her legal victory will be "a wonderful birthday present." said Fran, who will be 53 in March. "I'm absolutely thrilled." It all goes back to 1S64, when police were investigating a $1 million check swindle pulled on the Mays department store.

One suspect in the scam, George Witt, then Warren's boyfriend and now her husband, was observed withdrawing money from a Manhattan bank while she waited outside for him in a car. Subsequently, cops searched the singer's apartment, where, they said, they found a quantity of marijuana. She was arrested. Several months later, when a grand jury failed to return an indictment, she sued. Originally, the suit asked for $10.5 million in damages, a figure later reduced to $1 million.

Last February, a Manhattan Supreme Court jury awarded Warren $500,000 and the city declared immediately that it would appeal. But, before matters reached an appeals tribunal, the settlement was announced yesterday. The pot bust "put me out of business; I was crucified," Warren recalled. She said that before the arrests she had been making $100,000 a year, but that after it she was out of work for three years. Now, she is taking dancing lessons and warming up the vocal cords in hopes of resuming her career.

By STEWART AIN "You just have to hang in there," said singer Fran Warren, whose "A Sunday Kind of Love" with the Claude Thornhill band was one of the gold records of the '40s. And she is a woman who should know. Because, by hanging in there for 14 long years, Fran got a Friday kind of thrill yesterday when she won a settlement from the city on her suit for false arrest on marijuana-possession charges. "I never thought it would come to pass," said Fran when asked about the announcement by her lawyer, Richard E. Shandell.

"Every year it was stalled" News photo by Jim Hughes Fran Warren after yesterday's big win..