New York's Supercop

Not since a crusading young attorney named Thomas E. Dewey was appointed special prosecutor in 1935 had there been such a dramatic move to fight crime in New York City. Acting on the recommendation of the Knapp Commission, which had spent a year and a half investigating corruption in the city police department, Governor Nelson Rockefeller last week announced the creation of a superprosecutor to ferret out misdeeds in all areas of the criminal justice system, including the police, judges, probation officers, bail bondsmen and prison authorities. Said Rocky: "It is absolutely unique."

It was uniquely painful for city officials. The proposal had been opposed by Mayor John Lindsay and bitterly denounced by the district attorneys of the five boroughs that make up the city. They saw the appointment of the new prosecutor as a personal rebuke that would result in a substantial loss of control over their own operations. But Rocky felt that control had been forfeited when corruption had been linked to some of the district attorneys' offices; an assistant D.A. and several investigators in Queens have been indicted. Inviting his opponents to try to make him change his mind, Rocky let them have their say. They tried but failed. Then the Governor issued an order setting up the new agency.

He appointed Maurice Nadjari, 48, superprosecutor. Tall, lean, tightlipped, Nadjari has spent some 18 years as a prosecutor. He was instrumental in the conviction of Murph the Surf and his two pals in the Star of India thefts from the American Museum of Natural History in 1964. As part of the search for the elusive gems, he even went scuba diving off Miami Beach. Later he successfully prosecuted Republican officials on Long Island for taking bribes in return for zoning changes. "If you went to central casting for a prosecutor," says a Rockefeller aide, "this is the man you would get."

Financed by $4,000,000 in matching state and federal funds, the superprosecutor's office will assemble almost 200 lawyers and investigators during the next three months. As his first act in office, Nadjari invited the public to start giving him tips on possible corruption; already hundreds of phone calls have come in. "I find myself quite excited over the possibility of investigating my own arena," says Nadjari. "There are countless New Yorkers who have frankly had it."

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