
##3001650 <p> In his telephone calls to Mexico , Victor A. Martinez Pastrana had told his wife little beyond the fact that he lived in an apartment in Manhattan with a friend , whom he simply called " Chava , " and washed dishes in a restaurant he never named at the World Trade Center with a fellow Mexican from Puebla . <p> Illegal immigrants like Mr. Martinez Pastrana by necessity lead lives with few traceable details , but now that traditional survival tactic has come back to haunt his wife , Rosario Arrazola . Mr. Martinez Pastrana , who was 38 , is believed to have disappeared in the rubble of the towers on Sept. 11 , leaving Ms. Arrazola with the almost impossible task of trying to prove that her husband worked there . Without such proof , she has been unable to obtain a death certificate and may be shut out of a range of financial aid available to survivors . <p> And without the death certificate , she said , she is not protected by a Mexican government policy under which her house payments would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patrimony that my husband left me , and I 'm about to lose it , " Ms. Arrazola , who has three children , said in a telephone interview from Puebla . <p> Illegal immigrants who were the breadwinners for families not just in Mexico , but in Ecuador , Colombia , Pakistan and West Africa died in the collapse of the World Trade Center . Mostly men , they worked in all-but-invisible jobs as delivery boys , kitchen aides and maintenance workers . They were often absent from official payrolls , sometimes rooming with other men who had no family in the city , leaving few if any traces to avoid deportation . <p> But in the aftermath of a tragedy in which terrorism was the great equalizer , the survivors of these victims have encountered unique problems in navigating the bureaucracy of death , say lawyers , immigrant groups and consular officials . <p> And while many have received charitable contributions from the Red Cross , private groups and churches , they are also being denied significant financial assistance , because more often than not , they are also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of discrimination imaginable , " said Bill Granfield , president of Local 100 of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union . " We 've been able to get them short-term assistance , but their long-term prospects are very much in doubt . " <p> Among the 43 members of Local 100 lost at Windows on the World Restaurant , 15 were illegal workers , 13 of them male , Mr. Granfield said . He said relatives were covered by life insurance , and the union also helped them secure charitable aid by filling out paperwork , gathering documents and even obtaining legal representation to push applications for aid through . <p> But unlike the families of legal workers , these relatives are not eligible for much of the assistance that helps rebuild lives , such as unemployment insurance , state workers ' compensation and federal Social Security benefits for survivors . <p> The illegal status of the survivors also means they do not qualify for federal assistance like subsidized housing and emergency help with bills and food , lawyers handling their cases say . Even some private organizations have denied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawyers and immigrant groups said . <p> The National Association of Realtors , for instance , gave away $8.3 million to more than 1,000 families -- more than half of that to families in New York -- to help them meet rent and mortgage payments so they would not lose their homes . But recipients had to be citizens or legal residents . " We wanted to support the families of people who were here legally , " said Steve Cook , a spokesman for the group . <p> But this stance has curtailed aid to one of the neediest groups , some lawyers for the immigrants argued . <p> " These deaths left behind women who by virtue of their culture , their lack of education , their lack of fluency in English and their child-rearing responsibilities , will have difficulties getting jobs , and they 're living off whatever assistance they get , " said Debra Brown Steinberg , a partner with Cadwalader , Wickersham &; Taft and one of the lawyers working free for immigrant families affected by the terrorist attack . <p> The exact number of illegal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known , but it is believed to be small . Nonetheless , their survivors have faced obstacles that have complicated not only their recovery , but their grieving . Some immigration groups have called for the government to grant legal residency to survivors who lost loved ones to terrorism . <p> A 25-year-old widow in Queens said her main problem was finding a low-cost apartment for her and her young child after her husband , who made about $3,000 a month , disappeared . " They ask for a Social Security number , " she said of landlords . " They ask me if I work , and when I say no , they think I wo n't be able to pay for the apartment . " <p> A 34-year-old Canadian woman whose husband was an American and was sponsoring her application for legal status says she is now in limbo , not knowing whether she and her two children will eventually be forced to leave the country . <p> " Starting over with them would be like losing again , " she said . <p> Unlike most widows , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arrazola said she last saw hers in April 1999 , when he set out to cross the border illegally through Tijuana , looking for a better-paying job . <p> On Sept. 11 , she watched the tragedy unfold from afar , then came to New York with her children last November to give DNA evidence . She was flown here by the Red Cross . <p> No boss greeted her to give her condolences . She did not know where to go to retrieve her husband 's personal belongings . <p> She knew so little about him in New York , she said , because when he called home with calling cards every 15 days around 9 p.m. , he usually had more pressing business than to talk about himself . Instead , he would use up his cards saying hello to his three children and trying a little long-distance child rearing . " I 'd complain to him and then I 'd put on the child who misbehaved and he 'd tell him to obey me , " Ms. Arrazola , 35 , said . <p> Ms. Arrazola said she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . Their oldest son 's birthday was Sept. 13 , she said , and there was no call from his father . <p> " He never missed calling on a birthday , " she said . <p> Ms. Arrazola 's husband is among 16 illegal immigrants from Mexico whose families reported them missing after the trade center attack . The reports were made to the Mexican Consulate in New York City . <p> Norberto Terrazas , the consul in charge of legal affairs , said that in 12 of the 16 cases , relatives were still waiting for a death certificate , mostly because some of the information needed to prove that the person was at the trade center had been hard to come by . There are no payroll check stubs and receipts for remittances , for instance , if workers were paid in cash and they sent money to relatives with friends , he said . <p> City officials say safeguards are required to prevent fraud and that the decision on death certificates is ultimately that of the Surrogate Court of the City of New York . Those who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the identification of remains or for three years to petition the court directly , they said . <p> Other family members are still trying to prove their loved ones ' employment in the towers and struggling with requirements that legal residents can easily meet , said Joel Magallan , a Jesuit brother who is the executive director of Asociacion Tepeyac de New York , a group that has been coordinating relief for relatives of undocumented victims . <p> In recent weeks , Tepeyac has tried to coax employers to report names . " Our lists could expand , " he said . <p> There are better situations . Families whose loved ones belonged to unions have received significant support in pursuing their claims , and in some instances getting visas for children and other relatives overseas to reunify families . Some employers have been forthcoming in identifying illegal workers and providing evidence of employment . <p> A major source of financial assistance to survivors -- the federal Victims Compensation Fund -- is available to those illegally in the country . Kenneth R. Feinberg , the official who oversees the fund , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ apply without fear of deportation . He said the same immunity from prosecution had been offered to employers who hired illegal workers so they could come forward with financial information . But he conceded that it might be difficult for people who worked off the books to meet some requirements , such as proving economic loss . <p> In Puebla , Ms. Arrazola makes do by selling tostadas , chalupas and fritters from her doorstep . She said she had received scholarships for her children 's education this year and about $9,000 in aid , with checks from a cultural institute in Mexico , from the Tepeyac Association , and from the Robin Hood Foundation . <p> She said her husband of 18 years had left for the United States because his children , who attended private school , were approaching college age and what he made as a chef in Mexico would soon hardly be enough . <p> " He always thought education was the least we could leave them , " she said . <p> Mr. Martinez Pastrana 's first trip back home was scheduled for this coming July @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . <p> But he never set a return date to come home for good . He used to tell his children the towers where he worked were so high he was really not that far . <p> " I can see you all from here , " he said . <p> URL : http : //www.nytimes.com 
##3001652 <p> Over the last four years , alone on the witness stand in federal court or huddled in back rooms with federal agents , Mani Chulpayev has turned in what federal officials have called one of the most remarkable mob turncoat performances in memory . <p> He has testified about an arson that leveled an entire block in Queens , about multiple extortions backed by beatings , about kidnappings , rampant Medicaid fraud , jewelry theft and trafficking in prostitutes . <p> Prosecutors have hailed Mr. Chulpayev , 25 , as one of the most important cooperating witnesses in the history of the government 's battle against Russian organized crime . One called him " by far and away the most intelligent and sophisticated cooperating witness I have ever dealt with . " <p> Certainly , he 's been productive . <p> Mr. Chulpayev 's cooperation has yielded more than a dozen felony convictions , solved scores of violent crimes , and helped bring down not just his own " brigade , " as the Russians called it , but members of as many as 10 other brigades @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only exemplified a wider phenomenon that few predicted a decade ago , when New York and the rest of America first became aware of the threat of Russian organized crime . Mr. Chulpayev , after all , was but the latest in a parade of informants whose abundant cooperation with the government in recent years has shed remarkable light on the inner workings of Russian crime in America and , prosecutors say , substantially blunted its growth . <p> A decade ago , many feared that Russian crime groups in America would be intimately linked to the burgeoning organized crime groups in the former Soviet Union . Instead , they now appear to have only tenuous and incidental links to criminal groups there , law enforcement officials and independent experts say . <p> Moreover , large-scale , highly structured Russian groups rivaling those of La Cosa Nostra , able to rig public contracts or dominate labor unions , for example , have yet to materialize in this country , officials say . <p> Yet perhaps the most surprising development has been the drumbeat of betrayals , which longtime observers of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pervasive suspicion and treachery that has impeded the development of long-term conspiracies and big-time bosses . <p> " At the beginning of the 1990 's , the belief was , among American law enforcement officials and academics , that Soviets would never turn on each other , " recalled Joseph D. Serio , a research associate at Sam Houston State University in Texas who has studied Russian crime for the last decade . " It was also widely believed that the Russians endured so much in the Soviet Union that they would endure any hardship rather than cooperate . But they found out that these people would offer as much as necessary to get out of jail . " <p> Using laws developed to combat traditional Mafia families , notably the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act , or RICO , which permits lengthy prison sentences for participants in a conspiracy , federal authorities have had far more success than they had in the early decades of La Cosa Nostra 's growth in convicting criminals . <p> Small free-floating brigades like Mr. Chulpayev 's have come to be the norm , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scams and counterfeiting . Sophisticated , well-educated and multiethnic , they have sprouted up in virtually every state , and they can steal millions . <p> But they are also hobbled by a culture of betrayal . <p> The culture of Russian crime -- or rather , Eurasian crime , as officials hasten to clarify , since it involves the full range of ethnic groups and regions in the former Soviet Union -- could be seen in the rapid rise and fall of Mr. Chulpayev 's brigade . He described those workings in many hours of interviews with federal agents and prosecutors , and on the witness stand last month in an arson case in federal court in Brooklyn . <p> With short dark hair and broad shoulders , smartly casual in a long-sleeved white T-shirt and black jeans , Mr. Chulpayev testified in a courtroom that was mostly empty , except for several rows of Bukharan Jewish emigres from the former Soviet republics of Central Asia , whose community in Rego Park , Queens , produced Mr. Chulpayev and some of his criminal confederates , and not a few of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with his family in 1989 and settled in Rego Park . He eventually went to work with his father , who owned several food carts . But pretzels and sausages soon gave way to extortion rackets in Brooklyn , Mr. Chulpayev testified . " I was driven by greed , " he said . <p> Mr. Chulpayev and others extorted money -- as much as $500 was the weekly tribute -- from furniture stores , restaurants , bakeries and travel agencies , and he enforced the payments with pistols , knives and stun guns . With two friends , Alexander Kutsenko and Anya Rits , who were later convicted of conspiracy charges , Mr. Chulpayev began pimping prostitutes , two or three at a time , importing them from Moscow and Tashkent on six-month contracts , he testified . <p> Dimitri Gufield , who was also later convicted of conspiracy , joined the crew in 1997 , court papers said . <p> What came to be called the Gufield-Kutsenko Brigade , prosecutors say , had just six active members , with five or six associates . It rose and fell in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abductions and firebombings in Queens and Brooklyn , netting tens of thousands of dollars in white-collar frauds , and then imploding . <p> " The Gufield gang was one step up from a street gang , " said Thomas Firestone , the assistant United States attorney who prosecuted the brigade . " It was very loosely structured , with no formal inductions , no formal rules of conduct , no affiliation with a bigger organization , no soldiers or captains , no single boss . It had a diversified portfolio . " <p> Mr. Chulpayev was the bookkeeper for the crew , " the money handler and the scheme organizer , " he testified . " I came up with the scams . " <p> Medicaid fraud was the biggest earner , generating $40,000 to $50,000 per month , he said . Eurasian gangs with more experience have earned millions per month through such fraud , federal officials say . <p> From the start , brigade life was fraught with mutual suspicion . <p> " Traditionally these people just do n't trust each other enough , " said Mr. Serio . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Russian history . " <p> By Mr. Chulpayev 's account , the Gufield-Kutsenko Brigade was riven with distrust . He testified , for example , that Mr. Gufield laid down a requirement that 20 percent of the crew 's income had to be paid up to an unspecified higher authority . Mr. Chulpayev said that he and Mr. Kutsenko were concerned that Mr. Gufield was pocketing the money . <p> Federal officials said that once Mr. Chulpayev turned a federal informant , he provided information about fledgling efforts of 10 brigades in New York , New Jersey and Philadelphia to coordinate their activities in a manner that more closely resembled the Italian model . The authorities moved to scrutinize them more carefully , and more than a dozen members were indicted . The attempt to consolidate was sidetracked , officials said . <p> Law enforcement officials say the parade of turncoats has compounded the culture of suspicion and betrayal and impeded the development of larger conglomerates . <p> " No one disputes that Russian crime is a worldwide problem , " said Raymond Kerr , the special agent in charge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in New York . " But they have not managed to institutionalize themselves in America . Big organizations like Cosa Nostra do n't exist . It has not taken off the way that many feared . " <p> The most notable early Russian turncoat was Yossif A. Roizis , a former Soviet reform school dropout who moved to Brooklyn in the 1970 's and rose to prominence in the heroin trade in league with La Cosa Nostra . In the mid-1990 's he helped the government convict the notorious Brighton Beach heroin smuggler Boris Nayfeld and the multiple murderer Monya Elson , law enforcement officials said . <p> Mr. Nayfeld and Mr. Elson have cooperated with investigators , officials said . They have since been released from prison , and are living without government protection . So far there have been no attempts on their lives . " It says that there is no centralized mechanism to exact vengeance , " said a federal law enforcement official . <p> Mr. Chulpayev was arrested in April 1998 , after a furniture store owner in Brooklyn complained to the F.B.I . about extortion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he testified , delivering a prostitute to a group of Russian doctors there , for $4,000 a month . He decided to cooperate . <p> Mr. Chulpayev wore a wire and recorded conversations with nine different mobsters . Mr. Chulpayev gave the F.B.I . extensive information about connections between Eurasian organized crime and Italian crime families in New York . One associate of Mr. Chulpayev 's brigade who pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges was linked to the Lucchese crime family . Early investors in his prostitution ring were linked to the Colombo crime family . <p> " There are many cases of Russians and Italians working together , " Mr. Firestone said . " We see the Russians coming up with the schemes , and the Italians providing the muscle . " <p> Mr. Chulpayev 's cooperation coincided with that of Alexander Spitchenko , a convicted kidnapper and extortionist who , since his arrest in 1998 , has provided investigators with information that helped bring down nearly a dozen people as well as his own gang . It was in the yard of Mr. Spitchenko 's suburban New Jersey home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kobozev , the Russian boxer and United States cruiserweight champion whose disappearance in 1995 had mystified investigators for more than three years . <p> In last month 's arson case , the defendant , Daniel Kandhorov , was acquitted in a case that highlighted the hazards of cooperating witnesses like Mr. Chulpayev . Mr. Kandhorov , a Rego Park deli owner , was accused of commissioning Mr. Chulpayev 's brigade to burn down a rival business . But defense lawyers subjected Mr. Chulpayev to withering interrogation on his criminal career , undermining his credibility with jurors . <p> Nevertheless , though Mr. Chulpayev himself had pleaded guilty to the arson and many other crimes that could have earned him life in prison , Federal District Judge Nina Gershon sentenced him to time served -- less than five years since his arrest -- and ordered him into witness protection . <p> " I am sorry for all my actions , " Mr. Chulpayev told Judge Gershon . " I have learned that easy money could lead me to spend the rest of my life behind bars . I want to thank the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cooperate . " <p> URL : http : //www.nytimes.com 
##3001653 <p> First there was a lottery company that tried to sell socks bearing the likeness of the actor James Dean and that now makes coatings and sealants from recycled tires . <p> Then came the gambling company with financial problems whose principals were recently indicted on charges of bank fraud and tax evasion . <p> Next was an electrical-equipment distributor that metamorphosed into a cash-poor operator of Eastern European health clinics . <p> It was followed by a golf-club maker that became an Internet marketer and , briefly , the distributor of a disease-fighting Korean nasal spray . <p> Finally , there was the company that claimed to be selling building blocks in India and , after Sept. 11 , announced that it had products to thwart terrorists -- until regulators stepped in . And last week , federal prosecutors unsealed a securities fraud indictment of the company 's former chairman . <p> All these businesses share the financial losses , troubled track records and shape-shifting business plans that are the hallmarks of penny stocks , the low-priced shares that flourish on the shady side of Wall Street @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gargano has served on their boards of directors , while also serving as chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation . <p> Empire State Development is responsible for doling out millions of dollars in state aid to businesses , a point noted by state legislators who questioned Mr. Gargano 's business dealings when he was appointed in 1995 . A close adviser to Gov . George E. Pataki and a major fund-raiser for the Republican Party , Mr. Gargano has also become an important force in the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan through his role at Empire State and as vice chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey . <p> Through a spokesman , Mr. Gargano declined to comment on his corporate activities . " We 're not going to have much to say , " said the spokesman , Michael Marr , who works for Empire State Development . Mr. Marr said that Mr. Gargano was no longer on any boards . <p> While it is not illegal for someone to lend his prestige to a tiny , troubled company , it is unusual for someone with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remains unclear why Mr. Gargano would be willing to risk his reputation by becoming involved in shaky companies , at least one of which has been accused of defrauding the public . <p> Mr. Gargano appears to have been acquainted with several of the businessmen who ran the companies , two of whom have donated heavily to the Republican Party . He also received stock or other securities for his board membership , though it is unclear how much money these were worth or if he sold them . <p> He listed all but one of these positions , at a company called Eagle Building Technologies , on the annual disclosure forms he filed with the New York State Ethics Commission . The commission discloses investigations only if it finds " reasonable cause " to believe that someone has violated the ethics rules , said Walter C. Ayres , its director of communications . The commission has never issued such a finding in connection with Mr. Gargano , he said . <p> Asked about Mr. Gargano 's corporate affiliations , a spokesman for Mr. Pataki said the governor had confidence in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economic development leader , from Long Island to New York City and throughout upstate , " said the spokesman , Joseph Conway . <p> Mr. Marr said Mr. Gargano resigned from Eagle last Oct. 12 . ( His membership there was first reported by The New York Post in April . ) And since he was appointed chairman of Empire State in 1995 , Mr. Marr said , Mr. Gargano " has attended no board meetings for any company . " <p> In the wake of widespread corporate scandals , Congress , regulators and average Americans have become increasingly critical of figurehead directors who serve on boards . In theory , directors represent a company 's owners -- its shareholders -- and keep an eye out for things like accounting irregularities , stock manipulation and executives with their hands in the corporate cookie jar . <p> Small and shaky companies are often willing to pay well-known people to sit on their boards without doing any work , because their presence helps attract investors , regulators say . " That 's going to change now -- probably about 10 years later than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ director of the Alabama Securities Commission and president of the North American Securities Administrators Association . <p> Executives at several of the companies in question confirm Mr. Marr 's statement that Mr. Gargano did not attend board meetings ; indeed , they said , he did not involve himself at all . " He was an absentee player , basically , " said Dr. Michael Mitchell , a pediatrician and chairman of LCS Golf , where Mr. Gargano became a director in January 1999 . <p> Meyer A. Berman has served on the board of Eagle since February 2001 and is now chairman ( he has bought more than 40 percent of Eagle 's stock and says he is turning the company around ) . Mr. Gargano was not involved in the company , Mr. Berman said , " Not at all , that I guarantee you . " <p> Mr. Berman added , " He never attended a board meeting . " <p> Other executives said that Mr. Gargano gave them advice and served as a sounding board . " I relied on his judgment , " said Salvatore Zizza @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Gargano 's , who ran Lehigh Group , the electrical supplies company . Mr. Gargano was a director from December 1994 through July 1997 , when the company merged with the health clinic operator . <p> Clearly , Mr. Gargano lent cachet to otherwise unprepossessing outfits , like Urecoats , the lottery company turned coatings maker . Richard J. Kurtz , a New Jersey real estate executive and stock investor who became chairman of the company in early 1999 , said that previously , " The only legitimate part of the company was Charles Gargano , to be candid , and the product . " Mr. Gargano joined the company 's board in 1993 , when it was called Winners All , and resigned in August 1999 . <p> Mr. Kurtz and Dr. Mitchell are among several people who turn up more than once in the companies linked to Mr. Gargano , as executives or directors or investors . <p> Another is Anthony M. D'Amato , the former chairman of Eagle Building , who was sued along with the company in March by the Securities and Exchange Commission , which accused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blocks . According to the S.E.C. lawsuit , Mr. D'Amato fabricated millions of dollars of sales in India during 2000 and 2001 , while Mr. Gargano was on the board . In fact , the company had no operations in India , the S.E.C. says . <p> After Sept. 11 , the S.E.C. said , Eagle began issuing false press releases , claiming that it had equipment that could detect explosives and illegal drugs in airports , claims that the Federal Aviation Administration says are untrue . <p> While the company has settled with the S.E.C. , Mr. D'Amato , in his recent answer to the complaint , cited his Fifth Amendment privileges against self-incrimination . <p> Mr. D'Amato , who left Eagle in February , has an unlisted telephone number in Boca Raton , Fla. , and could not be reached for comment ; his lawyer did not return repeated telephone calls . <p> On Thursday , federal prosecutors in Miami unsealed an indictment charging Mr. D'Amato with securities fraud , contending that he paid kickbacks to crooked buyers of Eagle stock in December and January , after Mr. Gargano @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if he had hired a criminal lawyer or entered a plea . <p> In the past , Mr. D'Amato was president of a company called Winner 's Edge.Com , now Sealant Solutions . The current president of that company was indicted along with Mr. D'Amato . According to his disclosure statements , Mr. Gargano has held stock in the company ( formerly UC'NWIN ) since 1995 . <p> Mr. D'Amato has in recent years contributed large sums to the Republican Party , including $25,000 to the 2001 President 's Dinner Committee . He is not related to Alfonse M. D'Amato , the former senator . <p> Mr. Gargano received securities , and does not appear to have received cash , in return for his board services , according to the companies ' filings with the S.E.C. <p> LCS Golf , for example , paid its directors ' fees in stock , which while Mr. Gargano was on the board was worth almost $4 a share , though recently it has been going for about 7 cents . Last August , Mr. Gargano owned 500,000 shares , according to company filings . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mr. Gargano said he owned an undisclosed amount of LCS restricted stock . Restricted stock -- shares that are received directly from a company without a public offering -- must be held for at least a year and can be sold only in limited circumstances . <p> According to Eagle 's annual report for the year 2000 , Mr. Gargano owned more than 33,000 shares . Before he resigned , the company 's shares climbed to more than $8 ; earlier this year , they soared to more than $12 before plunging to 25 cents after the fraud allegations surfaced , and recently rose to about $3 . <p> Questions have been raised before about Mr. Gargano 's business practices . <p> An engineer by training , he became a senior executive at J. D. Posillico Inc. , a major construction company on Long Island . In 1981 , the company was accused of rigging bids on a sewer contract ; it eventually paid $315,000 to settle a lawsuit , though it did not admit wrongdoing . <p> A two-year criminal investigation into whether Mr. Gargano had done favors for political @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's office issued an unusual public statement saying that no charges would be pressed . <p> Then there was Alpha Hospitality , where he became a director in 1993 . He resigned in September 1995 and sold his stock after state legislators complained about what they saw as conflicts of interest . Alpha is trying to open a casino with the St. Regis Mohawk tribe in upstate New York . <p> Even when Mr. Gargano was on Alpha 's board , there were signs of trouble at the company , which was heavily in debt and losing money . Its president , Monty D. Hundley , resigned in March 1995 for what the company said were personal reasons -- and after the Indiana Gaming Commission asked to see his tax returns . In fact , Mr. Hundley had not filed federal income tax returns after 1981 , according to an indictment prosecutors filed earlier this year in Federal District Court in Manhattan . The 21-count indictment accuses him ; Stanley S. Tollman , the company 's former chairman ; and several associates of engaging in a complex $42 million scheme to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ men did not return telephone calls . Mr. Hundley has entered a plea of not guilty ; Mr. Tollman , a major Republican Party contributor who resigned from Alpha in February , is a fugitive , said a spokesman for the United States attorney 's office in Manhattan . <p> Since March , investors have filed a raft of lawsuits against Eagle , Mr. D'Amato and , in one case , all the directors including Mr. Gargano . Last month , a federal judge in West Palm Beach , Fla. , consolidated the suits into one class-action complaint , and the lawyers have a few weeks to figure out how many defendants there will be . It is not yet known if Mr. Gargano will be one . <p> URL : http : //www.nytimes.com 
##3001654 <p> INTERNATIONAL A3-8 <p> Deal Reached for Israel To Start Trial Withdrawal Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed that Israeli troops would start a trial withdrawal from reoccupied territory in the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem , in the West Bank , on the condition that the Palestinians take responsibility for reducing tensions in those places . A1 <p> Qaeda Chemical Testing Videotapes from Afghanistan provide the clearest corroborating evidence to date of the United States government 's charge that Osama bin Laden 's Qaeda network developed and tested chemical agents on animals in Afghanistan before its Sept. 11 attacks . A1 <p> Zimbabwe Arresting Farmers Zimbabwe 's government stepped up its efforts to seize white-owned land , rounding up more farmers who are defying eviction notices . Since Friday , 133 farmers who failed to heed an Aug. 9 deadline have been arrested . The government of President Robert Mugabe plans to seize nearly 5,000 white-owned farms and distribute them to landless blacks . A6 <p> Legacy of Latin American Wars The foot soldiers of wars in El Salvador , Nicaragua and Guatemala are complaining that promises made or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to an end have never been fulfilled . In Guatemala , thousands of former fighters have submitted their names on lists to seek payment from the government for their service . A1 <p> Candidate Energizes Israeli Left Amram Mitzna , the 57-year-old mayor of Haifa and former general , announced that he was entering the race to lead the Labor Party in the next election for prime minister of Israel . Some reports show that the left-wing candidate would win by a landslide if the election were held today . A6 <p> Steps Toward War in Iraq The Pentagon is taking steps to build up military supplies in the Middle East that would be a critical part of a potential war in Iraq . Officials emphasize this does not mean that a campaign is imminent . A8 <p> Floods Hit Czech Budget The Czech government is likely to abandon a plan to spend $2 billion on jet fighters from a British and Swedish consortium as the country struggles to cope with the costs of cleaning up after devastating floods . A4 <p> Pope Tackles Liberalism During Pope John Paul II 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a crowd of at least two million people attending an outdoor Mass that mankind was going dangerously astray by letting scientific advances and cultural liberalism eclipse God 's will . A3 <p> Girls ' Bodies Believed Found Two bodies found in the countryside in Britain are believed to belong to a pair of missing 10-year-old girls , ending a two-week search . The girls disappeared on Aug. 4 from their rural hometown of Soham , near Cambridge . A8 <p> NATIONAL A9-12 <p> Federal Agents Arresting Fathers Who Owe Support Federal agents in 29 states have arrested dozens of fathers who owe millions of dollars of child support , in a nationwide sweep that officials describe as a significant expansion of the federal role . More notable than any one arrest , the officials say , is the message that the Bush administration is sending : that it will pursue a more aggressive approach by using federal criminal prosecution against people who have repeatedly flouted state court orders . A1 <p> Testosterone Use Questioned Last month the government halted a major study of hormone replacement therapy in healthy women . But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few weeks earlier when the government decided not to go ahead with a different study of hormone replacement -- in older men . The hormone , testosterone , may help counter the effects of aging , but that has never been demonstrated in a large clinical trial . A1 <p> Officers Shot in Mississippi An acting police chief was shot in the neck and four other officers were wounded when they rushed a house where the gunman hid . A9 <p> Bush Guest List Is Telling An insight into the difference between Bill Clinton and George W. Bush came in the form of the list of the 160 friends , family members and supporters who have enjoyed an overnight stay in the White House over the first 20 months of this Bush administration . George W. and Laura Bush have played host to the golfer Ben Crenshaw , the country music performer Larry Gatlin and Kinky Friedman , the Texas singer-songwriter and author . A11 <p> More Fishing Restrictions Commercial fishermen from Maine to Long Island were subjected to the most stringent federal regulations ever last spring . The restrictions will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ days and further reduce the number of fish that can be caught . A9 <p> Battle With Predator Fish Maryland officials applied chemicals to three ponds in an effort to kill the northern snakehead fish , a voracious predator from China . Officials feared that the snakeheads could make their way to a nearby river , wipe out the endangered native fish there , and spread even more . A11 <p> Mideast Could Affect Primary Issues in the Middle East may decide the primary between two women in Georgia who are battling for the Democratic nomination for a seat in the House of Representatives . Recent polls suggest that the race between Representative Cynthia A. McKinney , who has received substantial financial backing from Arab-Americans , and Denise Majette , a former state judge supported by pro-Israel groups , is too close to call , but it is seen as evidence of new strains between blacks and Jews . A10 <p> NEW YORK/REGION B1-6 <p> Democratic Candidates Debate , Dispassionately The Democratic candidates for governor , H. Carl McCall and Andrew M. Cuomo , met in their first debate , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ issues and reserving any ire for Gov . George E. Pataki . With several polls showing Mr. McCall leading , it seemed that Mr. Cuomo had more to gain from the debate . B1 <p> 2 Young Girls Are Shot Two girls , Malenny Mendez , 10 and Katherine Crisantos , 4 , were shot in the head in separate incidents less than an hour apart . The 10-year-old girl was killed ; the younger girl remains in critical condition . The shootings were a sad , senseless coda to a weekend in which at least 17 people were shot throughout the city . That two young girls became victims in such quick succession was particularly unusual , given that crime has dropped precipitously in recent years . B1 <p> Agreement on Casinos The Seneca Nation of Indians and New York State , after months of negotiations , signed an agreement to open casinos on Indian land in Buffalo and Niagara Falls . Though the plan must still overcome legal challenges , it is estimated that it will bring several billion dollars in revenue to the Seneca Nation and hundreds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ G.O.P. Power 's Affiliations While chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation , which is responsible for doling out millions in state aid to businesses , Charles A. Gargano also served on the boards of numerous companies with troubled track records and shape-shifting business plans . B1 <p> ARTS E1-8 <p> A Very Good Year George C. Wolfe , producer of the Public Theater , has rebounded from a series of artistic and financial setbacks to have perhaps the strongest artistic season of his storied career . E1 <p> SPORTS D1-10 <p> Unfamiliar Champion Rich Beem shot a final round four-under 68 to win the P.G.A . Championship , finishing 10-under par for the tournament just holding off Tiger Woods by one stroke . Mr. Beem 's highest previous finish in a major tournament was 70th at the 1999 P.G.A . D1 <p> Baseball Talks Resume With a strike deadline 11 days away , representatives for baseball 's club owners and players resume their negotiations today for a new collective bargaining agreement . The sticking point in the negotiations revolves around the level of a luxury tax on the highest payrolled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . D3 <p> BUSINESS DAY C1-10 <p> TV Prepares 9/11 Coverage With the anniversary of Sept. 11 , approaching , broadcast journalists are competing for access to the people they think can help recapture the collective memory of last year 's horror . While most requests for interviews have been low key , the coverage threatens to mix reverence and solemnity with one-upmanship . C1 <p> Donahue 's New Show Slips Phil Donahue 's ballyhooed return to national TV has lost steam . Four weeks after his show appeared on MSNBC , Mr. Donahue has lost 40 percent of his audience and has fallen behind CNN 's Connie Chung , the other host with a new talk show . <p> What 's Next for Jobs ? As Apple Computer prepares to introduce the new version of its operating system , there are signs that Steven P. Jobs , its founder , may take Apple back into hand-held computers , an area where the company failed earlier . C1 <p> Ticket Agent Linked to Airline Orbitz , the airline-owned online travel agent , will begin booking tickets directly in the reservation system @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all of the bookings by other travel agencies . C3 <p> Push for Energy Investors President Vicente Fox is asking Mexico 's divided Congress to change the Constitution in a bid to attract billions of dollars in investment to its state-run electricity sector , a move opposed by many legislators . C4 <p> Business Digest C1 <p> OBITUARIES A13 <p> EDITORIAL A14-15 <p> Editorials : Taming the untouchable corps ; required reading ; oily diplomacy . Column : Bob Herbert . <p> Crossword E7 TV Listings E8 Metro Diary B2 Weather B7 <p> URL : http : //www.nytimes.com 
##3001655 <p> Men still swing mallets to impress women who still compete for best homemade pie . Parents still bring toddlers to see piglets too cute to be called swine . Boys with buzz cuts and girls with braces still pay to be scared , so deliciously scared , on rides that ominously creak . <p> And that boulevard of bluster , the midway , still beckons with a promise that might only be believed at a county fair . Everyone 's a winner . <p> A prevailing theory holds that everything changed one day in September last year , but some things , like the annual Cobleskill Sunshine Fair , clearly have not . Here , 911 refers to the emergency telephone system just put into operation , nothing more . Besides a few ground zero caps for sale , there is no mention of what happened 190 miles to the south , in Manhattan . The patriotism on display , with red-white-and-blue flags and basketballs , carries the ring of constancy , not the echo of fleeting sentiment . <p> The county fair tradition may no longer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as a boutique industry , if at all . But for millions of people in upstate New York and across the country , the county fair remains the unifier of community and the engine of fond memory . The cows moo , the politicians bray and that clown in the water tank still makes fun of what you 're wearing . <p> " Part of it is tradition , and part of it is entertainment , " said Bob McGuire , the manager of the Cobleskill fair , in rural Schoharie County . " But it 's also to try and educate people about agriculture . We 're trying to have them learn that milk comes from a cow , and not a cardboard box down at Price Chopper . " <p> Mr. McGuire is a 69-year-old farm boy , and he knows what he is talking about . He taught everything from animal husbandry to dairy cattle management at the State University at Cobleskill before retiring . And as this year 's president of the New York State Association of Agricultural Fairs , he has visited many of the more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with twinkling midway lights . <p> He has been as far west as the Yates County fair in Penn Yan , and as far north as the St. Lawrence County fair in Gouverneur . But the Cobleskill fair , in its 126th year , owns his heart . Bigger than some and smaller than most , it unfolds for six days every year not far from a closed textile mill that once employed hundreds . <p> The sideshows and " girlie " revues are long gone , but there is still Ed Scribner , well into his 90 's , maintaining the sound system he installed in the 1920 's . There is the original slate roof on the century-old dairy barn , and Edna Smith 's prize-winning pickled cauliflower , and -- well , so much more that a tour by Mr. McGuire is in order . <p> To be successful , a true country fair needs certain attractions beyond the requisite litter of piglets , Mr. McGuire said . They simply must have a tractor pull , a demolition derby -- something that smacks of irresponsibility . <p> On @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hell Riders were doing stunts at the grandstand . The troupe included Toby Thibodeau , whose injury in a motorcycle mishap awhile back has become her signature ( " Here comes our one-handed woman driver ! " ) , and the smooth-talking M.C. , Gord Kennedy , whose patter is as essential to the act as the gasoline fires lighting the track . <p> " Whaddaya trying to do , barbecue the poor fella ? " Mr. Kennedy shouted , as more gasoline was splashed and ignited in the path of a vr-o-o-o-ming motorcyclist . " We 'll have ribs tonight -- his ! " <p> Mr. McGuire left the smoke that enveloped the Imperial Hell Riders and headed for the dairy barn , where farmers were grooming Holsteins and Guernseys with electric razors for the evening 's livestock competition . Now and then the farmers stepped back to study their living works of art -- the balance of udders , the spring of ribs -- but the competition is more about practicality than aesthetics . " As a judge , you 're looking for an animal that has longevity , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ building called Progressland , where a man hawked miracle vacuum cleaners , a woman hawked T-shirts for every occasion , and local Democrats and Republicans hawked ideology . " We always have the politicians , " he said , passing stacks of brochures for the State Assembly candidates Ed Barber ( " Barber for Business " ) and Dan Hooker ( " Family . Security . Opportunity . " ) . <p> He left Progressland to stand before a small outdoor stage featuring Jim and Jon Hager from the old " Hee Haw " television show . At times it was difficult to tell whether the Hagers -- who bill themselves as the " World 's Most Famous Twins " -- were engaging in brotherly banter or fraternal friction , but when they sang one of the more famous " Hee Haw " songs , dozens joined in . <p> " I searched the world over and I thought I 'd found true love . But you met another and -- pffft ! -- you was gone . " <p> Choosing the right entertainment can be tricky and costly for county @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ big stars of country-western music cost too much , so county fairs often hire performers who sing tributes to the stars . The Dixie Chicklets -- not the Dixie Chicks -- performed at the Lewis County fair last month ; Shania Twin -- not Shania Twain -- was scheduled to play here in a couple of days . <p> " What we try to do is catch some band that 's on the way up , so we can still afford them , or someone on the way down -- but still popular , " Mr. McGuire said , but added that you never know . Last year the fair paid a lot of money for Roy Clark , but only 38 people endured exceptionally hot weather for his afternoon performance , and less than 400 came to his evening show . <p> " We took a bath , " Mr. McGuire said . <p> In the fruit and vegetable building , symmetrically perfect carrots sat beside a 9 1/2-pound zucchini in a display of Schoharie County produce . And wearing the cherished best-of-show badge in Department 5 , Section 12 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the handiwork of Edna Smith of Cobleskill , who declined to give her age but allowed that " I have been exhibiting since 1947 . " <p> " I have never won in pickles , " she said in a telephone interview . " But I have won best in show in other years , once for cookies , once for breads -- a coffeecake . " <p> Mrs. Smith said she saw it as her civic duty to enter the competitions for crocheting , houseplants , flowers , baked goods and canning . " Those of us who are here should enter as much as we can , " she said . " Otherwise , there would n't be a fair . " <p> Nor would there be a county fair , a true county fair , without a razzle-dazzle midway . There are many midway providers to choose from , and this year Cobleskill went with the Gillette Shows , a family-run operation from Pittsfield , Mass. , whose matriarch travels with her equipment and employees . <p> Wishing to say hello , Mr. McGuire asked a concessionaire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the redhead at the fried dough stand . " That redhead led him to an air-conditioned trailer at the edge of the fairgrounds , home to Betty Gillette : midway grandmother and keeper of a 14-year-old dog named Gadget . <p> Mrs. Gillette , her two sons and their families are on the road from April to October , a season not unlike their own merry-go-round . They had just done the Otsego County fair , and soon would be carting their portable kit of illusion -- 22 rides and 30 concessions -- north to Herkimer County . <p> There is a sameness to it all , although this year the show replaced its decade-old Cortina Jet ride with the Rock'n'Roll ride , an explosion of lights and swirls and painted images of Elvis and Dylan and Madonna . <p> " It 's a nice piece , " she said , as she nudged her dog with her foot . <p> The sun was slipping below the church steeple that defines the Cobleskill horizon , casting the few cumulus clouds in a hue that was somewhere between those of a prized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mr. McGuire to attend to other county fair matters ; he melted into the midway . <p> By now all its separate parts were in sync , and the fair was beating to a country rhythm that was almost outside itself , timeless . Down in the livestock building , a young judge was speaking the farmer 's language -- of head carriage and overall conformation -- while girls wearing Dairy Ambassador sashes handed out ribbons to winners . Over at the outdoor stage , the world 's most famous twins were wailing again about lost love , while visitors in the fruit and vegetable building admired a zucchini the size of a poodle . <p> Neon colors painted the night : the yellows of the lemonade stand , the greens of the pizza stand , the reds of the fried dough stand . Over here , a boy clutched a clear plastic bag in which a goldfish seemed to dart in midair . Over there , the rocking bucket seats of a Ferris wheel swirled around a pulsating American flag . <p> All the while , the people of Schoharie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hurry . They knew that by Monday morning it would all be gone , as if evaporated by the August sun . But they also knew that next year those distinctive signs would appear again in store windows , saying everything is all right . The fair is back . <p> URL : http : //www.nytimes.com 
##3001656 <p> H. Carl McCall is in the pulpit , caught for a moment in the spirit of a black church in Rochester . He sheds his usual reserve and turns to the story of Moses to explain why he is running for governor after more than 30 years in New York politics . <p> He tells how God called Moses to abandon his comfortable shepherd 's life to do something seemingly impossible -- to lead the Jews to freedom . Then Mr. McCall suggests a parallel in his own bid to become the first black governor of the state , after nearly eight years as the state comptroller . <p> " When the Lord calls us to do something important , when the Lord calls us to do something that 's never been done before , the Lord assures us he will be with us , " he says . " So I feel that the Lord has called me . The Lord has called me to provide the leadership and the direction and the vision that New York State needs . " <p> Mr. McCall , 66 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ upon , if not by the Lord , then certainly by the Democratic Party and a clique of black political leaders who saw potential in him and now have urged him to run for the state 's highest office . Indeed , the sermon was a rare glimpse of two sides of Mr. McCall : the idealistic poor-boy-become-minister , who saw the church and politics as a way to fix social ills , and the better-known Democratic Party stalwart who has waited patiently for a shot at higher office . <p> He comes across as a cautious , sometimes passive politician , but his political career is studded with moments of calculating ambition . He may appear to hang back from taking strong positions , and at times he does , to the consternation of supporters , but he has been driven enough to develop and use a network of party insiders to float his name for a variety of offices , like lieutenant governor , United States ambassador to the United Nations , senator and state comptroller . <p> Along the way , in the arms of the Harlem Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Basil A. Paterson , and Charles B. Rangel , Mr. McCall was taught to avoid appearing too aggressive , to radiate dignity and elegance , a cool demeanor and -- as he put it -- to " walk both sides of the street , " to present a palatable face to both white and nonwhite voters . <p> " You could n't just be identified with civil rights and anti-discrimination , " Mr. McCall recalled . " You had to be identified with education and health care and environmental issues . " <p> To this day , he refers only obliquely to the historic nature of his candidacy , the possibility of being the state 's first black governor , and then only to blacks , a large number of whom do not know who he is , even though he is the premier black politician in the state . He has not been at the forefront of protesting racial controversies , like the Amadou Diallo shooting , and did not get arrested at the daily protests in that case until two weeks after they started and a week after Mr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hashing things out behind the scenes . <p> Mr. McCall sees himself as a methodical and rational man , introverted by nature , who avoids jumping headfirst into controversies until he has thought them through . Indeed , that may account for some of his awkward moments when pressed by reporters for opinions on the campaign trail . <p> Mr. McCall faces a primary election against Andrew M. Cuomo next month . The two men are scheduled to debate today . <p> Throughout his career , Mr. McCall has dressed like the chief executive a college counselor once suggested he would never be , with monogrammed " HCM " shirts and natty suits . Even friends remark on his taste for style and for the finer things . While still a young social worker in the early 1960 's , Mr. McCall bought a $4,000 house on Martha 's Vineyard to keep up with the Boston social set . He recently sold a country home in Saratoga County , north of Albany , and bought one in Dutchess County , with a tennis court , to indulge his favorite sport . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eloquent voice with a trace of a Boston accent , interest in public service and , above all , willingness to play the game -- the Harlem Democrats saw a perfect protege . <p> " Anytime there was a potential opening , Carl had to be one of the persons legitimately considered , " said Mr. Dinkins , the former mayor , who met and befriended Mr. McCall in the late 1960 's , during street-corner voter-registration drives . " His time came , and he always has been a good follower . Some of us maintain you ca n't be a good leader if you do n't know how to follow . He has been a loyal , hard-working soldier . " <p> Congressman Rangel said , " Most of the time we needed Carl more than Carl needed the job . " <p> Detractors ask where the ringing accomplishments are . When asked in a recent interview what he considers his most significant victory , he said it was when he , as comptroller , obtained additional benefits for state retirees , including an automatic cost-of-living increase . Asked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ took a long pause and searched for an answer . " I do n't know , " he said . " You make decisions every day . I do n't remember any that were momentous . " <p> Yet Mr. McCall also says he sees a " spiritual dimension " to " taking on a difficult task and believing that it needs to be done and believing that you 're the one to do it . " <p> " I 'm in this position where I can do it because of all the other things that have happened , " Mr. McCall said . " Somebody needs to represent the issues and the voices of the people who have been left out . And somebody needs to represent them at the highest level of government . " <p> Friends say Mr. McCall also believes he could serve as a role model , a counterpoint to hip-hop stars and athletic figures . <p> " It 's a case , " said a close friend , Howard Nolan , a former state senator , " of noblesse oblige . " <p> Mentors Lead @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of obligation can be traced to the working-class homes in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston , where he was raised . He was born in October 1935 , the eldest of six children and the only boy , in the middle of the Great Depression , when segregation still ruled . His father , Herman McCall , worked as a railroad porter . <p> By all accounts , Mr. McCall overcame hurdles that might have destroyed other , less-driven young men . His father abandoned the family in 1946 after he lost his job and played only a minor role in Mr. McCall 's life after that . " It was pretty devastating , " Mr. McCall said . " We were close . " The H. in Mr. McCall 's name stands for Herman , a fact he rarely reveals . <p> His mother , Caroleasa Ray , could not work full time because her heart had been damaged by rheumatic fever . She began receiving public assistance after her husband left her but also relied on occasional help from extended family in Roxbury , Mr. McCall 's relatives said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has often spoke of his rise out of public housing , something which he said his mother , who died in 1961 , had told him . But residency records show his parents lived in a succession of multifamily homes in Roxbury . There were two federally financed projects that accepted black families in Boston built between 1940 and 1942 , but the records show Mr. McCall 's family was firmly ensconced in a privately owned house at 27 Harold Street throughout the 1940 's and early 1950 's . <p> Mr. McCall 's references to public housing were meant to show his audiences that he came from roots of deep poverty , but rose above it . For many families in those days , however , public housing was a step up , housing experts said . <p> It was his mother , Mr. McCall said , who first pushed him to " get to college and get out of here , " he said . Mr. McCall 's sister , Inez , recalled , " My mother just wanted my brother to be more and to be able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ McCall was president of his high school class and the editor of the yearbook and was involved in a half-dozen extracurricular activities . He said he avoided the pitfalls of crime and drugs that caught others in his neighborhood , largely because he found several mentors at his family 's church , the St. Mark 's Congregational Church . <p> This circle of men ultimately steered Mr. McCall to Dartmouth College and arranged scholarships for him . They were liberal Republicans , as was Mr. McCall , and they exposed him to politics , with Mr. McCall working on a state office campaign of a young lawyer , Edward Brooke , a Republican who went on to become the first black man elected to the United States Senate since Reconstruction . <p> By high school , Mr. McCall had developed the careful political instincts that allowed him to avoid being defined by his race , winning the contest for senior class president at Roxbury Memorial High , which at the time , he recalled , was mostly white and Jewish . <p> Mr. McCall said he did not recall any instance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1958 when , as part of the Reserve Officers Training Corps , he enrolled in the Army for the obligatory six months of active duty . He complained when he discovered that black officers were not allowed to have white roommates . He got the policy changed after threatening to inform Adam Clayton Powell Jr. , then the powerful representative from Harlem , of the practice , he said . <p> After Army duty , Mr. McCall went on to divinity school and was ordained as a minister in the Congregationalist Church . A job offer to work at the New York City Mission Society in 1963 brought him to New York , where through the 1960 's he held a series of private and public antipoverty and social work jobs . <p> He also got involved in voter-registration drives , which brought him into a circle of Harlem Democrats -- he had switched parties when he got to New York -- like Mr. Dinkins and Mr. Sutton . That was a clubby world where the kingmakers paced your rise . <p> Mr. Sutton , who was then a political lord @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elective office , a State Senate seat in Harlem and the Upper West Side . Mr. McCall won easily and arrived in Albany exuding a brashness as a freshman that led him to ask to be named the head of the black and Hispanic legislative caucus , colleagues recalled . But after three terms , he tired of being in the political minority , because in Albany it was nearly impossible for the minority to get any legislation through . <p> Black Democrats were itching for a statewide post , and in 1982 several black Democrats pushed Mr. McCall 's candidacy for lieutenant governor . But Mr. McCall lost to the Westchester county executive , Alfred B. Del Bello ( who is now Mr. McCall 's campaign chairman ) . <p> Comptroller 's Job Beckons <p> Mr. McCall would not run for office again for another 10 years ; he did a stint as the state human rights commissioner under Gov . Mario M. Cuomo before leaving for Citibank , where for the majority of the time he supervised the bank 's lobbyists . <p> In 1983 , he married Dr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Technology ; Mr. McCall has a grown daughter , Marcella McCall , from a previous marriage to Cecilia McCall , whom he met in high school . <p> In 1993 , Edward Regan , the Republican state comptroller , resigned unexpectedly . A temporary successor had to be chosen by the combined Assembly and Senate , meaning the choice rested with Democrats , because they had a large majority when the two houses met together . <p> Several black lawmakers encouraged Mr. McCall to seek the post . So did Governor Cuomo , who hoped a black man on the ticket in 1994 would help his re-election prospects . Mr. McCall won the four-way legislative contest in which his closest adversary was Carol Bellamy , a former New York City Council president . <p> The next year , Mr. McCall narrowly defeated Herbert London , a Conservative Party candidate running on the Republican line , carrying every borough in New York City except Staten Island , but only three other counties . It was the first time a black had been elected to statewide office . He won again in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the vote . <p> Mr. McCall says he did not begin to contemplate seriously running for governor until after his strong showing in the 1998 race . But the real moment of decision came , he said , when Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan resigned and announced he would support Mr. McCall if he would run for the Senate . <p> " I guess that 's the point at which I decided I really wanted to run for governor because I was more suited to that office , " Mr. McCall said . <p> Mr. McCall has won widespread support from the Democratic Party establishment , and his campaign for the Sept. 10 primary to date has reflected the notion that the party will deliver . He promotes improving education , a " sledgehammer " to destroy poverty , and his daily schedule is filled with endorsement news conferences . <p> Mr. McCall sees this as the fitting sum to his political career , a last calling . But with characteristic pragmatism , he cast his motivation in political terms , a rational way to address problems like poverty and inferior schools @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was involved in , the solution was political , " Mr. McCall said . " There were political forces that were stopping them from doing it , and therefore I felt I had to be part of that political process , because that 's how you make a difference . " <p> PROFILE H. Carl McCall <p> BORN : Oct. 17 , 1935 , Roxbury section of Boston . <p> EDUCATION : Bachelor 's degree , sociology , Dartmouth College , 1958 . Master of Divinity , 1963 , Andover-Newton Theological Seminary . ( Attended University of Edinburgh 1961-62 in exchange program . ) <p> CAREER : Deputy commissioner of the New York City Human Resources Administration , 1966-68 ; named president of Inner City Broadcasting , 1971 ; state senator in the 28th District , representing Harlem and parts of the Upper West Side , 1975-80 ; named a deputy ambassador to the United Nations by President Carter , 1979 ; ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor , 1982 ; state human rights commissioner , 1983-84 ; Citibank executive , 1985-93 . <p> President of the New York City Board of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . <p> URL : http : //www.nytimes.com 
##3001657 <p> Cardinal Edward M. Egan yesterday defended his handling of priest sexual abuse cases while he was bishop of Bridgeport and said his leadership of the New York archdiocese during the past seven months of crisis was not getting the credit it deserved . <p> " I think we handled the matters properly , " Cardinal Egan said . " I think we 're handling them properly now . " <p> In his first extensive interview since the sexual abuse scandal began enveloping the Roman Catholic Church nationwide , the cardinal described the past year as the most difficult of his life . He said Sept. 11 , the scandal and other crises , including a school strike , forced him to delay his major initiatives for the archdiocese of 2.4 million Catholics . They include plans to reach out to immigrant groups and possibly to close parishes . <p> He disclosed , however , that he has reached one major goal : erasing a more than $20 million operating deficit , which he inherited two years ago . And he promised eventually to eliminate the archdiocese 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ high-rise office at the New York Catholic Center , with the Chrysler Building gleaming in the distance , the cardinal made it clear that he was keenly aware of criticism among both the clergy and lay Catholics that he has failed to serve his flock as a pastor . He obliquely faulted the news media and blamed people disgruntled by his budget and personnel cuts . He portrayed himself several times as relying heavily on advisers in making legal and financial decisions . Excerpts , Page B4 . <p> Cardinal Egan , who is 70 , also rejected any notion that as the leader of the Archdiocese of New York -- to many the most prominent Roman Catholic pulpit in the nation -- he served as a national church leader . " I see myself as a servant of the people of God of the Archdiocese of New York , " he said , with one overriding concern : its 414 parishes . <p> He also displayed his deep knowledge of classical music , his fluency in Latin and Italian and his love for and intimacy with Rome , a city @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ease on those subjects , but grew serious , almost guarded , in discussing the affairs of the archdiocese . He said he could not speak freely regarding the sex abuse scandal because court cases were pending in Bridgeport and New York . <p> Some advocates for victims of sex abuse have portrayed the cardinal as being too slow to remove priests accused of molesting minors while he served as bishop of Bridgeport , a position he held from 1988 to 2000 . <p> Cardinal Egan yesterday repeated his past assertions that he relied on the expert advice of psychiatrists in allowing some accused priests to keep working in Bridgeport -- a practice that was common across the country . But that measure , he said , has changed . " Right now , I have less and less confidence in depending upon the medical and psychiatric community , " he said . " It 's too dangerous , it seems to me , to do anything now but to play always on the side of safety , " he said , and suspend priests more promptly . <p> In April @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hindsight we also discover that mistakes may have been made " regarding the removal of priests and assisting victims . Yesterday , when asked if he had made any mistakes , he answered , " I think that we did this properly , as it was understood at that time , and I 'm happy with what we did . " <p> As archbishop of New York since 2000 , the cardinal has faced a different set of challenges . Some priests have felt angry about what they see as harsh treatment of accused fellow clerics , while victims and their advocates are angry at him for not acting decisively enough . <p> At the same time , some Catholics portray him as an absentee shepherd during the church 's most deeply troubled time in generations . To these faithful , he is an aloof archbishop who has failed to bring a sense of healing and trust . <p> " In two years , he has not been much of an archbishop for New York , that is , for the life of the city , " said the Rev. Richard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ journal , and one of more than a dozen people interviewed who expressed similar feelings . " He 's a good , faithful man . I think he 's just missed opportunity after opportunity to be what a bishop should be . That is , a teacher . " <p> John M. Conroy , a retired school principal active in his parish of Church of the Holy Family in New Rochelle , said the bishop was well-suited to solving financial problems . " But right now those are not the important problems , " he said . " This guy is so distant , and not the kind of person who is going to be helpful in these troubled times . " <p> Except for two homilies around Easter week , the cardinal has mainly communicated to the archdiocese at large through letters read in churches , statements issued to the press and a column in Catholic New York , the diocesan newspaper . He has spoken to some degree about the scandal during Sunday parish visits . He has rarely spoken to reporters . <p> Bishops elsewhere have taken a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ministry for them , holding outdoor healing ceremonies or engaging in media campaigns . Yesterday , the cardinal distanced himself from such bishops . " I do n't think that 's the way to do it , " he said . " I think we 've handled it in a very serious way , " adding , " Everybody has a different way of dealing with things . " <p> He suggested that criticism of him as being aloof was exaggerated . " We 're getting through more than some people might have suspected , " he said . He has been dogged by such criticism since succeeding Cardinal John J. O'Connor , whom some regard as more charismatic . But Cardinal Egan said it was common for a bishop who was dealing with administrative problems to be faulted for lacking the pastoral touch . <p> For instance , in disclosing yesterday that he was considering taking steps to reduce the archdiocese 's long-term debt , he said : " As soon as you publish this , somebody 's going to say , ' See , he 's not a pastor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other things . ' But we have to put our house in order , and we 're putting our house in order . " <p> It was by cutting jobs and archdiocesan offices , tightening up spending and slowing down hiring that he was able to erase the deficit , he said . He also noted that the archdiocese exceeded this year 's $15 million goal in the annual capital fund-raising appeal by more than $2 million . <p> He suggested that journalists relied too heavily on his antagonists . In the course of 150 parish visits , he said , the welcome has been extraordinary . " You know and I know it all depends on who you 're talking to , who 's on your Rolodex -- and who 's on your Rolodex is pretty much someone who 's going to be provocative in these statements , " he said . <p> The cardinal acknowledged being caught between Catholics who feel he has not dealt strongly enough with abusive priests and parishioners who say their pastors have been treated too harshly by being dismissed for long-ago transgressions . <p> @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's office a list of all priests accused of abusing a minor in the past 40 years . Within days , Cardinal Egan suspended six serving priests , and later , his vicar of development , over accusations regarding long-ago incidents . <p> In June , he joined with the nation 's bishops in approving guidelines that require the permanent removal from ministry of a priest once an act of sexual abuse is admitted or " established . " Since then , the archdiocese said that one priest had been suspended because of a 20-year-old allegation . The future of the suspended priests remains uncertain . Nearly 24 other cases have been turned over to prosecutors , most of those priests retired or already defrocked . Cardinal Egan said that once prosecutors review the cases , the archdiocese 's lay review board will help him decide each priest 's fate . <p> When asked whether the bishops ' actions would restore the badly eroded trust of American Catholics , he said : " Time will have to tell . I 'm not a prophet . I think what we are doing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said he was ready to face more criticism once he turns his attention to parishes and schools . Declining to say whether he would close any , he said , " I have plans to readjust them , " which could include establishing new parishes . <p> The Rev. Joseph A. O'Hare , the president of Fordham University , sympathized with the cardinal for having to make difficult decisions on reducing costs , and said criticism of his actions regarding accused priests in Bridgeport was unfair . <p> However , he said , " A good archbishop is someone who has to communicate a message that inspires confidence and trust in people . " Cardinal Egan has not had time to demonstrate those characteristics , Father O'Hare said , because of the need to deal with finances and respond to the sex abuse scandal . <p> Outside the concerns of the church , Cardinal Egan was expansive in reminiscing about his days in Rome , where he studied and served as a judge on a Vatican court , the Sacred Roman Rota , for 14 years until 1985 , when he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a piano trio concert at the Santa Cecilia auditorium , he induced the trio to substitute Schubert 's Piano Trio in B flat major for the E flat because he loved the B flat 's slow movement so much . <p> As the interview ended , Cardinal Egan slapped the arms of his chair , jumped up , and , signaling that he had spoken enough , said , " Basta ! " <p> URL : http : //www.nytimes.com 
##3001658 <p> Tens of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel are stored in a half-dozen big buildings in Manhattan , posing a potentially lethal hazard in the event of an accident or a terrorist attack . <p> The city 's Buildings and Fire Departments are investigating the fuel tanks at the buildings because of the similarities to the situation at 7 World Trade Center , where thousands of gallons of burning fuel may have contributed to the collapse of that skyscraper after the terrorist attack on Sept. 11 , 2001 . One building in particular is believed to have twice as much fuel as 7 World Trade Center , in a building half the size . <p> As the investigation proceeds , city officials are trying to determine whether owners and tenants of the buildings violated the city 's fire and building codes when they installed dozens of diesel fuel tanks in the buildings in the 1990 's for huge backup generators and air-conditioners . <p> Last week , building inspectors found at least eight tanks on the upper floors of one tower in TriBeCa -- containing a total @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ illegal , officials said . But before they issue any citations for violations , the Buildings Department officials are poring over confusing and often conflicting records to determine whether the department had issued a waiver of the building code , as well as exactly how much fuel is stored in the TriBeCa building and where . <p> The buildings , known as telecom hotels , house telecommunications and Internet tenants that require backup generators and diesel fuel to keep their computers running and cool in a blackout . The buildings serve , as a tenant in the TriBeCa tower once put it , as a " nerve center " for international telecommunications . <p> But since the attack on the World Trade Center , city officials have been examining whether the current fire and building codes governing construction standards , as well as fuel storage in urban areas , are adequate in light of new realities . <p> With the spread of telecom hotels in many cities , the National Conference of States on Building Codes and Standards is closely watching what happens in New York , said Mike Unthank , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in New Mexico . The group is considering adopting a model building code clause for fuel tanks that could be adopted at state and local levels . <p> The New York Times is withholding the addresses of the buildings at the request of city officials , who cited their importance to international telecommunications and their potential as terrorist targets . <p> " The building code task force is looking at fuel tank storage issues , including the size and location of tanks and the transfer piping , in all buildings , not just telco buildings , " said Patricia J. Lancaster , the buildings commissioner . " We 're examining the code for tall buildings with regard to all sorts of threats , including biohazards , chemical and nuclear hazards , and bombs . " <p> The TriBeCa tower where the Buildings and Fire Departments completed their inspection last week has long been the subject of complaints from surrounding residents . Bruce L. Ehrmann , co-founder of Neighbors Against Noise -- noxious odors , incessant sounds and emissions -- said that the numerous generators and air-conditioners that sprang up on every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spew pollution over the surrounding residential buildings . <p> But no one gave the tanks that supplied fuel for the generators much thought until the attack on the World Trade Center . <p> Unlike the twin towers , 7 World Trade Center was not hit by a jet , but investigators did determine that a catastrophic blaze fed by diesel fuel in the 47-story tower may have caused its collapse . It also appears that diesel fuel continued to be pumped from the tanks into the blaze after the building began to burn . <p> A report by the Federal Emergency Management Agency concluded that more analysis was needed to determine the full role of the burning diesel fuel in the collapse . Shyam Sunder , chief investigator for the review of the World Trade Center by the National Institute of Standards and Technology , said that the agency was looking at the sources of fuel in the building , where there were seven tanks with a combined capacity of 42,000 gallons , and what led to its ignition . " We know for sure that the collapse of 7 was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mr. Sunder said . " The FEMA report suggests that the fires persisted for a long time . " <p> Consolidated Edison , which had an electrical substation underneath 7 World Trade Center , and its insurance companies have filed a $314 million lawsuit against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey , which owns the land , charging it with improper use and maintenance of the diesel fuel tanks and citing their role in the fire . <p> With new diesel generators and fuel tanks being installed periodically at the tower in TriBeCa , Neighbors Against Noise also began to raise questions about all that fuel sloshing around in one building . Councilman Alan J. Gerson , who has worked with the group , then asked the Buildings Department to look into the matter . <p> " This is a potential tinderbox , " Mr. Gerson said . " It 's unacceptable to have any significant quantity of fuel stored above ground , literally across the street from where people live . We need to have stepped-up enforcement and new building code regulations . We should also encourage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ " <p> John F. Hennessy III , chairman of Syska Hennessy Group , a consulting , engineering and construction firm involved in the construction of 7 World Trade Center , played down the potential hazard of the fuel tanks in a dense urban environment . <p> " Is it something that should be looked at ? " Mr. Hennessy said . " Certainly . But at the same time , I do n't think we have a ticking time bomb in these buildings . " <p> " You 're not looking at an overly dangerous situation , " if fuel tanks are installed properly and according to building and fire codes , he said . " Fuel oil is not like gasoline ; it burns slower . It kept burning in 7 because there was nothing to extinguish the fire . " <p> But the volume of fuel and its location concern some experts . <p> According to a review of Fire Department permits , there are tanks with a capacity of 45,425 gallons in the basement and on the upper floors of the TriBeCa tower . But records at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ higher : 80,560 gallons , about twice the amount at 7 World Trade Center , in a building half the size . The records , which are no longer available on the Internet because of security concerns , did not include two generators and fuel tanks installed in September . <p> Battalion Chief Bill Van Wart , a spokesman for the Fire Department , would not explain the discrepancy . <p> Last week , the Buildings Department completed an inspection of the TriBeCa tower that found tanks with a capacity of " upwards of 80,000 gallons , " including eight 275-gallon tanks on the upper floors that may have been in violation of the city fire and building codes . Fire Department records indicate that another building housing telecommunications equipment has eight fuel tanks with a total capacity of 156,500 gallons . <p> The codes do not limit the amount of fuel stored in the basement of a building , as long as the steel tanks have a specific fire rating and are surrounded by a catch basin and a concrete wall . But under the city code , only one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ <p> Ms. Lancaster said her department was trying to determine whether a waiver was granted to the tenants or landlord who installed the equipment , in which case the multiple tanks would be legal . Otherwise , the owners , who face possible fines and criminal charges , will be required to bring the tanks into compliance with the building code , Ms. Lancaster said . <p> A spokesman for the landlord of the TriBeCa tower declined to comment . <p> Many hospitals and educational institutions have backup power stations . But telecommunications centers , known in the trade as telecom hotels , are a more recent phenomenon that grew very rapidly in many major cities , beginning in the mid-1990 's with the rapid growth of telecommunications and Internet companies . <p> Landlords in many cities began converting some older buildings with thick floors capable of supporting heavy equipment , computers and generators . In New York , the companies gobbled up 4.9 million square feet in less than three years . <p> One of the first buildings to become a telecom hotel was the tower in TriBeCa , where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ floor , creating a street-level din for the surrounding neighbors . But as the telecommunications companies in the building multiplied , the generators started showing up on ledges on higher floors . The 275-gallon tanks on the upper floors feed the generators and are in turn fed by larger underground tanks . Portable generators are also set up on the streets outside the brick tower . <p> Local residents complained that noise continued to increase at the tower . One man said he could not hear the television in his living room , while other people had not opened their double-pane windows in five years . <p> Now there are the fuel tanks . According to the Buildings Department , there are about 60 tanks in the building , including 39 on above-ground floors and outside the structure . <p> " If this is potentially another 7 World Trade , " said Tim Lannan , a co-founder of Neighbors Against Noise , " it 's a huge concern . " <p> URL : http : //www.nytimes.com 
##3001659 <p> A few miles off the highway in this secluded town stands a sprawling nursing home that has become a virtual annex to New York State 's psychiatric system . Confined on the third floor of the home , which has no mental health credentials and has been admonished by New Jersey officials for providing inadequate care , are more than 125 people who were sent here by state psychiatric hospitals in New York . <p> Locked away at a similarly checkered nursing home near a cornfield in Andover Township , N.J. , about 50 miles from Manhattan , are more than 200 other former New York psychiatric patients . Still others just like them have been sent by New York officials to problem-plagued nursing homes and adult homes as far-flung as the Boston area , including several deemed so violent and disastrous that Massachusetts officials threatened to close them down . At one last year , a resident from New York gouged out the eye of another resident with his bare hands , the officials said . <p> Over the past eight years , the Pataki administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patients to other states , turning over responsibility for their care to homes there that have little if any expertise and often have tarnished histories , according to interviews with officials , visits to the facilities and an analysis of Medicaid and other state records . <p> Many of those patients had been institutionalized for decades and were among the most difficult and costly to treat . As a result , they had frequently been rejected by private facilities in New York because of the level of care that they need , records and interviews show . By using homes outside its borders , New York officials have effectively shifted the burden of overseeing their care to other states . Further , interviews show , they have then made it difficult for some of their own residents to re-enter New York 's mental health network . <p> " The point was to clear beds and to get even these chronic patients out who had been taking up beds for 10 or 15 or 20 years , " said Dr. Alvin Pam , who was director of psychology at Bronx Psychiatric Center @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turned down by 15 residences in New York -- which could raise serious questions about whether they should be discharged at all . And if the hospital would find someplace to take the patients outside the state , they would go . " <p> The patients have been sent by state hospitals across the region , records show , from Bronx Psychiatric Center and South Beach Psychiatric Center in Staten Island to Hudson River Psychiatric Center in Dutchess County and Rockland Psychiatric Center . The out-of-state homes , in turn , have reaped hundreds of millions of dollars from the New York Medicaid program , which typically pays for the residents ' care . <p> A spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Human Services said the department 's mental health director had complained to officials in Albany this year that New York psychiatric patients were being discharged to nursing and adult homes in South Jersey , deteriorating and then ending up in a New Jersey state hospital . <p> Roger F. Klingman , a spokesman for New York 's Office of Mental Health , which operates the state psychiatric hospitals @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ <p> " Discharge decisions are made on a case-by-case basis , " Mr. Klingman said . " It 's a clinical decision made by the discharge team at each state hospital . Different facilities offer different kinds of programs . Obviously , the discharge planners believe that these out-of-state facilities offer the kind of programs that the patients needed . " <p> He added that state hospitals discharged thousands of patients a year , and only a fraction of them went outside New York . <p> Several facilities outside New York were also used by previous administrations in Albany , though to a lesser extent , according to state records and interviews . Lincoln Park , for example , had only a handful of New York residents before Gov . George E. Pataki took office in 1995 . <p> The practice is just one way his administration has been able to shrink the state 's costly psychiatric hospital system . The state hospitals now have 4,300 beds , down from 9,000 in 1995 . At the same time , a chronic shortage of housing for the mentally ill has persisted . @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ New York . The administration has proposed a sweeping overhaul of the adult homes in response to a series of articles in The New York Times earlier this year that described extensive neglect and malfeasance in the system . Still others have been released to locked units in nursing homes in New York , under a policy adopted by the Pataki administration in 1996 . The policy was halted at some state hospitals after an article about the units appeared in The Times last month . <p> A Goal of Self-Sufficiency <p> Some of the out-of-state homes , including Lincoln Park and Andover , keep mentally ill residents in similar conditions -- locked away on isolated floors and barred from going outside on their own . They have little ability to contest their confinement , though they have not been legally committed . <p> Officials at Hudson River Psychiatric Center in Poughkeepsie , N.Y. , told Susan Meyer that the Andover nursing home in rural Sussex County would be wonderful for her sister , Marcia Berger , who suffers from schizophrenia , Ms. Meyer said . Instead , Ms. Meyer said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at Andover . <p> Ms. Meyer , who is trained as a nurse , said scores of mentally ill residents wandered the locked floor at Andover , some screaming at one another , while workers provided little supervision . " The surroundings are utter chaos , " Ms. Meyer said . <p> Many other residents from New York , who have spent much of their lives in institutions and are accustomed to being told what to do , often have no idea how they ended up far from their homes -- or even where they actually are . Some , like Gregory Posey , 40 , and Carmen Shields , 62 , who went to Lincoln Park this year after lengthy stays at Bronx Psychiatric Center , could recall being told only that there was no longer room for them at the hospital . <p> " I do n't want to be in this place -- it 's too far away , " Ms. Shields said . " They keep you locked up here on this floor , and you do n't go anywhere or do anything . " <p> Both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ officials had tried for years to discharge them , according to interviews and records . In the last year alone , more than a dozen nursing homes in New York had refused to accept Mr. Posey . <p> Mr. Posey also said there was not much to do at Lincoln Park , besides go on smoking breaks . The home is in a woodsy area of eastern Morris County , about 30 miles from his family 's apartment in Harlem . <p> Like the other mentally ill residents , he can leave the floor only when escorted by workers . He was found in his room shortly before noon the other day , half asleep on his bed while fully clothed and wearing sneakers and a wool ski hat . His two roommates were asleep in their clothes as well . <p> " I wish they would let us out more , " said Mr. Posey , who is physically healthy . <p> While New York 's own files show that mentally ill patients have been consistently sent out of state since Mr. Pataki took office , the governor and his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . <p> On the campaign trail in recent weeks , Mr. Pataki said his administration had brought back 5,000 mentally ill patients . " That is an important , positive thing for them and for their families , " Mr. Pataki said during a debate after his policies on mental health were criticized by one of his opponents , H. Carl McCall . <p> The governor 's assertion could not be substantiated by New York Medicaid records . Asked about it , neither Mr. Klingman nor John Signor , a spokesman for the state Health Department , could offer any evidence to support it . They would not identify which facilities had been caring for the mentally ill outside the state , nor where they had been returned to in New York . <p> Mr. Pataki would not comment for this article . Several mental health experts in New York , along with groups that represent housing providers for the mentally ill , said they had never heard of an effort by the administration to bring back mentally ill patients . <p> At the same time , Mr. Signor maintained that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facilities outside New York . In fact , Medicaid records show that since 1995 , more than 725 New Yorkers have gone to the Lincoln Park and Andover nursing homes alone , an average of more than 90 a year . Some have not remained there , but it is unclear what happened to them because the administration does not track their treatment after they leave New York , officials said . There are now at least 425 New Yorkers at both homes , including some sent by psychiatric wards of general hospitals with the administration 's approval . <p> While New York typically continues to pay the Medicaid fees for New Yorkers in facilities outside the state , the Pataki administration still realizes substantial savings because the federal government heavily subsidizes Medicaid . If the patients were to remain in a state psychiatric hospital , Washington would not cover any of the cost . <p> Andy Williams , a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Human Services , said the department was not aware that New York was sending large numbers of patients to Lincoln Park and Andover , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Williams said the department 's mental health director , Alan G. Kaufman , had complained to New York officials about the patients being sent to homes in South Jersey and then ending up at a New Jersey state hospital . <p> " He was concerned about it , and he did call his counterpart in Albany , " Mr. Williams said . " We were of the understanding that they were not doing it anymore . " <p> Mr. Klingman , the spokesman for the New York State Office of Mental Health , acknowledged that the office was called . He said the office had not changed any policies in response , but had directed one hospital , Bronx Psychiatric Center , to stop sending patients to adult homes in South Jersey . <p> For the facilities , accepting such patients can be a lucrative business . Medicaid has paid Lincoln Park and Andover $82 million to care for New Yorkers since 1995 , according to Medicaid records . It has paid more than $260 million to the deeply troubled SunBridge chain of facilities in Massachusetts , which at the beginning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least four homes , according to Medicaid records . <p> Massachusetts regulators say the SunBridge facilities have deteriorated markedly in recent years , repeatedly criticizing them for mismanagement , shoddy care , sexual assaults and other violence among residents , including the resident 's eye gouging last year . Yet New York officials continued to send patients there , records show . <p> Late last year , the Massachusetts regulators threatened to effectively shut down three of the homes if improvements were not made . In March 2002 , SunBridge closed one of them , in East Boston . SunBridge said a new management team was improving the facilities . <p> The movement of residents outside New York is apparent from an examination of the discharge records of Bronx Psychiatric Center . Since 1998 , it has sent at least 75 patients to New Jersey facilities . In addition to numerous placements at Lincoln Park and Andover , at least 25 patients went to adult homes in Toms River , Glassboro , Camden and Lakewood -- facilities that are as much as a two-hour drive from the Bronx . <p> Alarming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ criticized by their state 's Department of Health and Senior Services . Inspectors found that Lincoln Park had failed to provide " any meaningful activities " for mentally ill residents , according to an August 2002 inspection report . They cited the Andover nursing home for making residents sleep on filthy and threadbare sheets . <p> Mimi Feliciano , the chief executive at the Lincoln Park home , said the home had responded to the inspectors ' concerns . She said the home provided excellent care that was intended to help the mentally ill " improve their functional ability and promote the acquisition of leisure-related skills . " <p> " One of our goals is to promote the reintegration of these people back into the community , " she said . <p> Asked how keeping residents on a locked floor in a New Jersey suburb accomplished that , she said : " Yes , they are in the facility , and yes , they are in an institution , but we do think that we do a good job doing what we can with them . Some of them are very @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did not respond to three messages seeking comment . <p> New Jersey inspectors also cited problems at the New Lexington Manor adult home in Lakewood , in Ocean County , which has accepted about 15 patients from Bronx Psychiatric Center in the last few years . Medication and record-keeping practices were poor , and workers were " disrespectful and demeaning " to residents , a March 2002 report said . <p> New Lexington recently decided to stop accepting patients from New York psychiatric hospitals because they were too unstable . <p> " I got the sense that they were dumping patients on us , " said Lynda Crooks , New Lexington 's manager . " Why could n't these people be placed in New York ? They claimed that they had no placements for them up there . " <p> Some of the Bronx patients now in New Jersey adult homes said they saw little choice but to go . <p> " They were having difficulty getting me into residences in New York , and this place was presented to me as a quick way out of Bronx State , " @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Dayton Manor adult home in Camden , outside Philadelphia . <p> Mr. Rosenstein said he had no complaints about the home . Other former patients and their relatives said they felt deceived by both the psychiatric hospitals and the facilities outside New York . <p> Sarah Thomas , the mother of Mr. Posey , who was sent to Lincoln Park from Bronx Psychiatric Center , said she had been worried that the home was far away , but at least it was closer than the only other choice offered by the hospital , the Andover nursing home . She said Lincoln Park had promised that Mr. Posey would live in a stimulating environment , and even be taken on trips . But the reality , she said , is that he has little to do . <p> " I was getting a lot pressure from Bronx State to discharge him , " Ms. Thomas said . " They said Greg was at that point that they could n't do anything else for him . And they said that the nursing home would be a better place for him . And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him . They misled me , definitely . All these good things that they said would happen , they really did n't happen . " <p> URL : http : //www.nytimes.com 