Bess Myerson

Bess Myerson, a former Miss America who later became the city's cultural affairs commissioner, joined the list of figures in New York's spreading political scandals Wednesday when a federal grand jury indicted her on charges of trying to fix her millionaire boyfriend's divorce case. The six-count indictment alleges that Myerson, 63, gave a $19,000-a-year city job to a judge's daughter and that, in exchange, the judge reduced Myerson's boyfriend's alimony and child support payments.

Oh, you can hear the tongues wagging. Playwright-screenwriter Barra Grant writes a play--her first--titled "A Mother, A Daughter and A Gun." The play, at the Court Theatre in La Cienega's design district, involves a daughter at the end of her emotional tether, her mom--who refuses to fully acknowledge the dire situation--and a gun that keeps getting passed between them. The opening scene has the daughter firing her gun at mom. And, get this, Grant's real-life mother is Bess Myerson.

Hortense Gabel, 77, a judge implicated in the Bess Myerson conflict-of-interest case. A crusader against racial discrimination in housing during her early years, Mrs. Gabel served as judge of New York's trial-level Supreme Court from 1976 until her resignation in 1987. She was acquitted by a federal jury in 1988 of making rulings favorable to Myerson's boyfriend in a divorce case in order to help her daughter get a job in Myerson's office.

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Bess Myerson, a former Miss America who once served as New York City cultural affairs commissioner, pleaded guilty Friday to shoplifting from a department store two months ago. Myerson, 64, did not appear in court but submitted a signed statement through her attorney. She was fined $100 and paid $48 in court costs.

Mayor Edward I. Koch, testifying against his one-time aide Bess Myerson at her alimony-fixing trial, admitted under defense questioning Tuesday that he gave inaccurate information to a federal prosecutor investigating the case. However, Koch insisted that he answered "to the best of my recollection at the time," when the prosecutor asked him in a 1987 deposition whether he had discussed Myerson's situation with one of his top aides, special assistant Herbert P. Rickman.

The defense in the divorce-fixing trial of former Miss America Bess Myerson and two others rested Tuesday after presenting about an hour of testimony by character witnesses on behalf of the defendants. Myerson, the former city cultural affairs commissioner, is charged with hiring the daughter of state Supreme Court Justice Hortense Gabel in order to influence the judge's rulings in the divorce case of Myerson's boyfriend, Carl (Andy) Capasso.

Bess Myerson, the embattled former Miss America, resigned as the city's cultural affairs commissioner after a special investigator reported serious misconduct, the mayor said today. Mayor Edward I. Koch said the misconduct occurred when Myerson, 62, gave a $21,000-a-year job to the daughter of a judge who handled the 1983 divorce of Myerson's companion, Carl Capasso, 41.

A judge accused of being improperly influenced by former city Cultural Affairs Commissioner Bess Myerson in the divorce case of Carl Capasso, Myerson's companion, faces judicial misconduct charges, it was reported Friday. Quoting anonymous sources, Newsday and the New York Times reported that the state Commission on Judicial Conduct began closed proceedings last month against Justice Hortense Gabel, whose daughter had been hired by Myerson as an aide.

Hortense W. Gabel, the New York state Supreme Court justice whose dealings with Bess Myerson are at the crux of a scandal, resigned. In a letter to Chief Judge Sol Wachtler of the state Court of Appeals, Gabel, 74, said she suffered "serious health problems." An investigator found that Myerson had misused her position as New York City cultural affairs commissioner to influence Gabel, who was presiding over the divorce case of Carl A. Capasso, with whom Myerson was involved.

Hortense Gabel, 77, a judge implicated in the Bess Myerson conflict-of-interest case. A crusader against racial discrimination in housing during her early years, Mrs. Gabel served as judge of New York's trial-level Supreme Court from 1976 until her resignation in 1987. She was acquitted by a federal jury in 1988 of making rulings favorable to Myerson's boyfriend in a divorce case in order to help her daughter get a job in Myerson's office.

A New York judge rescinded his order to transfer Bess Myerson's boyfriend, Carl (Andy) Capasso, from a Pennsylvania prison to a Manhattan halfway house to serve out his term on tax evasion charges. U.S. District Judge Charles Stewart, who sentenced Capasso to three years in prison in March, 1987, last week ordered Capasso to serve the remainder of his sentence in the halfway house. But the Bureau of Prisons balked, saying a federal judge has no jurisdiction over where prisoners are placed.

A federal court jury, in its fourth day of deliberations, acquitted former Miss America Bess Myerson and two co-defendants Thursday of charges that they conspired to influence the divorce case of her boyfriend by arranging for the daughter of the judge hearing that case to get a city job. The verdict brought tears and cheers in the crowded third-floor courtroom. Myerson is New York City's former cultural affairs commissioner and was a principal architect of Mayor Edward I.

The prosecution in the Bess Myerson divorce-fixing trial on Friday summed up the case as a "scheme to buy justice in the courts of New York." "Look at this through any glass you want," Assistant U.S. Atty. Stuart Abrams said in his rebuttal. Referring to defense charges that the prosecution presented a flawed case viewed through dirty windows, Abrams said: "This is not a soap opera, it's a crime."