Newsday from New York, New York • 4

4 iBACKFROMBEANTOWN? Bratton Called Top Contender As New Top Cop William Bratton Barney was at Radio City yesterday before tickets to his shows disappeared CMl 8 Not-So-Happy Family of Fans Sore at Barney been concluded in New York but that he expected Giuliani to reach a decision shortly As Bratton waited to hear about his fate in New York Giuliani interviewed Sheer for the job sources said Sheer 56 now director of the business intelligence unit at-WR Grace a chemical conglomerate based in Boca Raton Fla met with Giuliani in Manhattan Sheer worked closely with Giuliani on many federal cases including the Mafia heroin-smuggling case known as the Pizza Connection while Giuliani was US attorney for the Southern District of New York in the late 1980s A former marine and college football lineman Sheer reorganized the New York regional office and ran units that fought crime as varied as municipal corruption international espionage and car theft But a top Giuliani adviser said yesterday that Giuliani met with Sheer as a courtesy to FBI Director Louis Freeh who recommended Sheer as a possible candidate when Freeh and Giuliani recently attended a mutual wedding Herman Badillo a member of police commissioner screening panel said that status as an outsider worked in his favor among most members of the search group In an apparent criticism of Kelly Badillo said Bratton was part of the old-boy and not be by the upcoming Mollen Commission report on police corruption He sees Bratton as being receptive to any recommended restructuring within the department Bratton said that if he gets the jobhe would aim to merge the transit housing and city police forces improve the morale of officers demand accounif-ability from supervisors to prevent corruption and expand community-based policing efforts in which cops work with neighborhoods to fight crime In addition to Bratton and Kelty other police commissioner finalists includp former Drug Enforcement Administration chief John Lawn and former Port Authority public safety director Henry DeGeneste Although Sheer is likely the last person who will be interviewed before Giuliani his announcement the mayor-elect remained noncommittal yesterday By Joe Calderone and Mitch Gel man STAFF WRITERS Boston Police Commissioner William Bratton has the inside track for the post of New top cop and could be named to the post today according to a ranking Giuliani transition team official Bratton remained the favorite the high-level transition source said even as Mayor-elect Rudolph Giuliani met yesterday afternoon with one last-minute possibility Thomas Sheer the former chief of the New York office There are no stumbling blocks to appointing Bratton the source said But the search has been painstaking because Giuliani wanted extra time to consider the choice he added a big the official said "You have to make sure exhausted every Giuliani late yesterday said publicly he had not decided whom to appoint to the post now held by Commissioner Raymond Kelly The position pays $110000 a year Bratton 45 who headed the Transit Police Department from 1990 through 1992 met with Giuliani on Friday and with the transition police commissioner screening panel on Tuesday He spent yesterday in Boston where aides said he caught up on work that had accumulated while he was in Washington DC Tuesday for a police executives conference and for the signing of the Brady bill imposing a five-day wait on purchasing handguns A Boston native whose wife is an at- tomey Bratton actively sought the New York post after initially saying he interested in the job An official dose to Bratton said Bratton was confident his 2 V-hour interview with screening panel went well the police world being police commissioner for New York is the top Bratton told WBZ-TV in Boston yesterday afternoon regardless of whether I come or go Boston will always remain number one with Bratton caused a stir when he said that continuing to run the Boston Police Department would be nice consolation if he get the New York post Yesterday he issued a public apology for that statement swing meant no disrespect to the people of Boston or the Boston Police A spokeswoman for Boston Mayor Thomas Sheer Toy Sales Page 124 By Rob Polner STAFF WRITER Barney took New York for a bumpy ride in hia little red wagon yesterday It appears that a prehistoricsized chunk of the tickets to the Radio City Music Hall performances was sold before officially going on sale yesterday Hundreds of people who expected no problem obtaining tickets directly from the box office since the line was only half-block long walked away empty-handed The box office was abruptly closed to Barney fans at 10:50 am about an hour and a half after opening for sales and after upwards of 2000 fans had purchased a maximum of six tickets each at the window An undetermined number of fans purchased tickets through Ticketmaster which said it sold out Barney makes his New York City debut with a series of nine concerts and a charity performance beginning March 5 and ending March 13 Each show seats 5000 people New York City Department of Consumer Affairs spokeswoman Pat Cohen last night said that in response to reports of Barney dissatisfaction the agency would look into the circumstances surrounding the Barney ticket sales and promotions see if there was anything deceptive about it" Some fans were angry because Barney Sluggish Radio City allowed people who wore special wrist bands to wait on a short line in front of the music hall Those who did not wear wrist bands had to wait on a longer line around the comer It was not clear how people acquired wrist bands although some said they had obtained them as members of the Barney Fan Club anyone tell me now what am I going to tell my asked Kqy Chen The mother of a 6-year-old girl said she had traveled from Jersey City to get on line to buy tickets Annie Fort a spokeswoman for Radio City Music Hall Productions said just know Mike Doll spokesman for the Ity-ona Group the creators of Barney said they had no control over ticket sales for the Radio City shows Maria Demenescu tried to buy a ticket ty phone for her 2-year-old daughter a Barney Fan Club member on Nov 17 But she was told at the time that the fan-dub tickets had quickly sold out Demenescu had no better luck trying to obtain tickets from the box office yesterday She said she was especially surprised to see people waiting in a special line said Joan Purcell who drove in from Rockland County to purchase tickets for her Barney-loving grandchildren Karen Freifidd contributed to this etory I "We will make our derision as soon Thomas Menino said yesterday that as we are ready to make our I.