August 7, 1972

SEC announces on Aug 6 that it is considering possible action against former officers of Penn Central in connection with sales of rr's stock, massive rept on financial collapse of rr; SEC Chmn Casey details sales by 15 officers of Penn Central stock; sales are said to raise most serious questions as to whether sales were based on material inside information; rept says 15 officers, who, prior to bankruptcy, sold 70% of stock they owned at time of merger, include officials of finance and operating depts; asserts these officers apparently had access to information concerning state of Penn Central's affairs; declares merger of Penna and NY Central RRs in Feb '68 was doomed from start because of poor planning, lack of capital and exec in-fighting; adds that financial crisis of merged rr was known to mgt even at time of merger; Casey notes that annual repts for '68,'69 and '70 obscured rr's further movement into debt amid mounting operating losses; SEC rept cites stock sales by Penphil, private investment co, whose stockholders included Penn Central officer D C Bevan, and other members of Penna RR Co's financial dept; details Bevan's '69 stock sales; notes S Saunders, bd chmn and chief exec officer of rr, sold no rr stock after '67, even though his 45,000 shares represented almost his whole fortune; says all officers questioned denied any of their sales were made on basis of inside information; rept was prepared by HR special subcom on investigations headed by Repr H O Staggers; officers whose stock transactions were cited in rept, in addition to Bevan and W R Gerstnecker, are R Haslett, J O'Herron, S H Hellenbrand, T K Warner Jr, R G Flannery, A P Funkhouser, H W Large, A E Perlman, D E Smucker, J R Sullivan, G W Knight, W A Lashley and B Roberts

article describes father-son picnic held in Green Haven maximum security prison Stormville, NY, part of pre-release program in cooperation with South Forty Corp, non-profit group active at prison, and new prison Supt L Vincent; corp also sponsors camp for 24 sons of prison inmates near prison; illus of picnic

Knapp Comm, completing 2-yr investigation into police corruption in NYC, issues on Aug 6 series of major recommendations to combat corruption; major recommendations include: appointment by NYS Gov Rockefeller of special deputy atty gen to combat corruption among police, prosecutors and judges in city; legalization of additional forms of gambling, elimination of Sabbath laws and withdrawal of police from enforcement of regulations concerning construction, restaurants and sale of liquor; creation within Police Dept of an independent agency whose sole responsibility would be to arrest corrupt policemen and those who bribe them; placement of special emphasis on arrest of bribers, especially businessmen and lawyers; maintenance of up-to-date photos of all policemen and centralization of files to facilitate corruption investigations within dept; arrangement of line-ups so that witnesses can identify police suspects without being seen themselves; extension of power of Police Comr to deal with corruption by changing Civil Service laws to permit penalties for more than loss of 30 days pay but less than dismissal, and also to permit reductions in rank for capts, lts and sgts found guilty of serious charges; modification of present dept procedures that sometimes encourage corruption by permitting policemen to be reimbursed for legitimate expenses, providing payments for some informants, eliminating any arrest quotas and providing facilities where policemen can sleep if they must wait several hrs after regular tours of duty before testifying in ct; other recommendations and findings noted; Gov Rockefeller, city and police officials comment; comm members Knapp, C R Vance, J E Sprizzo, J Monserrat and F A Thomas illus

Grant, William T

article discusses wave of senseless killing in Belfast which has left 38 civilians, 20 of them Caths and 18 of them Prots, dead; killings are classified by police as motiveless and mindless; estimates by some groups show that about 25 killings can be traced to Prot gunmen and 12 to Caths; some specific killings described