Mob figure sentenced

CAMDEN, N.J. - A reputed lieutenant in the Colombo organized crime family was sentenced to four years in prison for defrauding the A&P supermarket chain. Salvatore Profaci, 49, of Holmdel, was also fined $2,000 fine and placed on five years' probation by U.S. District Judge John Gerry. Profaci was convicted of two counts of mail fraud in defrauding A&P of about $500,000 while working as a consultant in waste disposal.

Dismissal of suits sought

NEW YORK - Union Carbide Corp., pressing its argument that the proper forum for cases arising out of the Bhopal chemical disaster is India, moved for a dismissal of the dozens of lawsuits filed in the United States. In a petition filed in U.S. district court in Manhattan, supported by several affidavits from prominent Indian lawyers, Union Carbide said "to argue that India cannot or will not properly handle these claims is ridiculous."

Magazine taken over

NEW YORK - The Nation, a 120-year-old weekly journal of opinion, was taken over by a new company whose major partners include its publisher Hamilton Fish III and editor Victor Navasky, officials announced. The two, along with Arthur L. Carter, a businessman and publisher, have formed a partnership, The Nation Company, Fish said.

Deadly darts removed

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Metal darts that police say can pierce bulletproof vests were pulled off the market, the chairman of the company that makes them said. The needlelike, 4-inch-long ammunition for Mega Dart's MX-7 dart gun will be replaced with rubber ammunition "that can't penetrate anything," John Turner said in a telephone interview from his office in El Paso.

Tanker loses power

BOSTON - A 560-foot Liberian tanker carrying 9.5 million gallons of home heating oil lost engine power and ran aground in shallow water outside Boston Harbor, the Coast Guard said. No one was injured in the grounding, the ship was not damaged and nothing spilled from the vessel, which was refloated about seven hours later and prepared to move back into deep water.

Killer gets life term

MIAMI - A man who claimed he was insane when he walked into a hospital room and shot his comatose 3 -year-old daughter to death was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Charles Leroy Griffith, 25, who never denied shooting his daughter Joy twice as she lay in her hospital crib last June, displayed no emotion when the six-member jury's verdict was announced.

Oyster crop damaged

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Hurricane Kate wiped out nearly half of rich Apalachicola Bay's oysters, most of them young spats formed after Hurricane Elena and important to the bay's recovery, a study said. The study differed from official state estimates earlier this month that Kate's damage was much lighter than first feared.

Mobster's stepson held

NEW YORK - The stepson of reputed mob underboss John "Sonny" Franzese surrendered to face charges he headed a group that bilked blue-chip corporations and the federal and state governments out of $5 million. Michael Franzese, 34, a movie producer from Brookville, N.Y., surrendered to law enforcement officials in Florida, said his lawyer, John Jacobs. Franzese and eight others were named in a 28-count federal indictment.

Farmer rams into bank

BOULDER, Colo. - A farmer who rammed his tractor into the front of a bank that held a past-due note on the rig "just broke" under pressure of mounting debts, foreclosure of his farm and a divorce case, his lawyers said. Boulder County Judge Roxanne Bailin set a cash surety bond of $25,000 for James Futhey, 55, a former Continental Airlines pilot who turned to farming after his union struck the carrier.

Cabbie shot to death

NEW YORK - A taxi driver was shot to death when he tried to stop two gunmen from escaping in his cab after stealing $3 ,000 from a pedestrian, police said. John Melchior was shot twice in the abdomen and died at Lincoln Hospital shortly after the shooting, said Officer Janice Swinney, a police spokeswoman.