irectly to Manes. Koch ordered the sting operation closed, and Ryan was arrested (Newfield, and Barrett, 1989).
When Bronx County Democratic leader Friedman, as a member of the city's Board of Estimate, was implicated in a contract fixing scheme, Koch defended him. When persistent investiga tions validated the charges against Friedman, Koch professed profound shock. Perhaps, he was.
Probably the most celebrated political corruption case of the Koch era was the one involving Bess Myerson. While head of the city's Department of Cultural Affairs, she was accused of bribing State Supreme Court Justice Hortense Gable, in order to
3obtain a reduction in the amount of alimony payments her lover, Carl Capasso, was required to pay to his former wife (Morris roe, 1988). The payoff to Judge Gable was alleged to be a job in Myerson's Department of Cultural Affairs for Gable's daugh ter, Sukhreet Gabel. In return, Capasso's alimony payments were to be reduced from $1,850 per week to $680 per week.
In point of fact, Sukhreet Gable was hired by the Depart ment of Cultural Affairs, and Capasso's alimony payments were reduced by Judge Gabel. Those actions were circumstantial, however, and the prosecution was unable to persuade a jury that any criminal wrong doing could be proved beyond reasonable doubt, although after the completion of the trial, jury members indicated that they were convinced that some sort of improper conduct did, in fact, occur (Kasindorf, 1989). Among other things the jury was doubtful about, however, was just who was the guilty party. The end result was that Capasso, Gabel, and Myerson escaped conviction for political corruption (Kasindorf, 1989).
The Myerson case involves the question of political cor ruption in New York City to a far greater extent, however, than it would appear on its face. The initial finding of misconduct in the case was made by the city's Tyler Commission, named for its head, former...