March 27, 1973

Asst US Atty Silbert discloses on Mar 26 that Watergate conspirator McCord twice turned down Govt offers of reduced charges in return for telling what he knew about case, telephone int; says he is baffled by McCord's decision to start talking now before select Sen com; says 1st offer was made in Oct and would have resulted in dropping of 7 of 8 charges against McCord; McCord's 2 attys, G Alch and B Shankman, who conveyed offer, were said to have advised their client to accept it; 2d prosecution offer, made in Jan at initiative of McCord's attys, would have involved dropping of 5 charges against him in return for his acknowledgment that he would testify before grand jury; explains that he and his colleagues singled out McCord for offer because, of 5 men caught inside Dem hq, he obviously was highest in 'conspiratorial hierarchy'; Silbert and his chief aide S Glanzer emphasize that no evidence was brought before them during investigation and trial to link other officials of Nixon's re-election com with knowledge of Dem party telephone tap; refuse to discuss any possible involvement of J S Magruder, who, along with J W Dean 3d, was reptdly named by McCord as knowing in advance of Watergate operations

NYC Tax Comm records disclosed by city show apparent discrepancies involving substantial reductions in tax-assessment valuation granted in '72 to 2 of mid-town's largest new skyscrapers--1515 B'way, also called One Astor Plaza, and 1114 Ave of Americas; reductions of $4.5-million in 1 case and $2.9-million in other were granted after owners sought even greater cuts on grounds that bldgs were 'not occupied' or were producing 'no income'; check of bldgs shows that each had at least 1 major paying tenant occupying 4 floors for part of '71; both reductions, which produced total tax savings for 2 bldgs of nearly $450,000, were granted by N A Levy, then pres of Tax Comm, after customary private hearing with applicants' lawyer A M Lindenbaum, whose law firm of Lindenbaum & Young appears before many city bds, and has been major political supporter of Controller A D Beame; Levy was criticized in Feb by NYS Comm of Investigation for granting $1-million reduction in '70 to another office bldg on 77 Water St in lower Manhattan without proper investigation; Lindenbaum, former member of City Planning Comm who was forced to resign in '61 after openly collecting political contributions from then-Mayor R F Wagner, declines to comment on cases; 1515 B'way is owned by Astorill Associates and 1114 Ave of Americas is owned by J D Weiler; cases detailed

NYS State State Sen J J Marchi on Mar 26 announces his candidacy for NYC Repub mayoral nomination and several hrs later is endorsed by NYS Repub Chmn Rosenbaum and NYC's 5 Repub county leaders; moves come day after R F Wagner rejects mayoral candidacy on Repub line and 2 other potential candidates, US Sen Javits and US Repr Biaggi, Dem, indicate some interest in Repub nomination; Rosenbaum concedes that quick move by Repub leaders has effect of short-circuiting any moves by Javits and Biaggi; notes that Gov Rockefeller had given advance approval of Marchi endorsement if that was county leaders' consensus; Rockefeller reacts to Wagner's rejection of Repub support by turning other cheek and indicating he would support Wagner even if he does not run as Repub; declares 'I think he should be elected'; illustrations of Marchi and Biaggi

special Sen com investigating Watergate conspiracy meets privately on Mar 26 to hear synopsis of 2 long ints its staff held last wk with J W McCord Jr; NY Times confirms that McCord said that 2 officials identified with Adm had prior knowledge of plot; earlier repts had said that McCord attributed such knowledge to J W Dean 3d and J S Magruder; White House denied repts; Los Angeles Times, quoting source familiar with ints, publishes rept on Mar 26 quoting McCord as having named Dean and Magruder as among those with prior knowledge of spying; Washington Star-News says that McCord 'encountered on a Washington street today' said published repts of what he told com chief counsel S Dash were correct; says McCord apparently referred to Los Angeles Times account according to which, McCord told Dash that Magruder lied at trial in Jan, when he denied any advance knowledge of effort to wiretap telephones at Dem natl hq last yr; aslo quotes McCord as having told Sen investigator that Magruder should have identified Dean as another official who knew about espionage operation before it was broken up; says McCord also told Dash that E H Hunt Jr exerted pressure on 4 co-conspirators to plead guilty, telling them they would receive 'exec clemency' and money for doing so; summary of Magruder's testimony in Watergate trial; Dean's personal atty T F Hogan says that Dean has asked him to warn newspapers that publication of McCord's charges is potentially libelous; Dean is reptdly also considering legal action against news orgns that rept McCord's allegations concerning him; Fed grand jury goes back into session on Mar 26 and summons G G Liddy from jail as its 1st witness; Liddy declines to answer about 20 questions on 5th Amendment grounds; his atty, P Maroulis, asks Judge Sirica to postpone immunity hearing to let him study queries; repr for Barker, Martinez, Sturgis and Gonzales says they will appear before grand jury but will seek immunity if questioning goes beyond scope of crimes for which they have been convicted; White House says Pres Nixon discussed repts of McCord's testimony with Dean on Mar 26 and that Pres has 'absolute and total confidence' in his counsel; repr for 4 men who peaded guilty in case says they will not meet 'informally' with Sen com investigators as McCord has done but will testify before grand jury when summoned; Sen Weicker says he has 'always been convinced' that others in White House knew of espionage campaign; says he has complete faith that Pres personally has nothing to hide; illus of Sen com's minority counsel F Thompson and chief counsel S Dash

former UMW organizer W J Prater on Mar 26 is convicted on 3 counts of 1st-degree murder in '69 slayings of union reformer J Yablonski and his wife and daughter; faces mandatory sentence of life imprisonment on each count; scene at ct-room described; Prater's atty H D Rothman says decision will be appealed; special prosecutor R A Sprague tells jury that former UMW pres W A Boyle was person who 'set this chain of events in motion'; case revd; Prater illus