(Continued from Page 1 ) looked toward the American flag flying City or that Center City will have to pay beside the emblem of the State of New Sutton to buy him out. York, Stevens pointed to the national Either way, that $30 million in state colors and declared, "This.community has money will go a long way towards no lq,alty except to all the people who alleviating financial problems that may inhabit it.!' currently plague Amnews and Inner City .. . - to the eventual financial benefit, it Assemblyman Gray (D-70) seemed to would appear. of Sutton and the other take' a.verbal blast at the building later owners. when he told the small crowd, which by As THE AGE goes to this time had diminished along with the press, we can report that documents dais guests, "The real issue is housing and relating to various transactions and employment for this community. This proposals concerning the office building bililding should remind us each time we property have been made available to see it that wemust renew our efforts to THE AGE. The documents are both work for our people in Harlem, because we lengthy and complex, and rather than can't sleep in this building." summarize them after a superficial examination, they have been turned over Rabbi Anderson, a Black Jew and a to legal and financial analysts for close community worker with the Harlem inspection. A complete report will be Salute Committee, was helmit-last, published in future issues. just as Gray was not allowed to speak until But, as with the old controversy over after Governor Wilson left. the wisdom of a state office building in Harlem, the new co~troversyover the The rabbi castigated the "establish- widsom of a state office building in ment" for omitting the names of"severa1 Harlem, the new controversy and charges "Black revolutionaies" from the long list of conflict on interest seemed distant from of names called when Master of the Monday dedication ceremonies. Over Ceremonies Kenneth Sherwood mentioned a hundred speakers described only outstanding Harlem and Black leaders benefits, mostly of economic expansion, who made contributions to the planning that the tower will bring to Harlem. and completion of the building, as well as to the community. ~utthree speakers, Assemblyman Jesse Earlier, in his address the Governor Gray, uptown Chamber of Commerce said that Harlem residents will be "em- President Hope Stevens, and attorney and ployed in the building." But most of the Rabbi Judah Anderson, dissented from 3,000employes will come from other areas the chorus of praise for the new building, to work in the 20-story building. Most of ' calling on Mayor , the employes will be white, working in 17 Governor Malcolm Wilson and other dais departments scheduled to move into the guests to provide housing for the Halem building. Wilson's remarks drew a community. restrained response. "Let the word go forth from this place to Mayor Beame and Governor Wilson," The audience saved their outpouring of Stevens said as the two men sat directly applause for African Memorial Bookstore behind him, "that we want housing and owner Louis Micheaux, whose store with that we demand it now. Otherwise this '. over 225,000 volumes on Black history was magnificent building will be nothing but a originally situated on the office building's mockery and not a monument." site. Apparently referring to economic Loud cheers from a crowd estimated at growth for Harlem, as well as the need of over 1,000 followed his remarks, which Blacks to obtain knowledge, Micheaux seemed to surprise a good number of his said, "You can be Black as a crow or listeners. White as snow, but if you don't know and But Stevens was not through. As he ain't got no dough, you can't go!" Guess Who's Coming to Gracie Mansion By Nicholas Pileggi

"... has just eclipsed Herman Badillo as the minority candidate for mayor most likely to succeed with white voters . . .3 7

After twenty years of the most daz- I said, 'No, I'm Oliver Sutton. You're Jones, the established Harlem churches, zling mystifications, Percy Ellis Sutton, talking about my brother.' the emerging and diverse civil-rights ac- the ex-barnstorming stunt pilot from "As soon as that guy left the win- tivists, and the sidewalk interests of San Antonio, the cocoa-colored, silky- dow I knew that when morning came policy racketeers. voiced master of clubhouse sleight of I would resign from the T.A. I saw Sutton lzarned to finesse his way past hand, the 53-year-old Democrat who that I was beginning to develop a the diametrically opposed demands of has miraculously juggled the oddball crutch in that booth. Certainly I needed his closest allies. First you saw him, factions of his own party in defiance of it, because young black lawyers weren't then you didn't. Alliances with other all the laws of political gravity, the one exactly being signed up out of law young rebels like Charles Rangel, who and only goateed Manhattan borough school in those days. You had to pretty is now a congressman, and Basil Pater- president, Percy E. Sutton, is about to much piece together a practice one son, the vice-chairman of the National perform his most extraordinary magical client at a time, but that guy drove me Democratic Party, appeared to change act-he is about to emerge from behind right out of the subway, and with Joe from election to election, and yef no a screen of color-blinding alliances and Pinckney's help, I ran for district lead- one was ever certain. Sutton seemed to hurl himself and his hatful of commit- er of his club." nurture secrets, and behind an easy ments into the 1977 mayoral race. Sutton lost that race and continued smile, he learned to keep his mouth Sutton has been preparing for this to lose elections for the next eleven shut. LikeThe Shadow, he had so com- show since 1952, when he first volun- years, but during that period he learned pletely mastered the art of clouding teered his legal services at Assembly- Byzantine politics in New York. He men's minds that no one ever knew man Joseph Pinckney's Central Demo- learned- about sworn allegiances that exactly where he stood. At one time in cratic Club in Harlem. dissolve overnight, about paying off the early sixties he managed to head "I learned politics and election law election captains to get out the vote, the prestigious and middle-of-the-road on the clubhouse and election-day about voting machines that jam on re- New York branch of the N.A.A.C.P., level," Sutton said. "All day long for quest, and about the voracious young represent Malcolm X during a shooting over a year, I apprenticed myself to reformers who devour their elders dur- and bomb-throwing war with the Mus- Joe Pinckney, practicing law free of ing biennial voting frenzies. He even lims, and maintain a daily liaison with charge for the club's regulars, organ- learned to live on four hours' sleep a Captain Yusef, who headed the Mus- izing tenant groups, pushing voter reg- night. But, perhaps most important, lims' toughest supporters, the Fruit of istration, and working at night as a Sutton learned the art of being elusive. Islam. subway change booth clerk at the Van He saw, that survival in Harlem poli- With the collapse of Adam Powell's Wyck Boulevard station in . I tics during the fifties required a talent machine and Ray Jones's move to the volunteered for that rather isolated for evasion. For instance, in his very Virgin Islands, Sutton began not only booth because I didn't want any of my first race against Assemblyman Lloyd to take control of most of Harlem's clients to see that their hotshot lawyer Dickens for a district leadership, Sutton organized political structure through needed another job in order to live. found that one candidate had been kid- the Martin Luther King Jr. Democratic One night. about a year after I started napped, a clubhouse burned, and an Club (he's still a district leader), but at the club, I was giving out change inquiring assistant U.S. attorney pistol- also to establish himself as a major when I recognized a bright young law- whipped. Only the nimblest of men force in distributing millions of dollars yer against whom I had just argued could succeed on that kind of stage in anti-poverty funds, Model Cities some motions earlier. I remember he or amid the precariously balanced and jobs, and Harlem Urban Development came up to the window and kept look- ever shifting dktentes between Congress- Corporation contracts. ing at me. Finally, he said, 'Hey, aren't man Adam C. Powell, Tammany boss On many of the important boards, you Percy Sutton?' I was soembarrassed. (later City Councilman) J. Raymond such as H.U.D.C., Sutton is suspected i NEW YORK 39 ". . . Sutton has been sweeping away potential scandal for years and before our wondering eyes coming up with clean hands.. .97

of having one or even more of his allies Oliver Sutton, and M. S. Woolfolk, the Bradford, who had also been an official (usually unknown to each other) sit- treasurer of his 1972 testimonial dinner in the original company. Bradford, who ting as members. The H.U.D.C., for in- (which raised $75,461) at the Ameri- insisted to Kahn that he was only the stance, controls the spending of more cana Hotel. president and not the owner of the than $150 million in state-financed In July of 1971, Inner City, with company, steadfastly refused to divulge bonds to build 3,000 new apartments Carl McCall as its president and Pierre the names of the buildings' real owners. in Harlem and will shortly select one Sutton as vice-president, bought radio Bradford eventually pleaded guilty in of several anxious community groups station WLIB-AM for $2 million with criminal court to the building viola- vying to build a theater, office complex, yet another loan from Chemical Bank, tions, and last year he was listed as and 500-room hotel on state-cleared this one for $1.7 million. having contributed $1,000 to Sutton's land at 125th Street and Lenox Ave- "When I leave this ofice," Sutton re-election fund dinner. nue. Since H.U.D.C. has had Sutton told a Times reporter at the time of There was also the sticky matter of campaign contributors, business part- these purchases, "I'm going to travel two letters Sutt~nwrote in 1971 calling ners, clubhouse pals, and even em- the length and breadth of the country upon the commissioner of correction, ployees sitting as board members, it is trying to convince every black person George McGrath, to reinstate a sus- not surprising that Center City Com- who will listen to me that they ought pended Board of Correction guard. munications, Inc., which also has a to get into this business. Communica- Sutton later explained that he had been numbet of Sutton associates as officers, tions is where blacks are going to make requested to intervene in the case by is considered the odds-on favorite to their greatest strides in the coming the guard's brother, the owner of a win the $30-million development con- decades." Harlem construction company. The sus- tract from the H.U.D.C. In 1972, when Center City Commun- pended guard, Sutton wrote Commis- In fact, since Sutton first decided to ications was formed, Sutton's name sioner McGrath, had been "cleared of a emulate his fellow Texan, Lyndon B. was not among the officers, but his disorder" and should be reinstated. Jn Johnson, and put together an almost pals Clarence Jones and Carl McCall testimony before a State Legislative impenetrable complex of entrepreneu- were listed as chairman of the board Committee on crime a few years later, rial, political, and media interests, he and president, respectively. In a letter Sutton angrily declared that he had and a very tight group of partners have to the H.U.D.C. in March, 1973, how- been misled about the nature of the dominated the financial life of Harlem. ever, offering Center City Communica- suspended guard's problem. He did not The original group included Clarence tions as the developer of the sought- know that by "disorder" the guard's B. Jones, a lawyer and former vice- after hotel, theater, and communica- construction-company brother had been president of CBWL-Hayden, Stone, tions complex, Clarence Jones said that referring to charges of kidnapping, brokers, and now editor and publisher C.C.C. was actually a holding company robbery, and selling two kilos of co- of The New York Amsterdam News; that will "acquire substantial equity in- caine. While Sutton may really have Reverend H. Carl McCall, a former terests" in The Amsterdam News and been upset with the guard's family at chairman for the city's~Counci1Against Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, that time, he has apparently borne no Poverty, currently chairman of The Am- the very companies in which he, Mc- grudge. Last year the construction-com- sterdam News's editorial board and a call, and Sutton have substantial inter- pany brother, the one who wrote the Sutton-backed candidate for the State ests. Sutton, in fact, has first option on "misleading" letter, received a $6.5- Senate; Wilbert Tatum, a former Sut- any sale of stock in the Inner City million H.U.D.C. contract and his ton assistant in the Borough President's Broadcasting Corporation, according to father brought $150 to Sutton's cam- ofice, a housing relocation official, and the incorporation papers. paign dinner. now The Amsterdam News's treasurer While these complicated business and Abe Beame's liaison to the garment maneuvers do not appear to be illegal, . Where Sutton may have his biggest industry (he, too, was almost deputy they are filled with possible conflicts of problem, however, is not with his finan- mayor); and John Edmonds, formerly interest. Sutton, however, has been cial entanglements or control of his director of the Harlem-East Harlem sweeping away potential scandal for black political base but with his river- Model Cities Committee and now secre- years, and, before the wondering eyes boat-gambler style. At a time when poli- tary of The Amsterdam News and vice of his appreciative urban audiences, ticians are increasingly being forced to chairman of the H.U.D.C. board. In coming up with the cleanest hands in bare their 1040's, when charisma is 1971, as AM-NEWS, Inc., this group town. There was, for instance, that mat- almost a dirty word, Percy Sutton may bought The Amsterdam News, Har- ter in the early sixties of his owning be just a little too smooth.' It is one of lem's 80,000-circulation weekly for $2- two slum properties up on West 141st the first things heard from politicians million, $1.5 million of which was in a and West 142nd Streets with 276 build- and concerned citizens, black as well as loan from Chemical Bank. Sutton, who ing violations. But in 1968 the city's white, whenever Sutton is discussed. controls 37 per cent of the company, Board of Ethics found that there was "It's not Percy's fault," said Basil has refused to say where they got the no "impropriety" in his ownership of Paterson, an old friend. "That's just $500,000 for such a venture but did say the buildings since Sutton had resigned the way he is. It's his natural style. He "we used all of our personal resources." from the company six months before he used to be even worse. He just can't 5 A month later, Sutton started an- first took office as an assemblyman in help it if he talks preee-cisely." -L other company, Inner City Broadcast- 1965. Joseph Kahn, The New York Sutton's elaborate, almost courtly $ ing, which included as its stockholders Post's investigative reporter who first manners and careful grooming are in such Sutton regulars as Carl McCall, broke the story in 1967, was never very marked contrast to thd style of most of Wilbert Tatum, and John Edmonds, impressed with the board's conclusipn. the city's politicians. Where most ink- g, and introduced his son, Pierre, his The "new" company, Kahn wrote, was stained pols seem addicted to their un- 5 brother, State Supreme Court Judge headed by Sutton's accountant, Esmar capped Bic Bananas and groaning brief- f Percy Sutton knows: Like The Shadow, the Man1 zattan bor ough pres ident has 40 NEW YORK mastered the art of clouding men's minds so that nc I one knot us where I Ile stands. ". . .The more of his tricks Sutton is forced to reveal during a pro- - longed mayoral maneuver, the less impressive they'll appear. . .' 9

cases, Sutton rarely carries anything then all white. Travia got the message, struggle between Congresswoman Shir- bulkier than his Binaca and frets about Sutton delivered the votes, and sudden- ley Chisholm and City Councilman wearing a navy blue tie to a black-tie ly the majority whip was a black assem- Samuel D. Wright has completely di- dinner. blyman, and for the first time, there vided the borough's 656,000 black vot- He is extremely conscious of his were black assemblymen.on every ma- ers, Sutton alone survives as a friend public appearance. He will not drink jor committee. Somehow, Sutton man- of both. He recently flew to Washing- or even smoke a cigar in public. aged this maneuver and many others ton with Wright to argue before the "I like a Scotch and water, and I like it without ever applying enough District Court in an effort to have love a good cigar," he said, "but outside, pressure to antagonize the regular Dem- Brooklyn redistricted and get Wright when you're supposed to be a public ocratic leadership of whom he was a congressional seat. Much of Sutton's official, I think it's unseemly." making his demands. new-found political strength comes Sutton did not begin to emerge as a "That's Percy," one legislator told a from the Legal Defense Fund action masterful conjurer with citywide po- reporter. "Anybody else who lived in that was argued by Eric Schnapper tential until 1964, when he was finally his area would have had to claw his that day. It will very likely result in a elected to the Assembly. Two years way through, but not Percy. With him number of new congressional, State later he managed to get himself chosen you never see the talons." Senate, and Assembly seats for minor- by the City Council to replace Con- Percy Sutton is one of the few politi- ity candidates in Manhattan, Brooklyn, stance Baker Motley (she had been ap- cians who have been deft enough to and . In New York, mean- pointed a federal judge) as Manhattan emerge from the Democratic regular while, Shirley Chisholm gives Sutton borough president. Even in the Assem- and reform battles of the sixties with her highest accolade. "To be truthful bly. Sutton's moves were impressive. close allies on both sides. It is Sutton about it," she told Tom Buckley of The In his two years in Albany, Sutton who has allowed Carmine De Sapio's Times, "there's just me and Percy." organized the thirteen black assembly- last disciple, Assemblyman Frank Ros- During last year's mayoral race, when men-all Democrats-into a solid setti, to continue as county leader in his old pal from the Assembly, Al voting bloc. He then persuaded Assem- Manhattan while at the same time main- Blumenthal, ran in the Democratic pri- bly Speaker Anthony Travia that Travia taining an intimate working relation- mary, many liberal Democrats thought could lose his post if blacks were not ship with many of Rossetti's sworn op- Sutton would have been among Al's appointed to five important legislative ponents in the reform clubs of the West strongest supporters. After all, Sutton committees that had remained until Side. In Brooklyn, where the power and Blumenthal had marched for civil

Separate but equal breakfasts: Twice a morning in his Lenox Terrace apartment Percy Sutton courts and is courted. Here William vanden Heuvel (left) breaks bread with Sutton (center) and Sutton's press secretary Frank Baraff (fi1r right).

42 NEW YORK rights, voted for liberal issues, cham- CIAO'S executive director, told them: mal. It is at these meetings that Percy pioned abortion, divorce, and election "He was beautiful. He helped get us can be his most persuasive. 'On one re- reform together. In the end, Sutton senior citizen centers and day-care cent morning he entertained a pair of wound up endorsing Abe Beame, with centers when some of our own wouldn't East Harlem politicians with whom he whom he had never marched and only lift a finger." At the Hellenic American had been feuding. At the beginning of occasionally voted. To Sutton, Beame Neighborhood Action Committee rally the meeting the two men sat rather was not only the pdtential winner, but in April, Sutton 'could not help but stimy on a long sofa in the Sutton the vehicle to the citywide, mainstream smile when he heard Lee Gournades, living room while Percy, immaculately support that he has always sought. the committee's assistant director, in- dressed in dark blue at 6:30 A.M., lis- Percy Sutton's support of Abe Beame troduce him to at least 10,000 cheering tened intently and sympathetically to not only gave him access to citywide Greek Americans as a future mayor. their complaints. Soon Pierre arrived patronage and the previously remote. "Why not?" Gournades asked. "Sut- to announce that breakfast was ready, predominantly white clubhouses of out- ton relates to our people. He got us and the two men, Percy's arms around er Brooklyn and Queens, it also helped English language schools, day care. their shoulders, moved as family friends him become the first black politician to senior citizen centers, and he always toward a large dining table where six solidify a position with such main- shows up at the archbishop's dinner." places were set. As scrambled eggs, stream white fund-raisers as Henry And last month, Sutton even found orange juice, and bowls of fresh fruit Waxman, Abe Feinberg, Charles Bas- himself identified on the front page of were served, Percy, who eats at the sine, and Bill Shea. His early endorse- the fleet owners' newspaper, City Life eight o'clock sitting. began to explain ment of Beame was unquestionably the & Taxi News, as the man "consid- the advantages of their all working to- first step in his own mayoral bid. ered by many political leaders as 'most gether. He made it sound as though all Around the Board of Estimate, where likely to be our next mayor.' " of their differences had existed only be- Sutton is now clearly the dominant cause they had never really talked. voice, he has eight years of favors Perhaps the years of sharing scram- He is not always successful. At a re- upon which to draw and countless day- bled eggs, sausages, and sweet rolls cent breakfast he had William Ronan, care centers, senior citizen centers, bus with disparate souls at separate, but who was then the head of the Metro- shelters, school lunchroom annexes, equally important, seven and eight politan Transportation Authority, as his street lights, stop signs, and housing o'clock breakfasts in his Lenox Terrace guest, Sutton spent the hour trying to developments for which he can begin, apartment have begun to pay off. Over persuade Ronan to release a piece of very selectively, to take credit. Earlier the years he has met with welfare cli- M.T.A. land in Harlem for use as a this year, for instance, in Flushing, ents and bank presidents. With his community hospital. Ronan apparently Queens, at the annual dinner of the wife, Leatrice, and his son, Pierre, help- wanted something in return, and what Congress of Italian American Organi- ing to care for the guests (daughter he wanted, Sutton was not willing to zation, he was cheered by at least 1,000 Cheryl Lynn is at Smith), Sutton's give. Italian Americans when Mary Sansone, breakfasts are homey and quite infor- "The M.T.A., since 197i, has sought

Suave manners and shrewd maneuvers: At Board of Estimate meetings Sutton enhances his considerable power through budgetary bartering. Here he conjers with his Deputy Borough President Jolie Hammer and City Council President Paul O'Dwyer.

NEWYORK 43 ". . . In the black community there are those who feel Sutton might be selling out to the Beame administration . . .$9 the permanent use of Pier 57 at the radio station KTSA high in the clouds had no idea how much I hated that foot of West 15th Street for use as a of the Smith Young Towners. Down flying." garage for its lower-Manhattan opera- the magnificent Hudson Valley,"' he Sutton never barnstormed again, but tions," Sutton later explained. paraphrased, " 'speeding past the grirn at the beginning of World War 11, he "Because of traffic, air, and noise pol- tenements of Harlem, plunging into the did try, on several occasions, to enlist lution, the people of the Chelsea com- tunnel beneath fashionable Park Avenue in the Army Air Force. munity, and I agree, have opposed this arzd then Grand Cerztral Station, cross- "I was so naive, I really thought the permanent use of Pier 57. The M.T.A. roads of the millions of dramas. . . .' It Army would be different in the North. has taken the position that if they can- was really a dream." I came all the way to New York, cer- not have the permanent use of Pier 57 Texas, however, was not a dream. tain that blacks with flying experience -they now lease it on a year-to-year He received his first beating from a San could enlist in the Air Force up here. basis-they will not make the 129th Antonio policeman at age thirteen when I finally did manage to get in, but it Street site available for the new hos- he was spotted handing out N.A.A.C.P. was as an intelligence officer, and even

1~~ital." --~- pamphlets in an all-white neighbor- then, I remember being instructed by Most of these breakfasts are success- hood. superiors to make sure I didn't march ful, however, because his guests, just " 'Nigger,' he asked me," Sutton told on the outside during parade review." like most of the allies he has been sprin- an interviewer years ago, " 'what are Sutfon marched on the outside anyway. kling throughout the city's political you doing out of your neighborhood?' In ,1945 he returned to New York camps, have begun to sense that Percy and then he proceeded to beat the hell and worked his way through Brooklyr~ Sutton could be a winner. out of me. Law School as a subway conductor Sutton has begun to strengthen his "You know, the Emancipation Proc- and change clerk. party control by running, or threatening lamation went into effect January 1, It seems that nothing Sutton does is to run, hand-picked candidates for any 1863, but the good white folks in Texas ever simple. He married a native New office in which the incumbent might didn't get around to telling their slaves Yorker, Leatrice OJFarrell, in 1943 and potentially be unfriendly. Last month, about it until June 19. lived in Springfield Gardens, Queens, for instance, he chose business partner "Well, the Negroes [Sutton says where, in 1947, their son Pierre was Carl McCall to run against Harlem 'blacks' today] still celebrate 'June- born. It was a dificult time for Sutton State Senator Sidney von Luther, a teenth' every year in Texas. I remember and, for a short period, he divorced move that was calculated to warn as- when we were kids Juneteenth was the Leatrice and married another woman. semblymen like Jesse Gray, Mark one day in the year that Negroes could His daughter, Cheryl Lynn, was born Southall, and George Miller to stay in go in and play in the white park. It in 1951, and then he remarried Lea- line. Even his staff, who are usually was never a big day for me, or for my trice a few years later. tight-lipped, have begun a slight esca- brother Buster, or any of the rest of us As soon as he passed his bar exam, lation of his press activities and quietly Suttons. We didn't go. however, and began putting together let it be known that, according to a re- "I remember we had many advan- the bits and pieces of a legal practice, cent poll, Percy Sutton has just eclipsed tages growing up, but I always'used much of it from fellow transit workers Congressman Herman Badillo as the to look at my father and his friends - in disputes with the city, he decided minority candidate most likely to suc- and think that if they were all that to enter politics. ceed with white voters. damn smart why couldn't they ride in He consciously thought out the the front of the streetcars?" broad outlines of a political strategy Born on 'a farm near Prairie View in To escape Texas, Sutton even tried and purposely chose the borough, the eastern Texas on November 24, 1920, stunt flying. In exchange for helping community, a)cl the clubhouse in which Percy was the youngest of fifteen highly to wash planes at nearby Stenson Field, to learn. His entire life was not plotted competitive brothers and sisters. The Sutton was taught to fly by an older day-by-day, but he did have a master twelve who survived graduated from friend, "Red" Dawson. By cutting plan for political success. He knew that various colleges, badgered relentlessly by classes and extending his weekends if a black wanted to be in politics in their father, S. J. Sutton, who knew from high school and Prairie View Col- the 1950's, Harlem was where he had something about ambition. Percy's fa- lege, Sutton was able to join Dawson to start-and he had better start right. ther, who was principal of a San An- on the barnstorming circuit. In an old tonio high school, and a moderately biwinged Ox-Swallow, Sutton per- No one knows whether the Sutton wealthy man with a profitable farm, a formed loop-the-loops, roll-overs, and strategy will continue to work on a real estate business, a mattress factory, delayed parachute jumps for small citywide basis. Voters, like most audi- a mortuary, and a skating rink, was born county carnival crowds in East Texas, ences, grow restive with too much raz- a slave. Percy remembers great restless- Alabama, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. zle-dazzle, and the more of his tricks ness in his highly charged house. Every- His flying career ended at nineteen Sutton is forced to reveal during a pro- one worked, learned discipline, and when his friend Red Dawson was de- longed mayoral maneuver, the less im- was ambitious. But somehow, for Percy, capitated while pulling out of a low pressive they will appear. His unques- it was not enough. Inspired by the old dive under a bridge that spanned the tioned showmanship, his knife-pressed radio drama about life in New York, Chehaw River, near Tuskegee, Ala- suits, his carefully modulated diph- Grand Central Station, he ran away bama. thongs, and his political and business from home several times. "Going back with Dawson's body acrobatics have left his audiences as- "I used to sit there under the porch to San Antonio," Sutton recently said, tonished, but slightly suspicious. In the listening to that program and imitating "I remember feeling relieved by his black community there are those who the announcer. 'Good evening ladies death. I also remember feeling guilty feel he might be selling out to the and gentlemen. This is Percy Sutton at for feeling that relief. Until then I had Beame administration by not fighting

44 NEW YORK Men in waiting: Three borongk presidents gather outside the office of the mayor. They are, left to right, Slrtton o/ Manhattnn, Robert Connor of Richmond, and Robert Abrams of the Bronx. Sutton, clearly, wouldn't mind being inside in '77. hard enough on such minority issues lithic establishment with qery little it would rather have pop out of that as the three-in-one civil-service hiring party divisiveness, William Dawson shell than Percy Sutton. His business practice, the new 8 per cent sales tax, maintained similar clout with Chicago's sense, his understanding and apprecia- the proposed layoff of provisional em- black political structure. In New York, tion of the clubhouse rules, his appar- ployees-predominantly black and where the white political structure is ent ability to deliver black votes with- Puerto Rican-and the effort to force characterized by its intimate relations out scaring away white (83 per cent more minority members into construc- with law firms, insurance companies, of his votes come from whites), and tion unions working on city-financed real-estate businesses, builders, and his talent for canoodling reformers and projects. Others feel that he did not banks, so too will the most successful even radicals while still being able to challenge Beame hard enough on the of the city's established black politicians nominate a knee-jerk regular like Ber- racially volatile school board elections arrive at that same marginally ethical nie Ruggieri to be chairman of the on the Lower East Side. There, accord- state. Sutton may have already done it. city's Democratic Committee, have not ing to a stinging editorial in The New "No one will really know until a failed to impress the machine. Party York Times, Beame had allowed him- year before the next election whether leaders like Meade Esposito, Pat Cun- self to become the ally of Albert Shank- the climate is right for a non-white ningham, Abe Beame, Stanley Stein- er and the predominantly white teach- mayoral candidate," Sutton said, "but gut, and the wealthy bankers, insurance ers' union where, the paper chided, if the climate is such that people would brokers, and builders who support "impartiality by city officials is clearly tend to vote on the basis of whether their campaigns may find that Percy called for." you could solve their problems or not, Sutton, no matter what the color of There are many Sutton backers who then I," he paused, "or some other per- his shell, is really one of their own. will expect him to go to the mat with son," he paused again, "might fit into But they, like many others who Abe Beame on every one of these in- that climate. thought they knew where Percy Sutton tensely felt issues, and if he does not, "So far, I haven't really made a deci- stood, may be fooled. After all, Sutton his supporters could begin to drift sion, and I discourage those who sug- has done many surprisingly unmachine- toward some other minority candidate gest that I run. It's too early. It wouldn't like things. His staff is good, politically whose rhetoric is not encumbered by a be smart. About a year before the next varied and, with few exceptions, not dream of citywide, mainstream politi- election I'll know, and if the time is from the clubhouse employment office. cal support. right I will. But now, if you make too And even Percy's business dealings, for James Q. Wilson, in his book Negro much noise, you bring down upon you all their complexity, are not, so far, as Politics, points out that black political all those who wouldn't want your egg politically indecorous as Steingut's and structures within a city will general- to hatch." Esposito's insurance companies. ly reflect the kind of politics already To the city's Democratic party es- In the end, Sutton may manipulate in existence in the same town. In Chi- tablishment, however, if an off-white the manipulators. "The trouble with cago, for instance, where Mayor Rich- egg is being incubated in the city for Percy," once said, "is ard Daley represents a kind of mono- a 1977 hatching, then there is no one that he won't stay bought." I

NEW YORK 45 recom~)lcildntionby Cail Mc- T!IC inside dealings between t6e story by A'11:in IYoll)cr ia Call to tlic stale U.D.C. One of H.U.D.C. arrd the Sclton this i~suc), Elcnnor I-loln~es thc n1:ic)r pro.jects ol II .U.L).C. cantridlcd C.C.C. group were Norton, and City Ccuncilman is thc dsvilopn~entof a. large so c>bvious thnt tl~ebo?.rd at Frctl Sn1;luels. TliE SOz!0 WEEKLY NE'\:'S site just esst of tlie slate ,one point ~~lt)lorizcdo?en As a statc scnntor Von biddin;:--in the Anisicrc!nm hoe 6, 1974 office building at 125t!r Street Lutkcr has bccn pal-titularly anci 7ih Avcnuc. The News, of cai:rse-for the interested in he;!lth [ifid H.U.D.C. board, which is development contract even educgiion. "I wrote tllc fiist contt~olled by Sutton cssod- thoug!~ H.U.D.C. president sicblc-cell ancnlia bill that ates, \,:as .!list ahout to awi-.rd a Jack Wood, Jr. had airczdy passed in this coun:ry," he $30 li~iilioiidevelop!n::fit con- noiified C1a1-encc Jol~cso: the said. He has worked' on tract to Center City Co:n:nun- designation of C.C.C., II:~.,as successful Icgisliition which ication!;, Inc., \.illen Von daue:opcr. provides kidney r)inchi~res to Lutkier and a fc~other At this writing C.C.C.'s those \:%o need thcn~;he has . . dissidcnts on tile hoard de- tlesignetion as devc1opc.r lias obtailied funds for the Schum- manded open bidding on thc bccn temporarily tll\-:a~?cd by ber~Col:ection in l-lnrlem; and .contract. It secnls th31 C.C.C. Voll I,u!her and otherc, who hc 113s sponsored a "ghcllo is bnsir:clly a holtliilg. corripany claim that Ccl~~crCity Com- mcdico" prograrn which p;;s for Suttc~lintcrcsts. Clsrerrcc rnunlcatic:ns iraudently slated for the lr:,iitiing of doctors \vho Jones, the editor ai:tl pa!;!isher thnt tliey hat1 59. n~iiiio;: of coi;~n\itthemselves to worl:ing of the A~!:ster(lam Neivs (major assets, when in fact C.C.C;hzd in poor colnn~uni:ics. stockl!oldern: Percy Sill ton), is no assets at all. "I'ercy is afraid tli~~tif he the. chaii.n~enof the bmrd of So Percy dragged then out supl.)orts the black canirnuni!y

Last 'Tccsdag morning Hor- C.C.C., v~.l-~ileCarl h'lcCall, for Carl McCall. Siatc Seilalor too strongly, he ' will a!ien::te ough Presiciei-ti Percy Sution who recently rcsi~ned as Manfred Olircnstein was. white voters," Von lauil;~r pulled out the troops in chairman of the editol-ial bonrd slightly embarrassed vhen I said. Sutton is thought to t)c n support of i3. Carl McCall, his asked him why lie. was no. - of the IZ~nsterdanlNews,'is its major candidate for tile 1377 hand-picked candidate for- prcsidcnt. Suttoil, accordinp to longer supportilig his co!!eaye mayoralty. "He vcanls to crenie state seliztor in the 26th S.D., Nick Pilcggi's recent Ncw York in thc se:iatc. "I'm not ping to a black empire up in I-Inrlcm- which i~>cluiicsHarlem a!:d the Magazin? profile of Sutton, sap anything 'ncgativc about to go back to t!lc days of the upper west side. It secms that has thc right to convert his Sidiicy; 1'11 leave that to Carl clublioasc. 1 absoluiely refuse the incun~bcnt, SidnCy yon. stock hddings in the Ainster- 'and the othcrs." .Of Carl to be part of any mcchine," Luther, a fortncr orga!iizer for darn Nsvs and radio stntion McCall, Ohrenstein szid, "We Von L.uther told t11c S'CVN. Local 1199 of tlie Health and WLID into C.C.C. Inc. stock; necd people c.ho know hwthe At the McCall press confcr- Hospital Workers Union, just so if the deal is approved by tl~sysIe.ril works and how to take ence Sutton said, "If you're isn't fo!lorving orders. Last 1i.U.D.C. board, an which advantage of that system. Carl 'good, don't \vo:.ry about year, whci~Satton.bl:w a large McCall will undoubtedly sit if McCall has succeeded ' in bosses." He didn't say who the part. of his liberal cred:n!ials he is elected to the statc senate, working that system." Ohren- bosses wcrc. 'by eadorsi~;gAbe B--~,11l",OVCr Sutton has much to gain stein clairnccl ignorance of any If Matty Troy, out in Herman Raciillo, Iron Luther personally. Moreover, C.C.C.'s of th:: dealifigs of 1I.U.D.C. Quccns. is serious about supported Esdillo. proposal includes the building and C.C.C. "It's not In- job to launc!iir?g a "vet~dctta lo tlie But a;: even more persistent of oiiiccs ior ill:: A;::srcrc!nni invrsiignte ti~nt,"hc slzld just dc:tt!~" against h r thur I<::tz- problzn~ ior Sutton is Vorl News, 'VV'LIE, \VS!-S (for before endorsing McCdI. man, who made the egregious Luthcr's gadflying 2bo:lt the v-1;icli !::ner City Erozdcnsting ' Ct!!crs e~dorsing hIcCcll error of voting lor the Gay Harlem Urban Developxent has a purchase option) and included Asscn~bly hiinority Rigi;!s bill, he could probably Corporation. The corpora!ion other Sutton owned or op- - Leadcr A1 Clumcn thal, Con- pick up a few tricks from was set up as a result of a .tioned businesses; gressman Charles Rar:gcl. (see. Percy. Harlem Senate Race By StiNDR.4 SATTERWIIITE more than $7 mi 11 ion were it is considering several pro- Vanhattan Borough Presi- asscts of subsidiaries not posals. . dci7t Percy Sutton and the owned by lthc co~porakion Von Luthcr further ck larg- Rcv. H. Carl McCall, a can- ant1 that the remaining $2 cd that in closed-door ses- ~n)zt'iil?tcd*Fl.o))a Pagc S sions with I-IUDC officia did latc for the Statc Senate million just didn't exist, but 11s In 2 IIICII~ in any company now ' ---SP5~t now hcld by Sidnqr Von he said in a pro forma finan- May 1973, Ccntcr City had v,= bidding on the site. I Lu ther, have both clcnicd ri:rl statcnlcnt approved by a been designated, w 1 t h o He admits to owning stock ~ cR: wgcs by Von Luther that certified public accountant, competitive hidding, as i in both Am-News and Inncr- I thc!y participated in a pos- thc inflated figure was pre- developer for the site 1 5 City ,but callcd Van Luther's ; , sil:-.~ly ftaudulent scheme to sented in order for the com- that he and othcr HU 2 chargcs of fraud "outragcous secure a $50 million contract pany to win the cont~act. board members balked and and c~~npletelyuntrue." from the H~arlcmUrban De- - the job was opcncd to ()ther g callcd them very obviously 1 vc:lopment Corp. McCall, Von Lurtiher said, bidders. p a smear campaign in the "He's [Von Luther1 1)ccn was prcsidc~utof Ccntral City flhc other subsidiarie final clays hcfore the Srp!. pcddling Ihrsc charges for Dcvelopnlent Col-p., a subsid- CCC include, he said, Am- 10 primary. i months," said B spokesman iary crcntcd by CCC to han- Nmvs, the parcmt company of McCall said that if clcclccl for Sutton. "This is a last- cllc thc development of thc the Ncw York Amstex*dam , his stock in the two conl- 1 rninute d~esperationtactic by site. News, and Inner-City BIroad- panics would be put in a candidha,tc who is held in casting, which opcrat~sradio trust fund. snch low esteen~1)p his col- Hc said that he's filed a station WLTE-AM and holds formal con~plaint with the Clarence Jones, editor and leagues that all of the legis- an option to purchase WBLS- publisher of the New York lators who've takcn a psi- orficc of Manhattan District FM. Attorney Richard Kzih, =k- Amsterdam News and chair- / n in this race h ave en- AIcCaIl. who said he had man and chief executive of- ing for an investigation to :sed BfcCall." psigncd as president of Cen- ficer of Cmter City Com- , CcCall called the charger, dcterminc if fraud was in- tcr City Dcvclopment C!orp., munications, was ~mavailahlc volved. fraud "outragcous and before r~~nningfor office! last for commeint. COTnplctcly untrue." !t MarchI, denied any in17olve- A contract ha!s not yc IIUDC Still TNnking Ho st of Endorsen~ents been av~ardecl,and HUD sa)5 re 18 I nvIcCall, who has received When asked if Von Luthcr's enciorsements from State charge had any substance. 1 SerI. Manfred Ohrenstein, Donald J. Cogsville, general As!scmblyn~an Albcrt Elum- manager of the Harlenl Ur- ent.ha1 and a host of othek ban Development Corp., said only, "We're now evaluating PU~Aic officials. is running several proposals and have for- - t!hc? State Sennt? scat In AIa .nhattan's 28th District not madc any decidon about I ag:ainst Von Luther, an in- the dcvclopcr or \vhiFh pro= f curnbent of four years. grams willbe- on the site!' 1 1Ton Luther, standing in Von Luther asserts thaf I front of McCall's campaign HUDC still expects to grant hea ~dquwtersat 2743 Broad- the multimillion dollar con- wa y yesterday chargcs that tract to Center City following I Mc !Call was presider ~t of a the election and that McCall sul3sidiary of City Communi- as a stockholder will benefit cat;ions when the CIompany financially, as will Manhat- all(gedly fdsely stat--~rl thnF tan Borough President Percy . . ,..-. It ihad assets in excess of $9 Sutton, \\rho also owns stock mil Ilion. It was making a in the two companies. prc bposal to HUDC for the Von Luther said he bases dev'elopment of bhc eastern his contention, partly oi~the Po1tion or the site at the details of the proposal still Stak Gffice r!~i:tlingin R;I,:- in the offing submitted by le!n Center City which he said -7 - > had called for: a commercial con~plexto accomodate the offices of the New York Amsterdam News and radio station WLTB; a 600-room , hotel-motel with convention facilities; a 3000-seat Apollo I Theater and two Loew's mini- ' theaters. i Speaking for Manhattan Borough President Percy i Sutton, press secretary Frank I Sutton, press secretaly Franlc [ Baraff, said thatsutton has , never been t~volvedin Center City, is not now involved, and will mot be at any future ; time. 1 THE NEW YORK TI 11Sutton ard .~JIcCallAre ~ccusedon Harlem Projec* - By CHAR: isald, wen? Clarence B. Jones. a Side and Harlem. said he had Mr. Sutton slid he 1lad "no filed a formal ~0mplaintyeSter- influence directly or in difectly j @&-&I @..I 'business asmiate of Mr. McQil .. U.D.C., and Mr. Suttm; Emard J. day with District Attorney upon H.U.D.C.. Clarence Luther charged yesterday that Richard H. Kuh for possible Jones or anyone else. He also fi Ns Democratic primary op. pre~dent the criminal action. said that he had "never owned , vent, Carl McCall, and Bor:U'ban Develment Corpora- Mr. Kuh said he he had a share of stock in enter City tian, a$ Jack E. Woad, presi- nor has Center City owned a OUgh PIrcy Sutmn adopted the policy of his prede- ' dent of rtr Harlem subsidiary, cessor, Frank S. Hogan that his share in any$ing in Iwhich I Ma*attan were involved in accordins te MY. vaa Lather. office would have no comment owned shares. a contract fathe ondevelopd vm lu- r\d however, on charges .made during a pli- Mr. Jon-, the prinoipal i part of the State Office Build- ha1 campaign. shareholder in Center C:ity and that the pmposal was tabled VI-1. ing site in Harlem "that raises at a meeting of the full Harlem Mr. McCall, who came and the publisher of The Ne IW-. lvln serious quedons of cdiot of Urban Development Corpora- stood within a few feet of his ~msterdam News, sai!d "ab- interest and fraud.'. tion Board after he and others opponent dunng the news con- vlously whoever made that re- 1 Standing in fmnt of Mr. Mc- protested the manner in which ference, said when Mr. Yon port does not know how to sead Call's campaign storefront at it had been a~cepted.. Luther had finished reading a,a financial statement." 2743 Broadway, near 105fi Mr. sum is homrary ,.,-+ prepared stat~ment that the "H.U.D.C. asked for a pro Street, Mr. Von Luther accused chairman of the development charges Were outrageous and forma statement, assuming that the two political dlies of hav- mrporation, and a~ of- completely untrue." Both he we would consolidate all the 1 "ripped off bornthe people ficials in the area, including M~.and Mr. Sutton denied any im-companies if we went hto this P~OP~~Wor fraud. venture," he said. "And it fr. not of Harlem," a $50-million con- Von Luther, sit its board ij,:-the tmct that was the result of ~r.Van Luther further Mr. McCall said he resigned a misrepresentation "certain arcane deliberations," char@ that in an effmto se. from Center City on March 1 facts. he words pro foma am rather thcompetitive bid- cure the contract, M~. when hs entered the Senate pri- on the consolidated balance ding. who was president of ~enrerl~~~yrace. sheet-" The tentative 8ppKnd af Zhe City Development Corporation, contra& which called for Cen- "knowingly participated" in a Qr City Communicatim. "mss misreuresentation of the i Inc. to dkvelop a commercial fzd," listing' the group's car-]! and communications complex Iporate assets at $g-millinn..%L*..-.-. 1: on the site at 125th Street-and ' 'That was a lie," Mr. \lon Lenox Avenue, was the result Luther said. "The! y had no of a closed meeting in March, sets at the time." . 1973, amding to Mr. Von The Senator, wi L,,&L-- the 28th Senatonal ulsrricti - !eting, he which includes the Upper West - -- - I