A Bloodied Lindsay

Mayor John Lindsay has managed to sidestep direct blame for not responding quickly to widespread police corruption in New York City. But last week he was bloodied politically when one of his aides appeared to be covering up for him before the Knapp Commission, which has been investigating police conduct.

In earlier testimony in closed sessions, Mayoral Assistant Jay Kriegel, 31, whom Lindsay has called the "best staff man in America," had admitted going to the mayor in 1967 with the sordid details of police crime that Detective Frank Serpico and Sergeant David Durk had given him. By the testimony of Durk and Serpico, Kriegel came back to them to report that the Lindsay administration was concerned about possible ghetto rioting and did not want to upset the police.

In his latest appearance before the commission, Kriegel told a different story. He said this time that he had never given the mayor more than a general idea of the cops' charges and did not provide him with specifics. Nor, said Kriegel, had he ever told Durk and Serpico that the mayor was concerned about bothering the police by acting on corruption. But the two policemen have stuck to their version.

Lindsay's long-awaited announcement of his presidential candidacy may come this week; the Kriegel matter does his white-knight persona little good. Queens Democratic Leader Matthew Troy, who is supporting George McGovern for President, has demanded an investigation. Manhattan District Attorney Frank Hogan acknowledged that he was examining the testimony for possible discrepancies. Lindsay struck back at the "petty, carping, narrow little men" who were attacking him. It was really a case, he said, of people objecting to his effort to assert civilian control over the police--which hardly explains why he was so tardy in exercising control when he got word of corruption in the department.

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