Pittsburgh Post-Gazette from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Page 5

POST-GAZETTE: July 2.1, 1982-5 1: IIMlinMQSQ Phila. courts still have tough problems to solve If I ft i fx I wanted to improve the system any way I could." Henry X. O'Brien, Chief Justice, Supreme Court in The Philadelphia court system is "bloated by patronage abuse, fiscally unsound, profligate and badly inefficient." Supreme Court Justice John P. Flaherty phia contingent, to serve a population that is nine-tenths as large. In Philadelphia, budget constraints make it unlikely that the system will get what officials agree it most desperately needs a new, expanded judicial center.

As a result, by last fall officials began searching for other ways to cut the backlog which, had it grown much larger, could have threatened the ability of the courts to comply with the state requirement that criminal defendants be brought to trial within 180 days of their arrest. On Nov. 6, more than three months before Flaherty's appointment, District Attorney Rendell announced that "the criminal court system in our city is being overwhelmed with untried cases." In a letter to Common Pleas President Judge Bradley, Rendell suggested that Bradley consider a move that he eventually adopted: Saturday court sessions. At that time and since, Rendell also suggested that the "laziness" of some judges had played a part in creating the backlog. Within two weeks, Bradley had announced that he would schedule Saturday court sessions to begin in January and run for 20 weeks.

But he and other court officials, resenting the district attorney's references to alleged judicial laziness, responded that Rendell was largely at fault for cutting down on plea bargaining. That is the technique of persuading accused criminals to plead guilty to a lesser offense than they were originally charged with thus insuring themselves of a shorter sentence than they might otherwise get. It is used in almost every court system in the nation to reduce the number of cases that must be tried. In a recent interview, Rendell agreed that he has cut plea bargaining by more than 80 percent since 1977 from 1,333 felony plea bargains out of 6,000 cases tried in 1977 to 209 out of 7,300 cases tried in 1981 and that his policy has contributed to the backlog. But the district attorney is sticking to his guns in this area.

"We're not going to change," he vowed. "The people we deal with have a tendency to murder, maim and rape." With Rendell and court officials exchanging charges and countercharges, Chief Justice O'Brien met with both sides in early December. Certain agreements were reached, and the officials begin instituting various changes to cut the backlog. Saturday court began in January, two new courtrooms were built (bringing the total to 44) and a new court rule was put into effect which restricts attorneys from obtaining postponements of their defendants' j- -ym L' (Continued from Page 1) interview earlier this month. "There's a general belief that it could well be improved." Another key official close to the controversy, who asked to remain anonymous, summed up the situation this way: "Our court system is a mess." In his two-page resignation letter, to O'Brien, Flaherty wrote of the city court system that he once called "a national "I have learned a great deal since the appointment as temporary administrator principally that a more mal-administered court system would be difficult to imagine.

It is bloated by patronage abuse, fiscally unsound, profligate, and badly inefficient." Flaherty did not provide specific examples, but his letter follows at least four audits from City Controller Leonard citing numerous instances of what Flaherty appeared to be describing. In a "Courts Operational Review" dated March 1 of this year, Leonard indicated that the Common Pleas court system, with a $48. 1 million budget last year, was riddled with waste and extravagance. He said the system, for example, employs 79 custodians when only 29 are needed, has a maintenance division that has built furniture for judges that is "unparalleled in the city," and has full-time staffs for its part-time senior judges over 70 years of age, when only part-time staffs for those judges are needed. "This report," Leonard wrote to Mayor William J.

Green, "addresses a narrow segment of the administrative functions and suggests that if the Court increases productivity, reduces its extensive support services, and stops certain buying practices, it can save $3.3 million annually." In other audits this year, Leonard also said the city courts should cut down on the number of court reporters and other employees, who constitute, he said, a staff larger than the court staffs in "the 12 largest cities in the United States." Court officials have denounced Flaherty's allegations of waste and inefficiency and dismissed Leonard's audits as inaccurate and misleading. "I would flatly disagree that this court system is not effectively and efficiently operated," Common Pleas President Judge Edward J. Bradley, who functions as the principal executive for that court branch, said of Flaherty's allegations. He said he has reduced the Common Pleas work force by 300 people, to about 2,000, since he became president judge in 1975, and added, "Certainly it is and will continue to move in the right direction." David Savitt, the Common Pleas Court administrator, whose job it is to carry out Bradley's administrative policies, declined to comment on Flaherty's specific comments. But he said, "I'm only working as hard as I can to make this court system better.

I feel that the system is running adequately." With regard to Leonard's audits, Bradley said, "That's not just shoddy work but also misleading work." He maintained that Leonard underestimated the costs and needs of the Common Pleas branch, and said simply, "There is no valid criticism in any of those reports." Somewhat hidden behind the charges and countercharges, however, is an agreement by all sides on a key matter: that the Common Pleas backlog of serious criminal cases, 3T ft. i I Kt llnp ma ir Jky, i. inn "The criminal court system in our city is being overwhelmed with untried cases." Edward G. Kendell, Philadelphia District Attorney cases under most circumstances. The six-month experiment with Saturday court, which ended late last month, was probably the most controversial move.

There were reports of widespread resentment among judges who felt they had been working hard enough during the week and should not be asked to work two Saturdays early this year in addition to their usual duties. "I felt it was a necessary move at the time," Bradley explained. "I felt we ought to do what we could." Asked why some judges had objected, Bradley said he understood the feelings of his colleagues: "I don't like to work on Saturdays." Although one judge, I. Raymond Kremer, petitioned the state Supreme Court to challenge Bradley's authority to institute Saturday court sessions (the high court denied the petition early last month), most officials seemed to feel the various moves were steps in the right direction. The Common Pleas courts disposed of 391 cases through Saturday court sessions, prompting Rendell to ask that Saturday court be restarted.

Savitt, however, indicated this week that that is not likely, arguing that such a move, unless absolutely neccessary, would be unfair to the judges. Given the various reform efforts that were undertaken earlier this year, O'Brien's appointment of Flaherty caught officials by surprise and seemed to do little except heighten the controversy over the seriousness of the situation in the Philadelphia courts. The issue of Flaherty's authority, which he debated with court officials up to his resignation, was never resolved. O'Brien backed court officials when they asked that he rescind a directive by Flaherty that would have forced the officials to obtain Flaherty's permission for all but routine actions. But the chief justice then backed Flaherty's efforts to have a court official furnish an "evaluation" of the city court system.

And Flaherty's appointment of that official, James M. White, as special district administrator of the city court system strenuously opposed by Bradley was still in dispute when Flaherty resigned. The future of the city court system is unclear. But what is clear is this: If O'Brien intends to continue the effort to reform the system, he will have to grapple with the conflict between the court officials who want to keep control in their own hands and their critics, who insist that only an outsider can succeed in working real change. Lawrence J.

Haas leaders is slightly more than 65, which makes the question of LaRocca's successor more interesting. Ciancutti appears to be the leading candidate because of his New Kensington mob and his close association with Mannarino. But investigators caution that Pecora and Bazzano, who will be eligible for parole in the coming months, "may make a move" to exert their leadership. No "young turks" appear on the horizon as heirs. The investigators added that not every racketeer or narcotics dealer is a member of the Mafia.

"But this is their territory and if you want to do business here, you pay them for it," the investigator said. SWORDS DO NOT CLEAN BLADES If' ilimii tnriiia would flatly disagree that this court system is not effectively and efficiently operated." Common Pleas President Judge Edward Bradley About the author Lawrence J. Haas, 26. Harris-burg reporter for the Post-Gazette, came to the newspaper in March after working for two years at The Daily Register in Monmouth County, N.J., where he covered municipal government and headed that newspaper's largest suburban bureau. Haas is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a master's degree in Ameri-can history from Princeton University.

"9 hard to comply with the city sheriff's rule that all defendants being transferred for trial be accompanied by two guards. These problems became particularly acute, officials agree, when 1980 brought a large and essentially unexplained increase of 22.5 percent in violent crime in Philadelphia. The courts were unable to keep up with the increase in serious criminal cases, creating a Common Pleas Court backlog which grew last fall to more than 5,000 what many termed a crisis. By way of contrast, the Court of Common Pleas in Allegheny County, where the serious crime rate has changed little in recent years, had a backlog of 3,393 cases at the end of 1981. That system handled about 11,000 criminal cases last year, although it has only 39 Common Pleas judges, less than half the Philadel Pennsylvania Crime Commission offer this composite of who's who in the Southwestern Pennsylvania crime family: Antonio "Tony" Ripepi, 79, South Hills, runs gambling activities in Washington and Fayette counties.

Thomas "Sonny" Ciancutti, 52, of Arnold, Westmoreland County, has become the leader of the New Kensington mob formed by the late Gabriel "Kelly" Mannarino. Man-narino died July 18, 1980, of cancer and Ciancutti, according to police, may be LaRocca's eventual successor. Joseph "Jo-Jo" Pecora, 62, of Chester, W.Va., formerly of East Liberty, controlled the West Virginia Pandhandle but now is serving a five-year sentence in a federal penitentiary for political influence peddling. Joseph Regino, 74, of Johnstown, controls the Cambria County area but now spends considerable time in Pompano Beach, the site favored by LaRocca. John C.

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Pittsburgh mob family thrives despite decline in leaders Meanwhile, the Holmesburg prison, where defendants awaiting criminal trials are held, compounds the delays, officials agree. "You have problems with the traffic that you can't predict," said John Hagerty, deputy of communications for District Attorney Edward G. Rendell. He also said that requests from Rendell to prison officials for defendants to be transferred downtown for appearance in court sometimes are sent through the mail and sometimes are delayed or even lost. Among other causes of trial delays cited by Hagerty and Common Pleas Court administrator Savitt (though they are not necessarily related to any problems in the court system) are defendants who hide from prison officials when they are scheduled for trial and prison manpower shortages, which make it Michael Genovese, in 1974 LaRocca's No.

2 man, Michael Genovese of Gibsonia, is critically ill and a guessing game is under way about who will succeed the top two men. Federal investigators and the (Advertisement) --s ,8 5' considered the major problem facing the city court system, is linked primarily to the system's inadequate physical plant and to a rising crime rate that has resulted in a larger caseload than the system could absorb. The Common Pleas courts, which handle about 10,000 serious criminal cases each year for which a sentence of more than five years is possible, has been creaking along for years with an antiquated plant. Its 81 judges, for instance, are limited to 44 courtrooms of varying sizes and conditions which are spread throughout city buildings in the downtown area. Court officials say they could schedule judges for more court time if more courtrooms were available, and they have been discussing with the city the possibility of building more courtrooms.

John Bazzano, in 1976 sports betting, prostitution and narcotics. The crime family here stretches as far east as Altoona, Blair County, south into West Virginia, north to the outskirts of Erie, Erie County, and west into the Youngstown-War-ren, Ohio, district. However, the crime family here is not governed by an iron hand. Rather it is a confederation of chieftains with loosely defined territories who, according to federal investigators, have agreed the most important thing is to make money. The undisputed head of the confederation or crime family is LaRocca, who will be 81 in December.

LaRocca spends most of his time in Florida because of failing health. "But don't think John is not kept apprised of what's happening around here," one investigator said. Most of LaRocca's current involvement with organized crime activity involves mediating territorial and other disputes. 1 ville, Westmoreland County, is active in the Monroeville and surrounding areas and, according to federal investigators, has become involved in narcotics trafficking. John Bazzano 55, of McMurray, Washington County, who also is Ripepi's son-in-law.

Bazzano is serving a federal sentence on gambling charges in Danbury, Conn. Joseph Sica, 74, of Penn Hills, who is active in eastern and southeastern Allegheny County. Sica was convicted of extortion and served 1 1 months of a five-year sentence in 1978. Samuel J. Fasionatta, 65, of Altoona, who controls racketeering in Blair County.

The average age of the mob JAPANESE WANTED By Harry Tkach Post-Gazette Staff Writer Although one top leader is in semi-retirement and another is critically ill, Pittsburgh's organized crime family is still quietly thriving. The crime family that is led by Sebastian John LaRocca is still strong, federal investigators say. And even though there is some speculation about a power struggle when LaRocca dies, some investigators say the Pittsburgh mob is too sophisticated "to have bodies turning up all over the place and getting newspapers excited and running the risk of a grand jury investigation." "Everyone thought the mob just faded around here for the past few years until the FBI reports last week of the takeover in Youngs-town," the investigator said. He was referring to a power struggle between organized crime families in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. "It just goes to show you their strength.

They get things done quietly or divert attention from themselves like their takeover in Youngstown," the investigator said. He contends the Pittsburgh area crime family is strong for two reasons: No organized crime family from another part of the country has tried to move in; and the organization here is powerful enough to extend its influence into northeastern Ohio. "If the crime family here was weak and disorganized, somebody else would move in here in a hurry. But the guys here like the world to think that Pittsburgh is a dull, sleeoy city as far as crime is concerned," a federal investigator said. Both investigators confirmed the mob here is financially healthy and 1 probably spends much of its time) counting money from (Advertisement) Wyoming Oil 'Lottery' Up To $3,000 Cash Each Evaluations Cannot Be Given By Phone Many Valuable Swords were taken as souvenirs during WWII.

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