August 30, 1982

Clashes between Justice Department officials and a dispute involving the House Ethics Committee marked weeks of negotiations that ended in the resignation and guilty pleas of Representative Frederick W. Richmond of Brooklyn, according to Federal lawenforcement officials and others involved in the negotiations. One key dispute concerned the question of whether Mr. Richmond should have been forced to resign - an issue that became academic because he offered to step down. The Federal officials and one of Mr. Richmond's lawyers said the United States Attorney in Brooklyn had first arranged, in early August, for Mr. Richmond to dispose of a range of criminal allegations by resigning and pleading guilty to a single charge. That charge, of filing a false tax statement, would have carried a maximum three-year prison sentence.

Four years after the start of legalized gambling and with nine casinos in operation, the gaming industry is coming back from a losing season and shows promise of making Atlantic City the nation's gambling capital by the end of the decade. This summer, the crowds heading into the casinos are larger than ever. The recession, which has slowed growth in Las Vegas for the first time in 25 years, actually seems to have been good for Atlantic City, bringing in vacationers who are loath to pay the air fare to Nevada but evidently eager to risk their money closer to home. Last month was the best yet, with total gambling revenues of $159.2 million, or $5.1 million a day. Last year, the casinos had $1.1 billion in gambling revenues - ''winnings,'' in the industry term for the amount of money gambled and lost by players at gaming tables and slot machines. Figures are less precise for Nevada, but analysts who follow the industry estimate that the Las Vegas area, with legalized gambling for 51 years and with 132 casinos, had gambling revenues of approximately $1.7 billion last year.

Citizens' crime-watching groups, scattered and isolated 10 years ago, have now enlisted more than five million members and are gaining recognition from the police and other experts as a highly effective force against crime. Often operating with direct channels to police departments, the groups patrol their neighborhoods in radio-equipped cars, walk their blocks and scan their apartment complexes, reporting what they see and hear but rarely confronting criminals. Increasingly they are organized on a national basis. ''They give us more eyes and ears -that's the big thing,'' said George W. Rush, a patrolman who responded to a citizen-patrol call here in Lower Merion Township, a section of the Philadelphia area's Main Line. ''Wherever the watches do a good job, you find that they cut crime quite a bit,'' said Ferris Lucas, executive director of the National Sheriffs Association, which began organizing groups nationwide about 10 years ago. The units it sponsors are called Neighborhood Watches.

Phil Simms, the Giants' quarterback, is scheduled to undergo surgery Monday morning that will probably put him out for the season. At best, he will be lost for five or six weeks, and Coach Ray Perkins held out little hope for that. Simms injured his right knee in the first quarter of Saturday night's 22-10 exhibition victory over the Jets at Giants Stadium. Scott Brunner finished the game and completed 10 of 24 passes for 89 yards, with three interceptions and three sacks.

The business climate may be bleak for most people, but these are golden days for Michael Crames, the bankruptcy lawyer who represents the Manville Corporation - and Braniff, White Motors, Brentano's, McLouth Steel, Bobbie Brooks and more than 100 other companies that have filed bankruptcy petitions in the last few years. ''My life changed in 1977 when United Merchants and Manufacturers walked into my office,'' said Mr. Crames, the leading force in the 14-lawyer firm of Levin & Weintraub. ''It consumed my life for almost a year, and then, almost immediately, Food Fair exploded. Since then, it's been one major company after another -and the problem companies have been getting bigger and bigger.'' So has the reputation of Mr. Crames. In a legal specialty that has traditionally been regarded as even less appetizing than divorce work, Mr. Crames has emerged as a national superstar.