June 17, 2000

court rules father of the blues h7

Indiana Pacers defeat Los Angeles Lakers, 120-87, in Game 5 of National Basketball Association Finals; Lakers lead series 3-2; photo (M)

Senate approves, 87-0, bill allowing consumer and businesses to sign contracts online and know that e-signature is just as binding as one in ink; law giving electronic signatures legal weight of paper signatures will enable consumers to sign legally enforceable contracts for health insurance, bank loans and brokerage accounts over Internet, around the clock and with no delay; financial institutions and insurance firms will save billions of dollars by eliminating paperwork and storing records electronically; bill allows consumers to choose whether to do business on paper or on-line; consumer advocates fear new frauds; Margot Saunders of Consumer Law Center warns that consumers will be left to 'prove a negative' if their signatures are forged (M)

Article recounts violence that erupted during New York City's Puerto Rican Day Parade as mobs of young men assaulted women in and around Central Park; reviews controversy over police response, noting that while officers wrote hundreds of citations for public drinking, there was widespread feeling among people at scene that gross misconduct went virtually ignored; photos; Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and police officials strongly disagree, even as growing number of witnesses say officers failed again and again to provide even mild response to obvious disorder and lawlessness, or to specific complaints by women; Sharon Brown, 52-year-old Texas teacher who was one of four tourists accosted near Metropolitan Museum, asks if it is 'normal to just turn the city over to those kinds of people'; most serious assaults took place near Central Park South, where officers witnesses say police had clear view of mobs that attacked and stripped women, includine one who ran naked to police scooter; Rita Berlin describes pushing through drunken crowds to get to work that afternoon, saying it was worst day she has ever seen in New York (L)

Two sons who tried to follow their fathers' career paths will spend Father's Day in prison; fathers are John J Gotti, convicted boss of Gambino crime family, and Carmine J Persico, imprisoned leader of Colombo family; Gotti, 59, and Persico, 66, have been accused by prosecutors of being heads of nation's largest and deadlist Mafia families; their sons, John A Gotti, 36, and Alphonse T Persico, 46, are also behind prison walls, mainly as a consequence of their fathers' criminal empires; photos (L)