Police Chief Contradicted By Subordinate at Council

Conflicting sworn statements by the Cambridge chief of police and a police sergeant yesterday marked the City Council's hearing on the alleged cover-up of gamblers by city officials.

The nine city councilors took no action on U.S. District Court Judge William T. McCarthy's charge that Sgt. Daniel J. Cosgrove was transferred from the Crime Prevention Bureau to night duty in 1954 because he arrested members of a gambling syndicate the previous year. Cosgrove's testimony on the reasons for the discharge directly contradicted that of Chief Patrick F. Ready.

Denies Asking Transfer

Ready told the councilors that he had transferred Cosgrove because the sergeant "had gone stale on his job" as head of the Crime Prevention Bureau and had besides asked to be "moved downstairs."

The sergeant, on the other hand, flatly denied ever asking Ready for a transfer and stated that "common talk was that the bookies and the barrooms could not take the pressure" he put on them. Cosgrove had participated in a federal raid and arrest of gamblers including several Cambridge residents in Chelsea.

Councilor Charles A. Watson, who proposed the hearings, then charged that two of the men arrested by Cosgrove were on the city payroll. City Manager John J. Curry answered by saying the two unnamed gamblers had worked for the city, one in the Public Works Department, the other as a temporary employee, but they no longer hold their jobs.

Cosgrove "Brow-beater"

Ready said Cosgrove had been "aggressive and a brow-beater" in his handling of gamblers and bars selling liquor to minors, but that he himself was of the same frame of mind as the sergeant about "gamemen and vice." He added, "that is why I became chief of police."

The chief admitted, however, that he did not tell Cosgrove of his dissatisfaction and had informed the sergeant of the transfer only by a note sent through one of Cosgrove's subordinates. Ready said he could not find Cosgrove after he wrote out the transfer.