June 27, 1989

LEAD: The Supreme Court refused to narrow the scope of the Federal racketeering law, which has become a weapon in private lawsuits. Page D1.

LEAD: Yaacov Szklaniewicz was a carpenter. He was born in Kolno, Poland, in 1793 and died there in 1870. Little else is known about him, except that he had four children. And they had his 21 grandchildren. And they had his 96 great-grandchildren. And they had his 286 great-great-grandchildren. And they had his 483 great-great-great-grandchildren.

LEAD: I.B.M.'s newly disclosed lead in the manufacturing of a high-capacity chip could give the computer giant a significant advantage over its domestic and international competitors at a time of transition to powerful systems that require large amounts of computer memory.

LEAD: Job-hopping has always been common on Wall Street, but the First Boston Corporation has suffered more than its share of departures in recent months. Those who have left include a senior executive in London, a core group of international merger specialists, the top energy team, and the heads of the equities, convertible securities, asset management and risk arbitrage departments.

LEAD: A BASIC misunderstanding of the structure of solid tumors has led researchers to design cancer drugs that are doomed to fail in many patients, a growing number of researchers say. The problem applies to the new, highly touted biological therapies like monoclonal antibodies, as well as to conventional cancer chemotherapy.