January 22, 1972

71 persons indicted in steal-a-car-to-order ring that allegedly operates out of Army and Navy store in Bedford-Stuyvesant sec of Bklyn, selling 4,500 luxury autos in last 3 yrs; FBI agents arrest 58 suspects in various parts of US, including 23 who were accused of being buyers; indictment names 48 persons as car thieves, 27 of whom are arraigned in Fed Ct, Bklyn; they plead not guilty and are released in bail for hearing Jan 27; alleged thefts of late model Cadillacs, Continentals and Buicks totaled about $8-million; FBI Dir Hoover calls ring 'one of largest ever uncovered' by FBI; central figure named is R J Clark; other suspects listed; ring reptdly consisted of 6 loosely federated groups; alleged methods of operations described

Bellevue Hosp dir Weinstein, in confidential rept to NYC Health & Hosps Corp, says projected psychiatric div occupancy rate for hosp for June '72 is 114%

Laotian troops suffer setback on ridge near Long Tieng base; counterattacking enemy forces overrun some positions, hand-to-hand fighting for control of installation reptd; Laotians forced to abandon a helicopter landing pad; US officer repts Amer jets have difficulty in silencing N Vietnamese long-range arty firing on Long Tieng from southern edge of the nearby Plaine des Jarres; map

Swiss banking sources say that 'H R Hughes' who opened account in Swiss Credit Bank in Zurich was not billionaire recluse Howard Hughes but German-speaking blonde in her early thirties who used a forged Swiss passport as identification; say she opened account with $50,000 Bankers Trust Co check in May '71 and made 2 other deposits of $275,000 and $325,000; total was subsequently withdrawn; all 3 checks were installments of royalties McGraw-Hill arranged to pay H R Hughes for book; sources say they are able to identify H R Hughes as woman because bank keeps written descriptions of all people who personally open accounts; information on H R Hughes became available after bank became suspicious that account was used to perpetrate fraud; Swiss banks usually go to great lengths to protect their clients under rigorous 34 banking code, which makes betrayal of banking secrets a prison offense, but secrecy provisions are waived when banks have reason to believe swindles and other criminal activities are involved; Zurich banking sources indicate that if there were some scheme to obtain money illegally, culprits might not have expected Hughes to react so forcefully; also say that not many people know that Swiss banks sometimes open their account books; all transfers of money were handled through Irving

Greater NY's Blue Cross pres Coleman says that orgn proposes to broaden its coverage to include home hemodialysis for subscribers suffering from kidney failure; notes that hemodialysis techniques have developed to point where many patients can be treated at less expense and greater convenience at home