Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 33

fljc tfofb (feitf ant SUNDAY, JANUARY 13, 1980 News in Review Editorials Towns Opinions Classified 33 mUE WEEK David Friend: The Man Who Didn't Talk (: Fatal Fire -11 An apartment building fire in Hartford's North End killed four persons and raised new concerns about the effectiveness of the city's inspection and code enforcement programs. The death toll makes it the worst fire in the city since 1961 when a fire at Hartford Hospital killed persons. The cause of the blaze was initially thought to be electrical, but the fire marshal has ruled that out and an investigation is still under way. Boxing Injury Boxer Charles Newell was critically injured during a pro bout at the Hartford Civic Center, but officials said such an injury was something to be expected in contact sports and; they plan no changes in the rules governing boxing. Newell was knocked out in the seventh round by Marlon Starling.

He was attended at the scene by the ringside doctor and a neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon was at his first fight as a ring doctor after being appointed in response to recent boxing deaths in New York and South Carolina. Newell underwent brain surgery at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center. i Abortion Ruling A federal judge said the state must pay for abortions had by women receiving welfare, when, in the opinion of their doctors, it is "medically necessary." Connecticut's policy since 1977 has been to fund welfare abortions only when a physician has "certified in writing that the abortion is necessary because the life of the mother' would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term." The judge ruled the state cannot place the life of the fetus, on a higher plane than the health of the mother.

statements, a charge supposedly easier to prove than the state charge. But last week, Blumenthal dropped it, saying bank officials would testify they suffered no losses and didn't rely on1 the statements In making the. loans. Despite Friend's statement in the Florida restaurant, later re- E- eated in secret testimony, that gave Bailey the money, a one-man grand jury investigating the case in 1975 said there was no evidence of it and cleared Bailey's name. Friend never withdrew his statement over the next four years, nor was he pressed for his side of the story.

Thus it has remained unclear whether Friend was an outside villain or a businessman who came here, asked for the rules and got caught playing by them. The $250,000 isn't the only loose end. Friend was, by all accounts, not a wealthy man when he started the fronton. Sources close to him say he made little if any money when he sold the Bridgeport building after he lost his gaming license. Yet over the past four years he has piled up what appear to be enormous legal expenses while living much of the time at an expensive New York hotel.

Along with living Friend has appeared to be well connected. Some of his associates in the jai alai deal are not unknown to the post office bulletin board. John "Buster" Ardito, a New York hood, was tied to the deal in 1975. State police later learned that New Jersey Teamster boss Anthony "Tony Pro" Prbvenzano, who has since been convicted of extortion and faces a murder charge in New Jersey, received a $100,000 "finders fee" for the loan Friend received from the Teamster pension fund to build the fronton. Two years ago, Friend's name appeared on a federal indictment with New Haven con man An-, drew L.

D'Amato and others involving a loan front money scheme. Charges against Friend were later dropped. Now 43, Friend has continually proclaimed his innocence and barely held back his anger at Connecticut. His mother died this week and he is in Florida seeing to the One Superior Court judge sentenced Friend to jail until he agreed to testify. But attorney Jacob Zeldes, Friend's chief lawyer, produced a writ of habeas corpus, hustled off to another courtroom and found another judge to rule that Friend needn't begin the sentence until an appeal was heard about the consti-' tutionality of Connecticut's grand jury process.

The contempt charge became moot when the grand jury disbanded. But perjury and larceny charges were brought against Friend in Fairfield County and a perjury charge was brought against him in Hartford County for saying he gave Bailey the $250,000. The Hartford perjury case might have forced Friend to discuss the money, but it was thrown out in 1977 by Superior Court Judge Simon S. Cohen on the grounds of prejudicial pretrial publicity. Cohen accused state officials of generating publicity to damage Friend and turning the jai alai situation into a "soap The Fairfield County perjury cases stemmed from a minor part of the jai alai saga.

Friend was accused of lying at a 1975 civil hearing over an environmental permit. This was the only case that went to trial in early 1979 and Zeldes easily chewed up the state's case. Friend was charged with lying about some construction information at the 1975 hearing. A key state witness had trouble remembering dates and admitted on the stand he had asked Friend for a job after his retirement. Friend admitted confusing two' technical construction terms, but Zeldes found a state environmen-.

tal official who made exactly the -same mistake. The not guilty verdict came in after brief jury deliberation. The larceny charges involved alleged false statements Friend submitted to Bridgeport banks to get loans. Some state officials privately admitted this case was weaker than the perjury, because Friend repaid the loans and a standard element- of larceny is intent to permanently deprive. That state charge was dropped and substituted by a federal charge of making material false By TOM CONDON and THEODORE A.

DRISCOLL Joe Sonken's Gold Coast Restaurant in Hollywood, on the banks of the Intracoastal Waterway, is frequented by a few locals, some tourists and a generally better class of mobster. David Friend liked the specialty of the house, Chicken Vesuvio, and the view of the big yachts tied up outside. Two Connecticut state policemen found him there in September 1975. They dined. Friend, a former pharmacist, was the head of the firm building Connecticut's first jai alai fronton in Bridgeport The detectives were checking al- leged irregularities' in the firm's books.

Everybody had the chicken. Then Friend, discussing a blank line in his books, said, "I had to pay John Bailey $250,000." The lawmen almost choked on dessert. Bailey was the former state and national Democratic Party chairman, a sainted figure in Connecticut politics who had died five months earlier. The remark' triggered the "Bridgeport jai alai scandal," called at the time the worst scandal in Connecticut history. Alleged improprieties and payoffs were uncovered.

Under intense: media coverage, Friend was stripped of his gaming Three sets of state criminal charges plus federal charges were subsequently against him. The courts, it seemed, would get him for trying to corrupt Connecticut. They didn't come close. It has taken four years, but Friend has now beaten all the-charges. The last, federal charges of making a material-false statement, were dropped last week by U.S.

Attorney Richard Blumenthal. In those four years, Friend was. never put in a position where it would have served his interests to talk to talk about the' $250,000, or the larger question of whether gaming licenses in Connecticut must be bought. The money was always the entree of the scandal. On April 8, 1974, Friend went into a small bank in Hollywood and withdrew' $235,000 in small bills, stuffed, them into an attache case and hopped on a plane.

That night the money and two The Cost of Dying Since the first of the year the use of a decompression chamber to kill unwanted animals has been illegal. And that, says the state Humane Society, is going to cost money. The society estimated its operating costs will increase by more than $100,000 a year because of the law. The society will now use more costly injections of sodium pentobarbital to kill the animals. The higher costs have already been passed to municipalities that send animals to the society.

Fees for dog licenses may increase as a result. In Brief More than $100,000 from a private relief fund has been distributed to victims of the Oct. 3 tornado. David Friend arriving at Hartford Superior Court in 1975. For skiers still awaiting the first major winter storm of the season, Storm Norman delivered more disappointment than snow.

Coastal areas received only a dusting and the northern part of the state got no snow at all. local prostitutes were strewn across the bed in a suite of a downtown Hartford hotel where Friend and a few associates frolicked until dawn. The next day, April 9, Friend was an out-of-season Santa. He -spread a few thousand conspicuously among a handful of people on the periphery of state government, such as former state Tax-Commissioner John a Democrat, and state GOP aide James Donnelly. It is what did Phelps Dodge the nation's second largest copper Rroducer, announced it will open a $32 million copper mill in forwich.

The facility will be one of the largest of its kind and will employ up to 500 persons. TheD ilemma of Housing Code Enforcement Beer distributors are pushing draft beer to their cafe and restaurant accounts because of the state's new container deposit law. The kegs eliminate the storing of empty bottles. V- with the rest of the money that was the question. He first said he gave it to Bailey that day.

When it was later proven that Bailey was out of the state that day, he said he made the payment later. By late 1975, Friend was being pulled into various courts and, in what became a pattern, was not being made to say much. He was found in contempt for not an: swering questions before a one man grand jury, but never jailed. ration. The rental market is so good, he said, that only a "zero-value" building is likely to be.

"abandoned by the landlord. Podolsky, a member of the state Citizens Advisory Council for Housing Matters, said the city should, in its code enforcement efforts, try to avoid condemning entire buildings and should be reasonable about allowing time for landlords who try in good faith to correct violations. A "systematic plan of implementing the code," a plan that would funnel state, federal and local subsidies or loans to landlords needing funds to correct violations, would prevent such dire consequences, said Michael M. Sharpe III, state deputy housing commissioner. But Joseph Zibbideo and William H.

Curtis city housing code supervisors, said the city used to nave such a program until the federal funds ran out in 1972. During the four the program operated, more than $5 PEOPLE Hartford County Chief Deputy Sheriff Francis M. DeLucco was among 22 persons charged by state police in what they described as a crackdown on a sports bet-, ting ring that handled $20 million a year in bets. DeLucco was charged with gambling, indicating he was placing, rather than receiving, illegal bets. DeLucco had no Christopher J.

Dodd, the representative from the state's 2nd Congressional District since 1974, made it official. Dodd an-, nounced he will seek the Senate seat being vacated by the state's senior senator, Abraham Ribicoff Dodd's father, the late Thomas J. Dodd, was a U.S. senator from Connecticut. COURANT PHOTO BY JOSEPH CANNATA JR.

The Belden at 1515-1555 Main Hartford, scene of a fire in week. The sign draped in front by protesters reads: "We Indict which four persons perished last The City for Murder. William A. DiBella won a fourth term as chairman of the Metropolitan District Commission. DiBella received the votes of 22 of the 25 commissioners.

The MDC is a regional water and sewer authority serving the city and several towns in the Hart By KARLYNN CARRINGTON Tenants of 1545-1555 Main Hartford, lived in their four-story building along with rats and roaches. Garbage was strewn around and the back exits were nailed shut. Tenants blamed the landlord for the problems, and the landlord blamed the tenants. Then, on Jan. 5, a fire there killed four people and left 82 others homeless.

In the city officials stepped up efforts to improve enforcement of the housing code. But stepped-up code enforcement raises again an issue discussed in the past whether vigorous enforcement of the housing code leads to further abandonment of housing in a city that can ill afford to lose any more apartment units. The question draws mixed responses. Some say code enforcement can be strict yet flexible enough so tenants can have both places to live and decent conditions. Others worry that buildings in poorer areas of the city' would require repairs so extensive and expensive that landlords would either jack up the rents to levels unaffordable by poor persons or just turn, their backs on their property, leaving the buildings vacant.

"You can just walk down Albany Avenue you'll find every house wouldn't meet the code, said state Rep. Thirman L. Mil-ner, D-Hartford. "If you would; strictly enforce the code. have to abandon the whole street." Milner is co-chairman of the Black and Hispanic Democratic Coalition which, in the wake of the fire, urged the city to declare its areas with substandard housing disaster areas and seek state and federal funds to upgrade them.

Paul E. Rebillard vice president of the Sigourney Square Civic Association, said it's probably true, to some that strict code enforcement leads to displacement. But he added that when the city doesn't enforce the code, buildings deteriorate badly and they also attract fires. or bring them up to code, Peach said. When a judge appoints a receiver, the receiver collects the rents and uses the income to repair and maintain the building.

A few tenants interviewed said housing code inspectors now, don't do follow-up inspections to see if landlords have complied with orders to make repairs. Some community activists noted that inspections are made only, on a complaint basis. But to housing code supervisors Zibbideo and Curtis, the biggest problem has been the lack of staff. They said the number of inspectors has dropped from 24 several years ago to 13 now, and inspectors must handle other firograms, such as inspections or the Fair Rent Commission. Nicholas R.

Carbone, former deputy mayor, said the department was cut along with other city departments out of necessity, when Hartford officials were striving to keep the city budget in line. Zibbideo also complained that the housing court has fined only one landlord as a result of about 160 code enforcement cases filed by the city in 1979. He said the court has turned into an "eviction mill." It handled 4,500 Hartford eviction cases in 1979, court records show. Peach said, "The problems are complex. It's not strictly or just an issue of housing code enforcement." Peach cited several things, including the age of the city's housing stock and the problem of having a lot of people in the city who are unemployed or hold low-paying jobs.

Peach, Housing Court Judge Arthur Spada and others cited the state flat grant welfare system, saying that it fails to provide adequate money for shelter within the total grant. (Currently, a family of four receives a maximum of $5,351 a year, or $445 a month in welfare payments.) As a consequence, said Spada, "When the choice comes between rent and food, the choice (made) is obvious." 1 ford area. DiBella, whose mix; term ex pires at the end of the year, member of the Hartford City Hartford-born artist Sol LeWitt became the frontrunner for a $100,000 commission to design and produce a new work for the rebuilt Hartford Civic Center coliseum. LeWitt, known best for his sculptures involving geometric solids, plans a wall drawing at the coliseum. RON ROBILLARD Mil Rebillard suggested that if the city had enforced the code all along, it wouldn't be in the position it's in now.

City officials have estimated there are about 12,000 units of substandard housing in the city, out of an estimated housing stock of 60,000 units. For years, the city has lost several hundred units of housing each year to abandonment with almost no new housing being built And much of the city's housing stock was built before the 1940s. A study done last year by La Casa de Puerto Rico, an Hispanic research agency, found that 33 percent of the Hispanics surveyed in one city neighborhood lived in buildings with code violations recorded by city inspectors. Raphael L. Podolsky, an attorney and long-time tenant advocate, said that in most occupied Hartford buildings, "a relatively small amount of money can do a lot" toward bringing substandard buildings into compliance and preventing further deterio million in federal funds was received, Zibbideo said.

Under the program, additional staff was hired, including six inspectors, and door-to-door inspections were conducted in target areas. Loans or grants were made to landlords for repairs, he said. The program had a snowball effect. When owners cited for violations fixed up their properties, neighboring owners fixed up theirs too, Zibbideo said. Hartford City Manager Donald C.

Peach believes the city's current plan will deal with possible displacement caused by increased code enforcement. steps include contracting with neighborhood organizations to work with tenants and landlords to prevent deterioration, and abandonment and requesting capital funds in the next budget to use for maintenance of existing housing. Also, as a last resort, the city will continue to seek rent receiverships when it's not possible for landlords to maintain buildings is a former jST Council. 1 A Borderline Question, Page 36 Fishing Fleet's Last Hope, Page 37 Luxury Condominium Boom, Page 38-.