Daily News from New York, New York • 101

ly 7 7 7 1 By MICHAEL HANRAH AN. and STUART MARQUES A gang of men using two vans is suspected of slaying two teenage girls and abducting and raping several others in a series of attacks that has terrorized four Long Island communities for almost a year, police said. Wj 1 McCARTY SAID the gang has "raped and murdered young women in the area of Lynbrook, Oceanside, East Rockaway and Island Park." He said cops do not know how many women have been victimized. He urged any possible victims to call detectives at (516) 535-7788. Detective Lt.

Shaun Spil-lane, chief of the Nassau' County homicide squad, said Kogut was arrested March 25 and is being held on $750,000 bail in the slaying last year of Theresa Fusco, 16, of East Rockaway. Spillane said cops are "fully convinced" that the two other suspects took part in the Fusco killing. Kogut's lawyer. Jack Lewis, said Kogut has confessed in the strangling of Fus- Kelly Morrisey missing. Fusco's murder.

Cops also said the gang is suspected of sexual attacks against five other women. McCarty said the gang has used two different vans, one black, the other a white Ford. Cops have impounded the black ran, which belongs to one of the two unidentified suspects. Authorities said they have found hairs belonging to Fusco in the black van. Theresa Fusco slain.

McCarty said the probe began immediately after Fus-cos disappearance, when cops learned that Fusco and Morrisey knew each other. The gang also is suspected in the strangling of Jacqueline Martarella, 19, of Oceanside, whose nude body was found April 22 on the golf course at the Woodmere Club in Woodmere. She disappeared March 26, a day after Kogut was arrested for 2 1 raifisiiaii soclicfei! A 51 II iei I.I. teen By BILL FARRELL and RICHARD SISK Two Transit Authority trainmen who allegedly had been drinking on the job were indicted yesterday on charges of criminally negligent homicide in the death of a teenager who was struck and killed by a train on Staten Island last year. John Kogut, 21, of Island Park has been charged in one of the slayings, and authorities said they know the names of two of his accomplices.

However, investigators said Wednesday that they have been unable to quiz the two because their lawyers have told them not to talk to cops. Police have been tailing the men, whom they declined to identify, in an attempt to develop more information in the case, said Assistant Nassau County District Attorney Edward McCarty. One of the men was described as being in his 30s, the other in his 20s. Both live in Lynbrook. Prosecutors have issued subpenas for 21 friends and relatives of the two, as well as several others who may have been involved in the gang.

loh Sweet dies at 64; star on By MARILYN BECK Special Correspondent for The News Los Angeles Dolph Sweet, 64, co-star of the popular "Gimme A Break" television series, died of cancer Wednesday night. The veteran actor had staged a yearlong battle against the illness. After being operated on for cancer of the bladder, he only missed taping four segments of the series before returning to. his role as the father figure on the NBC sitcom last August. He continued to work throughout the balance of the season while undergoing months of chemotherapy treatment.

Following World War II, Sweet taught English and eventually became head of the drama division at Barnard College. About 12 years later, he started the theatrical career that was to include directing about 30 plays and appearing in over 50 stage productions, including "Rhinoceros," "Streamers," and "The Advocate," and such movies as "You're a Big Boy Now," "Heaven Can Wait" and "The New Centurions." In "Gimme A Break," Sweet portrayed a police chief and father of three children. His co-star, Nell Carter, played the family's helper. Carter will deliver the eulogy at memorial services scheduled Saturday at St Bridgetof Sweden Church in. Nuys.

I 'V t-i A A i t- -A v- "'h A 1 fv), i pA i i Jacqueline Martarella co, but Lewis said he is trying to get the confession thrown out. FUSCO'S NUDE body was found under a wooden pallet near the Long Island Rail Road station in Lynbrook Dec. 520 days after she disappeared and five months after the another girl, Kelly Morrisey, vanished. Morrisey, of Lynbrook, has not been found. who wTOte mostly short stories, include "Venus Plus "Some of Your Blood" and "The Dreaming Jewels." RICHARD BRANDON Los Angeles (UPD Richard Brandon, 80, youngest of three Yale puppeteers who gained national fame and regularly entertained such personalities as Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson and John Barry-more in the 1920 and "30s, died Saturday in Turnabout' deiui operating the eastbound SIRTOA train that killed Brian McParland, 17, a student at Staten Island's Monsignor Farrell High School, at 1:45 a.m.

last Nov. 4. Staten Island District Attorney William Murphy said, "What caused the death, we believe, is a combination of speed and drinking on the part of the defendants." Eut he added, "The indictments would not have been turned in if the train were just going fast." Murphy said that McParland, who lived in the Oak-wood section, was returning home from a party and was lying on the tracks near the Grant City station when the train passed over him. According to tests conducted by SIRTOA, the train was traveling in excess of 40 mph in a 10 mph zone. Murphy said.

The two trainmen later submitted to a blood test, which detected traces of alcohol, he said. After a preliminary SIRTOA investigation. Mule, a motorman for 4'i years, was fired last Dec. 7. Pattison, a conductor for 17 years, resigned Dec.

1L Last month, 16-year-old Joseph Vozza. of Eltingville, was struck and killed by a SIRTOA -train as he was walking on the tracks. The TA also is investigat ing the death of another teen lulled two weeks ago by a train while he was walking on the tracks of the TA's Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA). In the first case, motor-man Anthony Mule, 27. of 239 Libery and conductor John Pattison, 43, of 211 Arlington Place, both Staten Island, were charged with criminally negligent homicide.

Mule also was charged with second-degree manslaughter. If convicted of the charges, Mule could face up to 15 years in prison and Pattison could face four years. Mule and Pattison were he shared with fellow puppeteers Forman Brown and Harry Burnett, both 84, for several years. They opened the Turnabout Theatre in 1941 in Hollywood. HAROLD MAYER Coconut Creek, Fla.

(UPD Harold Mayer, 70, retired acting New York Supreme Court judge known for undercover work under Mayor Robert Wagner, died of a heart ailment Wednesday. Dolph Sweet with cast members of "Gimnme A Break," (clockwise from lower left) Laura Jill Miller, Nell Carter, Lauri Hendler and Kari Michaelson. a Each- THEODORE STURGEON Eugene, Ore. (AP) Theodore Hamilton Sturgeon, 67, a pioneer of American science fiction writing, died Wednesday in Sacred Heart General Hospital. He had been suffering from lung ailments, a spokesman said.

Sturgeon won Hugo and Nebula awards in 1970 for his short story "Slow Sculpture" and an International Fantasy Award in 1954 for his novel ID CO cn Qtiw4xks -by-Stargeonr KOuTeTItoTlywof the home.