The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 11

I The Buffalo News LocalNews Wednesday July 31 1985 Viewpoints 3 Deaths 6 Living 8 Entertainment 12 13 Television 14 15 Gascoyne Says His Criminal Career Has Ended Heritage or August 7TW Of Woman in January 4 information about the tech ring of Buffalo burglars specializing in thefts from locations guarded by burglary alarms Buffalo police thought I was behind he said our suspects were arrested by Buffalo police two days before the BI caught up with Gascoyne in the Mancuso apartment Gascoyne said he heard BI agents outside his door the morning of July 19 loaded his22 caliber rifle with two shots and put the barrel in his mouth He said he did not recall what happened next Apparently he said he moved the bar rel away from his face and shot himself in the abdomen hoping to kill himself Gascoyne said that when he awoke hours later in a hospital emergency room he was angry to be still alive thought failed he said He is being held in lieu of $200000 bail Gascoyne said he does not want to return to Virginia where he was uncomfortable and that he may try suicide again if the only way of avoiding a return to the custody of Chesapeake police He said he was tired of fleeing from the law tired of embarrassing his family and tired of living with a fake name He said his career as a master thief is finished even if he does somehow escape from his legal problems federal figures showed crime in Jamestown was up 129 percent in 1984 Police Chief Richard Ream said Tuesday the figure fails to reflect what is happening now increase mostly in bur glaries and larcenies became apparent to me in November of Ream said January I started a pro active patrol As a re sult in the first five months of 1985 our burglary rate dropped 345 per cent while larcenies dropped 145 percent and overall crime figures were down 204 percent" The pro active patrol involves sending police cars into areas of potential crime especially bur glaries and larcenies rather than waiting for the crimes to occur By DAN HERBECK A despondent Thomas Gascoyne told The Buffalo News Tuesday that his days as a master criminal are over and that he tried to kill himself July 19 because he is of from the law The longtime burglar turned federal wit ness told The News he probably will fight extradition to Chesapeake Va where he is wanted in connection with a massive bur glary ring and that he is convinced he would be murdered within a week if confined in a state prison The comments from Gascoyne came dur ing a wide ranging three hour interview con ducted in the Holding Center annex of the formant in a massive Buffalo sting operation Chesapeake detectives called him a classi cal con artist who convinced them he would assist them as an informant then skipped in June Gascoyne told The News that Chesapeake police had planned to him by using him as an informant then seeing to it that he would be imprisoned anyway He said he left Virginia for Buffalo be cause he was homesick because he was angry about the alleged double cross and be cause he was taking large amounts of Vali um and know if I was coming or Gascoyne said ne twice tnea to Kill nim self with drugs in the Buffalo area and that he contemplated suicide every night sit there with that gun to my head and sayGod give me the he told The News He said he spent most of his six weeks on the run in the home of Jo Ann Mancuso whom he described as the mother of his 17 year old daughter Angel During his weeks in Ms Lafay ette Avenue apartment he frequently talked to Buffalo BI agents Gascoyne said he never told them where he was but tried to help them with information about some Buffalo area crimes Gascoyne said he spent much of his time attempting to unearth for the BI some OLEAN An Olean man ac cused of forcing his way into an unattended home raided its refrig erator and cooked himself a meal today faced a second degree bur glary charge Police reported that Dale Reese 18 of 1216 Union St was arrested Tuesday afternoon after he was seen leaving the home at 109 ifth St In addition to the food investiga tors said that the intruder helped himself to two bottles of ale But he left the dirty dishes for the resi dent Carolyn Seelbinder who made the complaint Intruder Helps Himself to ood By GENE WARNER Scores of people saw 21 year old Leichia Reilly at a popular West Seneca restaurant tavern six months ago today in the wee hours of Jan 31 Nobody has seen her since Leichia Reilly vanished without a trace An exhaustive police inves tigation which led to more than 200 interviews and consumed the time of 10 investigators for a full month has produced not a sliver of physi cal evidence about her fate In six months though any hopes of her being alive have all but flick ered out see her being Lt Raymond Slade of the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation said late Tuesday lifestyle was such that she would have noti fied her parents If she was out at 3 she would call have nothing in the way of physical evidence which pinpoints a West Seneca Detective Capt Leroy Tudor said her complete disappearance people disappear from the face of the Earth without something Police and fire teams aided by helicopters and police dogs have failed to turn up a body in the area near the Pierce Arrow Restaurant where Miss Reilly of West Seneca was last seen about 3 am Jan 31 Slade said the young woman was seen leaving the establishment with a man He declined to elaborate Authorities have found witnesses among the 200 people interviewed who claim to have seen Miss Reilly with a state trooper shortly before she left the restaurant bar That trooper who never has been identified as a possible suspect by police retained an attorney and was temporarily taken off road duty at the State Police Boston sub station within two weeks of the young disappearance The trooper no longer is a mem ber of the State Police force ac cording to Lt Michael Wright director of public information in Albany The trooper has been dis missed on departmental charges unrelated to the Reilly case he said Wright declined further comment Authorities also revealed Tues day that one possible witness has appeared before an Erie County grand jury in the missing case That person who was among the crowd at the Pierce Arrow before Miss Reilly disappeared appeared before the grand jury because he was planning on being out of the country for an extended time Tudor said Without any proof of foul play no charges appear to be imminent in the case authorities speculated Tuesday The case is somewhat reminis cent of the Mark A Seifert case which led an Erie County grand jury to issue a murder indictment against his brother William even though the body never was recovered The indictment was dis missed on jurisdictional grounds In that case prosecutors man aged to prove the death through the discovery of blood and chanical devices and He also claimed that most of the items seized by Chesapeake police during two raids in May were his personal property and had not been stolen Chesapeake prosecutors have begun ef forts to extradite Gascoyne from Buffalo to face four counts of receiving stolen property Police said the charges were filed May 8 after investigators learned Gascoyne had been the mastermind of the biggest burglary ring ever cracked in their city Gascoyne initially was charged under the name of Thomas Murray the new identity given him by the ederal Witness Protection Program after his work as an undenvorld in Baker Span Due for ull Use The state Department of Transportation has set a target date of Aug 9 for full reopening of the ather Baker Bridge a department spokesman said Tuesday Benjamin Bomiso construction supervisor said engineers ex pect that repairs to the understructure will be completed at that time The bridge between Buffalo and Lackawanna has seen massive traffic Jains the last few months as traffic flow has been reduced to one lane in eah direction as a result the repair work Leichia Reilly: missing since Jan 31 bone fragments found near the vic burned out car Authorities while suspecting foul play in Miss case have no tangible proof that she was killed have absolutely zilch on Slade said of the physical evidence think that far he added just been able to find her I think she died the night she Police even after six months hope that some new witness will come forward someone who saw Miss Reilly leave the restaurant knows whom she left with or saw the vehicle she was in Although he appreciates how frustrating the ordeal must be for Miss family Tudor stressed the importance of patience as au thorities continue their probe into the mysterious disappearance Asked whether he thinks Miss Reilly could be alive Tudor replied gut feeling is that she is not My prayer is that she Storm Precedes amily Day at Cattaraugus air LITTLE VALLEY The third day of the week long Cattaraugus County air began today on grounds drenched by a predawn thunderstorm But officials hoped for clearing skies as they prepared for an ex pected record amily Day turnout at the 143rd annual event Matinee attractions included the flat $5 per carload admission charge and re duced midway rates A demolition derby Tuesday evening boosted second day attend ance to 9533 almost double the opening gate count The championship derby when entrants will be determined for the state fair is scheduled at 8 pm Sunday the final day Several high school bands were scheduled for 30 minute concerts starting at 3 pm today at various fairground locations with a grand stand performance at 8 pm The headliner for Thursday will be' the Hell Drivers who will perform at 3 and 8 pm By MIKE VOGEL Ethnic Plans ill Calendar CONAN OWENBuffalo News Artist Billie Lawless begins repairs on his controversial ''Green so he can transport it to Chicago Lawless Prepares to Unbolt Jamestown Sees 'C Lirshtnino' for Trio in Crime riirmnmnmM Whi A fl COMMUNITY celebrations in Cheektowaga West Seneca and Niagara alls also will be part of the program a commemoration of cultural con tributions begun as a regional event in Philadelphia two years ago and continued as a coordi nated national celebration last year The Polish American Con gress an umbrella group for more than 3000 smaller organ izations nationwide is promot ing the event and the Western New York Division is coordinating activities here During the month a capsule listing significant historical events and contributions by Poles to America will be dis played at the Butler Library on the Buffalo State College Campus One of the largest polka festivals will be held riday through Sunday at the Polish alcon Society of Depew and the reli gious strength of the communi ty will be celebrated at a spe cial Mass Sunday in mother church St Stanislaus 1 Catholic Church Polish cos tumes and pride in a strong I heritage of faith will be display 1 ed again Aug 15 at the annual outdoor Mass for the east of the Assumption held at Our I Lady of Czestochowa Catholic I Church North Tonawanda I rom Aug 13 to Aug 18 the I Polish Arts Club of Buffalo will I be host for the national conven I tion of the American Council of Polish Cultural Organizations in the Buffalo Hilton capping tne WENDY CONLIN festivities with the annual Polo 7 naise Ball The Cheektowaga would more Polish American Arts estival stuP the I will fill Chppktowaea Town I and stars by air but Billie Lawless Park Aug 16 18 a Polish Kent sa Tuesday evening his controver by the Polish American Solidar will make the ttlP ity Club Aug 17 18 at the West symposium on an ordinary flatbed Wars pVTndX that will cost him about perience will be held $1000 the artat said as he J8an I Ana at Dent Lackev I work to make the 180 by 160 foot Pa Niagara structure at Genesee and Oak Plaza Niagara streets portable enough to be trans A POLITICAL forum will be ported to Sculpture Chicago by held in the Chopin Singing Soci the end of August ety clubrooms on Kosciuszko Lawless plans first to ma I ctrnat Ana 17 and the Pic A temporary repairs on the neon art pSa Orchestra ifll appea? at work which suffered damage from SatVAuT 18 weather and minor vandalism as smaller but active well as from the demolition ordered I Ukrainian community will stage by Mayor Griffin in only one event but will fill it said the work graphically 5SAS? bSS damaged Sunday disappeared but was returned bJ5SiheCSf Uke ll tai people have souvlrs id ezpeeis to have the ASmeriran structure repaired in time to re Wa JSX featur was meant to and send it to InghSdiSoKiruments what he the flutelike sopilka will be about Part of th program Police Still Stumped After Disappearance led the massive repair job alone there are saying that this sculpture is one of the most excit ing pieces in the was selected from more than 300 pieces as one of 10 artworks to be displayed at the five week outdoor symposium which runs from Sept 1 to Oct 6 And if is what the symposium is looking for the symposium may be just what the misunderstood artwork has been looking for Sculpture Chicago is designed to give artists an opportunity to build their works on location as a way of giving the public a chance to interact with the creative process 1 really a good Law less said "That was one of the problems in Buffalo If people had had a better idea of what this was about maybe all this wouldn't have The symposium group is provid ing Lawless with a stipend and helping him to finance repairs which are expected to run more than $30000 what this work needed was a more sophisticated audi ence" he said While that might sound as if Lawless is packing up his thunder bolts with a pout nothing could be further from the truth he said was bom in Buffalo and I have all good feelings for the he said "Some people here reallv did like the work and some day I would like to bring Lightning back arsonist and underworld informant He said police in Chesapeake where he was relocated under a new identity in the ederal Witness Protection Program have added to the misconceptions by portraying him as the mastermind of a multimillion dol lar theft ring there not saying not guilty but not guilty of all the things accused of down he said want to know why they want to crucify me down Gascoyne told The News he had commit ted a petty during his seven years in Virginia but insisted he was involv ed with only one burglar there He said his crimes in Virginia were motivated less by Erie County Medical Center where he is greed than by his fascination with tools me being held under police guard wnue receiv ing treatment for a self inflicted gunshot born in Buffalo This is where I for some but it marks the peak came to said Gascoyne who spoke re of summer activities for many peatedly about suicide during the interview of the cultural and fraternal conducted under the watch of a US marshal groups that celebrate the diver in hospital sity of Western New eth now the best thing I could do nic heritage would be to die 60 years old I dont Summer picnics with an Old want to go to prison for 20 World flair abound from the Gascoyne said he consented to the mter Swiss annual irst of Au view which he described as his first face gust celebration to be held in to face session i wi a reporter because he the Boston Hills this Sunday is unhappy with the public with Alnpnhnrns to has about his stoned career as a burglar a spate of fes tivities in town parks and pri vate groves Polish Americans will cele brate an entire and Ukrainian Ameri I cans will promote their cultural preservation efforts by dedicat ing a summer program to the younger members arrival of Amer lean Heritage was heralded Tuesday by a proclamation ceremony in the office of County Executive Rutkowski honorary chairman I of the program committee In eluded in this celebration I will be a major national con vention a political forum for Pol Am election candidates and a blend of cultures as one of the mainstay Polish orchestras puts in an appearance at the Ok toberfest tent during the Erie County ethnic offerings 3J Wi I 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