Daily News from New York, New York • 627

01 mnrv dJLi VJjULli7 V7 ViM i7 Landlords see a 30 hike there for the taking LMVSUUIL wrong. That's all there is to it." Joseph Strasburg, president of the landlord group, said the law clearly allows the steeper increases. He predicted a court fight as landlords impose the hikes. City Rent Guidelines Board officials predicted that as many as 30,000 rent-regulated units could become vacant between now and Sept 30. The new battle centers on overlapping provisions in a Rent Guidelines Board rule approved in 1996 and the new rent laws Gov.

Pataki and state lawmakers approved last month after a bitter political war. The board authorized landlords to add an extra 7 to one-year leases and 9 to two-year leases on apartments that become vacant through Sept. 30, 1998. Separately, the new state, rent laws let owners charge a 20 rent hike on newly vacant units. Strasburg argued that landlords are allowed to combine the increases a move that could hike rents by hundreds of dollars on many apartments.

In a June 25 letter to the landlord group's 25,000 members, Strasburg wrote, "the total vacancy allowance is 29 for a two-year lease and 27 for one year" lease on units vacated through Sept. 30. After that, only the 20 hike is allowed. "We interpret it to allow this small window for three months," Strasburg said yesterday. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), who led the fight that kept many tenant protections in place, said the landlords are wrong.

"It's not the agreement, and it's not the law," said Silver spokesman Charles Carrier. State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R-Rensselaer) backed the landlord group's argument. A Pataki spokesman said he could not immediately provide the governor's view. Douglas Hillstrom, execu- By KIMBERLY SCHAYE Daily News Albany Bureau ALBANY A major New York City landlord group has reopened the just-settled rent war by telling owners they're entitled to nearly 30 rent hikes on apartments that become vacant through Sept 30. Tenant groups yesterday cried foul over the Rent Stabilization Association claim that landlords are allowed to charge far more than the 20 vacancy bonus approved under a sweeping new law last month.

"The law is clear it's not allowed," said Billy Easton of the New York State Tenants Neighbors Coalition. "They're tive director of the Rent Guidelines Board, said the board has advised callers that the legal increase on newly vacant apartments totals 20. "We've been telling people that it's our understanding that an owner should follow the new law, and that that law supersedes anything that the board has passed," Hillstrom said. "A lot of us would like some guidance," added Hillstrom. "There's a great deal of confusion about the new law." Assemblyman Scott Stringer (D-Manhattan) said he will introduce legislation next week in a bid to clarify the disagreement.

Jersey duo indicted in thrill lulls By LEO STANPORA Daily News Staff Writer It was the younger of two accused New Jersey thrill killers who fatally shot a pizza shop owner in April, while the older suspect gunned down the deliveryman, court papers said yesterday. Suspects Jayson Vreeland and Thomas Koskovich were indicted yesterday on felony murder charges in the shocking ambush and double killing in the state's rural northwestern corner. The grand jury charged that Vreeland 17, blasted pizza shop owner Giorgio Gallara, while Koskovich, 18, shot employe Jeremy Giordano. Police said the victims were lured to a deserted house in Sussex County and cut down in a hail of bullets for no apparent reason. The alleged killers called several pizzerias until Gallara.

24, and Giordano, 22, agreed to deliver two cheese pies to a ramshackle house in Franklin. Investigators say the slayings were committed with a pistol and a revolver that had been stolen from a sporting gt.ods store in Franklin. Prosecutors think Vreeland fired the .22, while Koskovich used the larger gun. Although Sussex County Prosecutor Dennis O'Leary Psychic: Her body is buried in BB'Edyn By ALICE McQUILLAN, TARA GEORGE and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM Daily News Staff Writers Working on a tip from a psychic, Internal Affairs cops and FBI agents yesterday continued digging up the Brooklyn waterfront for the body of a police detective's wife, who they believe was slain by the cop, law enforcement sources said.

Investigators have been digging along a vacant stretch of trash-strewn waterfront since Wednesday in search of the woman's body, sources said. Aided by FBI and Suffolk County police cadaver dogs, the investigators found only dog bones after digging in the weeds near Kent Ave. and N. Seventh St in Williamsburg, authorities said. "In two different spots we found things," said a high-ranking official familiar with the investigation, who explained that investigators first thought the remains might be human but determined they were from one or two dogs.

Law enforcement officials said the psychic was hired at the request of the woman's family, who think her husband killed her. The husband works in Manhattan, sources said. Internal Affairs investigators also believe the Transit Bureau detective killed his wife, sources said. Though skeptical, they followed the psychic's tip out of respect for the family's wishes. i 1 yesterday under overcast skies until about 4 p.m.

Marilyn Mode, deputy commissioner for public information, acknowledged an investigation was ongoing but would not discuss details of the case. i 4 fc i said. "When families are grieving and if they come to you with something like that, that's what you do." Investigators used a small backhoe borrowed from the Sanitation Department to dig through the earth, working 1 i I ft lOH NASO DAILY NEWS FBI AND POLICE officials carry shovels to a site on the Brooklyn waterfront where, a psychic believes, the wife of a police detective is buried. Investigators have been excavating the area since Wednesday. has said the killings appeared to have no motive, the indictments charge Vreeland and Koskovich with first-degree armed robbery and second-degree burglary, as well as felony murder, which means murder committed during a robbery or burglary.

A decision about whether the death penalty will be sought vill be announced at the suspects' arraignments on Aug. 13. Vreeland cannot be sentenced to deatn because he was not 18 oi older when the crime was cemmittcd. "If a family comes to you and says, 'Our loved one's been missing, and we want to consult a and the psychic says the vibes are coming from N. Seventh St.

and Kent you go and you dig a hole," one official i i i i i i i i i 1 I 1 I I I I I 'J.