January 3, 1972

Jan 3: Pres Nixon says high US unemployment rate in Johnson Adm had been partly a result of the war and that the current rate rose to about 6% because the war is winding down, TV int by D Rather; says US wage‐price controls are necessary ‘to break the inflationary psychology’ created by the war

Team of well‐dressed gunmen takes over fashionable Pierre Hotel, Manhattan, for nearly 2 hrs before dawn, handcuffs 19 employes and guests and loots 47 safe‐deposit boxes of jewelry and cash; loss could total over $1‐million; NYC Police Chief of Detectives Seedman says evidence indicates that gang was same one that robbed Drake Hotel of $15,000 on Xmas morning; says gang probably got ‘mainly’ jewelry; contends men who rifled boxes obtained guest list from clerk and appeared to have chosen boxes most likely to contain jewelry; hotel mgr J V Bennett holds boxes were opened ‘randomly'; no one is harmed by holdup men; witnesses say team consisted of 4 to 5 white men in their 30s; hotel security dir Keeney says they appeared to be ‘pros'; gunmen, who posed as new guests, arrived in limousine; Seedman says FBI is investigating possibility that robbery might have been ‘out‐of‐state’ job; robbery described; illus; map shows sequence of robbery

fate of NYC transit pkg, which involves TB&TA toll rises, remains uncertain as Gov Rockefeller meets with NYS Legis leaders

Legislature: NYS Dems are preparing ct challenge to Repub Legis reapportionment plan; contend plan would give unfair advantage to Repubs for next decade; ILGWU official D I Wells contends new Sen and Assembly dists are not compact and contiguous in violation of NYS Const; holds many dist unnecessarily cross county lines; cites examples; holds gerrymandering charge may also be possible ground for suit; says suit cannot be filed until Gov Rockefeller signs reapportionment bill; maps show new Sen and Assembly dists in NYC met area