European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 17, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                1 Magazine Joel Steinberg charged with the toiling of a illegally adapted daughter is shown in court in new York As his live in Lover Heads nuts bum testifies. Gore and Glitz of criminal trials spell bind Manhattan Bytosh Getlin los angelas times hey Range irom the glitzy to the gruesome. Irom the steamy to the Sleazy. They feature casts of larger than lilo figures Whoso faces bib splashed on television and across newspaper front Pagas far weeks at a Simeon occasion they have created mob scenes in lower Manhattan where crowds have docked to them As i they were hit Broadway shows. They May indeed be lha Best dramas in town. For months new to chefs have been spellbound by a. Remarkable series of sensational criminal trials. In or courtroom there s the Bess mess with Bess myer on a former miss America accused o bribing a state supreme court judge to reduce Alimony payments. For her millionaire Boyfriend. Down lha Street in the most graphic and heart wrenching of the cases lawyer Joel the monster Steinberg has Sceri charged in the fatal Bealing of his angelic 6-year-old internally adopted Teugh Ler. Lisa in their Greenwich Village apartment. Earlier this year in a Case that exposed the freewheeling night we of Rich new York teen agers Robert the preppie murderer Chambers pleaded guilty to. Strangling 18-year-old Jennifer Levin during a steamy late night tryst in Central Park. .,/."" 4 arid or comi lion buffs the recent we tech trials of new York rep. Mario Biaggi and  shot Stanley Friedman were prime attractions As were the extortion proceedings against underworld crime Boss John the. Godfather Golli ,. \. But for sheer gos p value the Best May be yet 1o come. Waiting in the Wing Are embezzlement trials Lor Ferdinand and i Nelda Marcos and an eagerly anticipated court Date Tor hotel magnates Harry and Leona the Oue Helrn Stey. Accused of income lax evasion. I be never seen anything like this because we be had. What amounts to a circus of criminal trials in this town one More amazing than Ihen ext said Arthur Browne. Metropolitan editor the now , which reaches More than 1,4 million readers. People have been mesmerized by these cases and they be dominated the local news Tor months. Maybe it s because they seem to touch on almost every human sin imaginable titillated by mass Media coverage including live television broadcasts from the witness stand. New yorkers and tourists who never set foot in a courtroom have been drawn to the big trials. The Myerson and Steinberg cases have played to overflow crowds in Fotey Square the site of the City s main courts. Hundreds of people have hustled downtown during the morning Rush on the Chance that a. Prize Seal might open up frankly Heel like a voyeur whispered Elaine. Silbery a retired schoolteacher who recently parked herself in a Long line outside the Steinberg courtroom at b  i Loo Lale to get inside. Undaunted she raced up the Street and got a Back Row Seal or he Ryerson irial. Silbery a quiet woman in a Tweed suit allowed that she does t usually Hunt for seats at highly publicized 1 trials but added who can stay away this sure boats. Going to a movie. Some new yorkers have even rearranged their schedules around the trials Carol Blades an advertising executive said she travelled to pan s this year with a. Friend who was apoplectic at the though of missing the verdict in the Roberl Chambers Case. It was All she Souid talk about. Blades said. Luckily we got Back in lime.", v. At times the trials have riveted millions of new yorkers seeming to Slop the cily in its tracks As when Kedda Nussbaum Steinberg s Tover turned accuser look Trie i stand and described the vicious beatings he had in licked on her and Lisa in harrowing testimony the former random House Edilow claimed that Steinberg had brainwashed and beats her into a Zombie like slate arid described How she had done nothing to get help lot Lisa who was lying comatose on the bathroom floor. \. Three local television stations took the unusual step of interrupting their programming to broadcast Nuss Barri s test Nony live. They also recruited psychiatrists lawyers and social workers to provide instant analysis Lor viewers during Breaks in the action. The Gamble paid Oti. As afternoon to ratings soared. Meanwhile the City s tabloids had a Fieke Day Honda gets ready shouted the new Yucik Post jul before she appeared. Hejda Speaks boomed the Dary news alter her testimony began. A tear for Lisa sobbed new York Rve woday running color photos of the sad eyed Sandy haired Little girl. Soon front pages began referring to Steinberg of the  Mew yorkers Are not strangers to stories about child abuse Bui in Scase captured the Public consciousness because it involved mid to class professionals living in an affluent neighbourhood editor Browne said the Steinberg Case which has attracted National attention prompted a re examination of the need for neighbors teachers and social workers to detect chid abuse. Lots of people decl that there but for the Grace of god go i said Anthony Zitrin a Brooklyn College jaw student who recently wailed in line for a scat Al the trial. You wonder could t snap like this Guy did and kill an innocent Little girl  Myerson irial has been hoi news Lor months telling a Story of greed vanity and corruption in High places. Hundreds of people have packed the courtroom for a be mpg of the former Beauty Queen who Al age 64 has begun to take on a Haggard look. But they have also lined up to see a bizarre supporting cast. This one s got a lot of Xirui lakes in it said Milton Ostrov. A balding . Postman who has been watching criminal trials in Manhattan on his Days of or about 30. Years. I be seen ii All believe me and this Case is right  it began last year when stones surfaced that Myerson the City s cultural a lairs commissioner had allegedly bribed judge Hortense Gabel to lower the Alimony payments Lor her Boyfriend. Andy Capasso a millionaire sewer contractor who was going through a bitter divorce. Later in a separate Case Capasso was convicted of income lax evasion. At first. New yorkers were stunned that the popular attractive Myerson was facing such sordid accusations. According to Federal prosecutors she had bribed the judge by offering a $19,000 Job in har office to Cabal s misfit daughter Suk reel. Myerson and Gabel have contended they made no Deal saying Capasso s Case was entirely separate and insisting that Sukhri Etwas the. Best qualified applicant. The Myerson trial was guaranteed to attract celebrity watchers but i quickly catapulted into healer of the absurd when Suk reel took the witness gland and testified against her nearly Blind 75-year-old Mother. Sukhjeet 39, a troubled rotund woman gave. Damaging Lesli Mony against Myerson and her Mother. She said her former Boss had urged her to keep my Mouth shut about the Case. Very Matler of factly indeed with a smile she added that her parents had. Discouraged her irom discussing any connection Between Capasso s divorce settlement and her new Job. Her stage props were impressive to beef up the prosecution s Case Suk reel had carted shopping bags tilled with Legal papers out of her Mother s. Apartment and had secretly taped heir phone conversations. The evidence caused a sensation when it was revealed. No longer the understudy Sukhjeet was going to be the leading lady once and for All. Then without warning she fell apart. Under Tough Cross examination  to past treatment for mental illness including electroshock therapy. She conceded her memory of key events might be questionable because her brain had the Quality of Swiss  at one Point Suk reel gushed that she loved a members Al her Welense team and the prosecutors Loo. You could t dream up a character like her she s isl too amazing said postman Ostrov who managed to catch every Day of her testimony. "1 still can l believe. What i saw up  the trial is expected to end soon and Ostrov said he will miss the drama. No More Bess mess headlines every morning no More television Crews chasing Myerson Down the courthouse Steps at night. But not to worry. Imelda and Ferdinand Are coming to town Aren l they then Leona Helmsley and her husband will stand trial. And alter that who knows. The Spring and summer seasons Haven t even been announced yet. They say the circus is in town Ostrov said. Well Down Here  courts the circus is always in town. It s been one helluva year.". Saturday december 17, 19b8 the stars and stripes Page 13