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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 3

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POST-GAZETTE! July 12, 1980-3 CityArea Public Defender Staffer Mannarino Dies at 64 Of Cancer rots Over 'Favoritism cgsr -H-a By Susan Mannella Post-Gazette Staff Writer Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino, reputed head of far-flung gambling operations that extended from New Kensington to Cuba and a lieutenant in Western Pennsylvania's organized crime, died yesterday in Mercy Hospital. Mannarino, 64, of 540 Charles New Kensington, was admitted to the hospital on June 23 for treatment of cancer. The New Kensington native was never convicted of a federal crime, but he and nis iaie Drower reportedly controlled Westmoreland County gambling operations for three decades. TKo DannctrlironiQ "Viivu frm mic office now have more time to prepare cases than they ever did." Declaring that most members of his staff are paid only as part-time employees, Nauhaus said, "On the days they're scheduled to be in the office, the part-time people are in there all day. Copies of the letter and memo were supplied to the offices of at least two of the county commissioners.

Nauhaus said, however, that he has had no negative comment from the commissioners. Ms. Radick also charges that certain lawyers in the office are given preferential treatment. "You have provided a system whereby certain attorneys are not required to work a full schedule or to even perform in a minimal capacity in this office. Under your supervision this is tolerated and encouraged," she wrote.

And in the earlier memo to McDaniels she stated, "As to your questioning the amount of work I do for the office, let us look at what you do. On numerous occasions you have been observed playing backgammon and other games of chance during working hours. For your friends, you have established a system whereby certain lawyers are allowed to work two days a week I look forward to an investigation of the manner in which this office is being managed." Nauhaus, commenting on the reference to backgammon playing, said, "What my people do during their lunch hours is their own business." Ms. McDaniel could not be reached for comment. The Public Defender's Office represents defendants in criminal cases who cannot afford private attorneys.

scs M'S'-A By James O'Toole Post-Gazett Staff Writer Charging that the county Public Defender's Office is characterized by favoritism and incompetence, a longtime member of the staff has resigned. In a letter to Public Defender Lester G. Nauhaus, Sallie Ann Radick claims. "If the defendants were better informed legally, they would be suing this office on a regular basis for inadequate representation of counsel." Nauhaus said last night that the charges are completely unfounded. "I think the record of this office and the of our work speaks for itself," he said.

Ms. Radick, in the letter and in an memorandum to Donna Jo McDaniel, a supervising lawyer under Nauhaus, cites several instances of alleged shoddy procedures in the office. Nauhaus said Ms. Radick's version of events is just not true. "It's an out-and-out misrepresentation." Ms.

Radick says she was assigned last week to a series of cases that had been inadequately prepared. Ms. Radick was a member of the trial staff of the public defender. Trial attorneys in the office depend upon a separate pre-trial staff for information on preliminary motions in criminal cases. Ms.

Radick's letter to Nauhaus complains that discovery materials and pretrial motions were not filed in these cases and consequently she could not provide adequate counsel. Assessing the reasons for this, she. wrote, "Your pre-trial staff is required to work two days a week. They are spending approximately four hours a week in reviewing and preparing the files. They are able to quickly complete the task since they merely mark that no motions need be filed on the cases.

Their legal conclusions are certainly not supported by the files themselves. Had the proper motions been filed, the defendants would be able to receive adequate and proper legal representation." Nauhaus took strong exception to Ms. Radick's account. "Everybody in that office works," he said. "The people in the v-V'1 i Paul Barney Hoss of Wichita, Kansas, paralyzed from the waist down, stopped in Pittsburgh yesterday during his "Independence Ride for the Disabled," calling attention to the rights of the handicapped.

Motorcycle officer Charles Raco looked over Hoss's bike, which permits him to drive from the sidecar. The 15-city tour, to collect signatures and support, will end in Chicago Aug. 7 at the International Disabled Expo. sion's 1970 Report on Organized Crime identified Mannarino as a captain for John Sebastian LaRocca of McCandless, reputed to be the head of organized crime in Southwestern Pennsylvania. In 1957, Mannarino was one of 63 racket figures arrested by state police at a meeting in Apalachin, N.Y., that became the best-known gathering of underworld leaders in American history.

Only 20 of those arrested at the meeting which federal authorities alleged was called to plan underworld domination of illicit drug traffic and other activities were convicted of conspiring to obstruct justice. Their convictions later were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court Mannarino was not indicted. His name did not break into the news again until November 1958 when government agents seized 121 stolen U.S. Army rifles that allegedly were being shipped to Cuba during the height of the Castro-Batista struggle for control of the island.

A plane carrying the weapons took off from the Allegheny Valley Airport near Tarentum. A panel truck owned by a vending machine company that Mannarino owned was seen at the site. Samuel Mannarino's son-in-law, Victor Carlucci, was one of two men convicted in the gun-running scheme. Mannarino and his brother held an interest in the Sans Souci Gambling Casino in Havana until the late 1950s. Mannarino also operated three New Kensington businesses the Catoris Candy Distributing Co.

and Nu-Ken Novelty Co. Although Mannarino was arrested numerous times, prosecutors could not convict him of a federal crime. In 1957, he was cleared of charges that he tried to bribe a witness in a New Kensington vote-fraud trial. Police Sickout Ends Merchants Lose Appeal in PPG Suit Wilkinsburg's police force was back on the job yesterday afternoon after an attack of "blue flu" a day earlier. But Borough Manager James R.

Huff said he didn't know if the police will continue reporting for work. They have been without a contract since Jan. 1 and are angry at what they believe are deliberate negotiation delays. properties were not blighted. Judge Silvestri Silvestri dismissed those charges last August, prompting the appeal to the Commonwealth Court.

Judge Theodore Rogers of Commonwealth Court wrote the majority opinion. He noted that the question of whether or not the city improperly applied state laws that created the renewal area should have been heard by Silvestri last summer. "If that law, as the plaintiffs assert, was unconstitutionally applied to them, the URA's (Urban Redevelopment Authority) power to condemn their properties is in question. It seems to us, therefore, that the plaintiffs did state a cause of action," Rogers wrote. The merchants are already pursuing that question in Common Pleas Court.

Some court action is expected within a month. The lone dissenting vote in the court's decision came from Judge Genevieve Blatt. She wrote that the state Local Agency Law may have required the city Planning Commission to undertake certain procedures. The law applies to renewal certification, she wrote, observing "the Planning Commission's certification of blight may so substantially interfere with the (landowners') rights as to constitute a de facto taking." The PPG project calls for a 40-story main tower to be surrounded by a number of three- and four-story buildings. County Lawyers Working To Ease School Integration By Charlie Kelly Post-Gazette Staff Writer Market Square merchants don't consider Commonwealth Court's dismissal of an appeal a significant setback in their battle against PPG Industries.

If anything, said merchant William Jacobowitz, the opinion in the ruling "seemed to back up our feeling that we should have been in court last summer testing the constitutional questions involved in this case." Jacobowitz is one of six Market Square merchants fighting a city Planning Commission certification of their area as blighted. The court voted 6-1 Thursday to dismiss an appeal, but said it was correct for the merchants to pursue certain questions in Common Pleas Court here which they are already doing. The merchants were among those in the Market Square to have their properties certified as blighted in order to make way for the $100 million PPG project, one of the cornerstones of Renaissance II. Jacobowitz, owner of Federal Paint and Hardware Store, and the other merchants, went to Common Pleas Court last summer charging their constitutional rights were violated in not being given reasonable notice. They said that the city Planning Commission simply rubber-stamped a plan promoted by the Caliguiri administration.

The merchants also charged that their Drug Dealer Jailed for 45 Years The Allegheny County Bar Association is organizing a speaker's bureau of volunteer lawyers to help ease implementation of the Pittsburgh public school integration plan expected in the fall. The bar association hopes to send attorneys to school assemblies and public meetings to call for adherence to the law, as it is enunciated by Common-1 wealth Court. The appellate court's ruling is expected later this summer. The effort to recruit volunteers is being aimed at lawyers living in the city, and chiefly at those who themselves have children in public schools. In a letter to all Pittsburgh members last week, association President Paul A.

Manion said the group wants to help assure that "implementation of (Commonwealth) Court's decree is effectuated peacefully, reasonably and with minimal disruption to the lives of the school children involved." A meeting of all potential volunteers has been scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the bar association auditorium on the ninth floor of the City-County Building. "Given the relatively unsullied reputation of the city of Pittsburgh in matters of race relations, we believe that as lawyers we should do everything in our power to preserve that tradition, and to, encourage compliance with court rulings in such matters," Manion wrote. Commonwealth Court has scheduled a hearing for July 21 on a Pittsburgh School Board integration plan which has been rejected by the state Human Relations Commission. It is considered likely that the court will either approve the school board's proposal or impose a plan of its own.

In either case, a plan probably would take effect in September. In 1963, he was acquitted of income tax fraud and in 1970 he and 10 others' were cleared of conspiracy and racketeering in kickbacks from a Teamsters Union pension fund. Mannarino's last public appearance here was on Jan. 30, when he testified for 30 minutes before a federal investigative grand jury looking into fraudulent loans made by the Monroeville office of Citizens National Bank. Mannarino is survived by his wife, Jean Amato Mannarino, and two daughters, Georgienne Bufalino and Delores Feola.

Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. Monday at Mount St. Peter's Church in New Kensington. Burial will be in Greenwood Memorial Park, Lower Burrell. murder Stewart for $30,000.

The deal fell through, Starling said, because Jackson needed $15,000 to pay his defense attorney. "Stoney Bey said the only way Raymond was going to beat the federal rap was to kill the officer," said Starling, a former addict who pleaded guilty before trial as part of a plea bargain with the prosecution. In addition to selling heroin in the Hill District, Starling said Jackson had drug dealers in Homestead, Homewood, Brad-dock, Ohio and other places. (Continued from Page 1) tracts on those who gave him particular trouble, including Detective Stewart. Bloch accepted the unsually extensive pre-sentence testimony over the objection of Byrd Brown, Jackson's attorney.

Brown vainly complained that he hadn't been given an opportunity to present a rebuttal to the prosecution's testimony, which he called "extraneous trappings." Calvin Starling, a former Jackson street dealer and one of the government's chief witnesses, told Bloch that Jackson last January negotiated with a man identified only as Stoney Bey to a HATCHER'S HUGH Mother Aids Jailed Lawyer Accused in Her Murder Plot fMgountylines -INVENTORY AFTER Bills, who talks to his client by phone at least three times a week, said Hunter is "as happy as someone can be in prison. Everything is relative." In May, Florida authorities charged Hunter with conspiring to pay a man MENT CLEARANCE $25,000 to kill Mrs. Ziets-Ordaz so Hunter could inherit the estate of his late father, who owned a huge meat-packing plant in Philadelphia. The suspected hit man was identified in a court affidavit as Mickey Wylie, 46, a Wilkinsburg truck driver with an extensive criminal record. Wylie gave Broward authorities his consent to tape five telephone conversations he had with Hunter.

Bills yesterday said the wiretap evidence will be the biggest obstacle to IS COMING! (Continued from Page 1) other son, Robert, and his family, and she could not be contacted. Her personal attorney, William D. Beamer of Fort Lauderdale, said Mrs. Ziets-Ordaz is aiding her son because she feels the alleged murder plot was "an act of desperation." Beamer said Hunter was under severe financial pressure following his October 1979 conviction on insurance fraud which led to the suspension of his license to practice law. Last April Hunter filed' for bankruptcy, and the family's 23-room Fox Chapel mansion is now on the market for $600,000.

In addition, the 40-year-old lawyer was worried about the possibility of going to prison. "His mother feels that the pressure was so great, his mind wasn't straight," Beamer said. "And after all, blood is thicker than water." Mrs. Ziets-Ordaz, however, is still pursuing a Common Pleas Court action here for repayment of a $211,750 mortgage loan she made to Hunter and his wife. Hunter, a father of three, is now serving a five-year sentence for insurance fraud at the Federal Correctional Institute in Petersburg, where he has a prison job as a commissary clerk, Bills said- PUC Orders Gas Rate Hike Hearings The Public Utility Commission has ordered hearings on a proposed $23.6 million rate increase for the Equitable Gas Co.

The utility had requested permission to raise average annual heating bills from $490 to $543, excluding tax charges, to meet higher operating costs. Equitable serves 243,000 customers in a seven-county area. City Sponsors Bike Hike at Schenley It will be a big day for bikers tomorrow when the city stages "The Great Ride" at Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park. The four-mile ride, a non-competitive event, will take cyclists on a designated course ending in Frick Park. Free T-shirts will be given to the first 600 participants and all will be eligible for a drawing for a 10-speed bicycle.

Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. and the event gets under way at 10:30 a.m. County Attempts to Close Restaurant The Allegheny County Solicitor's Office went to court yesterday in an effort to shut down a Pleasant Hills restaurant, which it said has ignored orders to close. The county's Common Pleas Court complaint said Bobo's Village, 176 Curry Hollow Road, has a leaky kitchen ceiling, a malfunctioning freezer, improper disposal of garbage and several other health code violations. The restaurant's health permit was suspended Tuesday.

Hunter's defense. He and Varon hope to unci a legal basis to keep the tapes from being entered as evidence. Bills also said he and Varon are considering waiving Florida's speedy trial rule requiring a trial within 180 days after chafges are filed. Bills said they need the additional time to prepare a defense. He said the lawyers might also ask for a change of venue because of extensive publicity about the case in the South Florida media.

Court Ruling Puts the Bite on Denture Repairer AND WE'RE BUSY AT FOUR OF OUR STORES, SETTING UP MERCHANDISE THAT'S BEEN MARKED DOWN TO B2ffff. THE ORIGINAL PRICES (AND SOMETIMES EVEN MORE). There's a huge collection of men's fashions, a great deal of it by famous makers. So make a note of the dates and places. JPS.Y 1 WOOD STREET, SOUTH HILLS, MONROEVILLE, CENTURY III HUGHES HATCHER By Alvin Rosensweet Post-Gazette Staff Writer It's acceptable for a denture man to repair your dentures as long as you go to a dentist first That was the effect of a District Magistrate's ruling yesterday in the case of Edward Iole, who operates Accent Denture Service in the Jenkins Arcade, Downtown.

Iole was fined $50 and costs on a charge of doing dental technician work without a dentist's prescription. District Magistrate Jacob Williams dismissed a second charge brought by the commonwealth practicing dentistry without a license. Paul Boas, Iole's attorney, said he would appeal the conviction in Common Pleas Court. The case has aroused the attention of dentists who claim that denturists, as they are called, need a prescription for every piece of work they perform. But representa- Asked by Boas why it had taken the state more than a year after the first visit to Iole's laboratory to file charges against him, Shelly replied that it was due to a shortage of staff in the attorney general's office.

Iole, who has been a denturist 15 years, operates a mobile denture repair service, using a van to go out on jobs. Denturists, sometimes referred to as tooth fairies, repair broken dentures faster and cheaper than dentists and dental laboratories, Iole claimed in an interview last month. But Thomas Perkins, secretary of the Odontological Society of Western Pennsylvania, said that laws of the state Board of Dental Licensing require dental technicians to obtain a prescription to do their work. Obviously displeased that Iole was not found guilty on both charges, Charles Arnone western regional director of the state bureau, said: "We're going to clamp down on these dental milk with more vigor from now on and with more swiftness than in the past." A tives of dental societies did not take part in yesterday's hearing. The cudgel for the state was taken up by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs.

'James Shelly, an investigator for the Bureau, said that on March 7, 1979, he accompanied undercover agent Valerie Scanlon to Iole's laboratory, where she left off a denture with a broken tooth. They returned on March 19 to obtain the repaired denture. William H. Andring, an assistant state attorney general, contended that Iole could not legally repair the denture unless he received a prescription given to the patient by a dentist. Shelly testified that on Feb.

22, 1979, when he asked Iole if he had any prescriptions on file, Iole told him that business was so slow that he did not keep such a file. Boas extracted from Shelly the admission that Iole, in repairing the denture, did not perform dental work in anyone's mouth and thus was not practicing dentistry without a license. 3 WOOD AND OtIVER OPEN MONDAY AND THURSDAY TO 9:00 P.M. NORTHWAY MALL, 'SOUTH HILLS VILLAGE, MONROEVILLE MALL, BEAVER VALLEY MALL WESTMORELAND MALL CENTURY III MALL OPEN DAILY FROM 10:00 to 9:30 P.M. 'OPEN SUNDAYS 12 NOON TO 5:00 P.M..

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