April 14, 2003

CAPARRO BAGS BACKERS FOR WARNER MANUFACTURING PLAY

Warner Music Group distribution chief Jim Caparro has lined up big-name backers for a management-led buyout of the company's CD and DVD manufacturing arm, The Post has learned. Caparro is...

FEMALE STAR BUTTE BAILING ON CSFB'S MACK

Amy Butte, one of Credit Suisse First Boston's top female executives and an instrumental force behind the company's drive toward diversity, has decided to leave the firm, The Post has...

SETTLEMENT NAME-DROPPING - RESEARCH DEAL MAY LET BANKS SHIELD INDIVIDUAL ANALYSTS

Firms slated to pay fines to end investigations of their stock research during the tech bubble may be able to hide some of the names of analysts and company executives...

A NEW CABLE WAR - MALONE, REDSTONE VIE FOR VIVENDI NETWORKS

Liberty Media's John Malone has zeroed in on Vivendi Universal's valuable cable channels as his next big acquisition, say sources close to Malone. This could set up a bidding war...

TITANIC TUSSLE - CARREY, FARRELL, CRUISE GANG UP ON DICAPRIO IN 3 FILMS

YOU thought he looked tough in "Gangs of New York." Now Leo DiCaprio is taking on three foes who pack an even meaner punch than Bill the Butcher: Tom Cruise,...

'STOOPS' ELEVATES FARCE FUN

SHE STOOPS TO COMEDY At the Playwrights Horizon's Peter Jay Sharp Theater, 416 W. 42nd St. Through April 27. Call Ticket Central, (212) 279-4200. ----- GOOD farce involves lickety-split changes...

MAKEOVER? MOI ?

MONICA Lewinsky may be unlucky in love but she certainly has struck good luck as the host of a new Fox dating game show called, "Mr. Personality." The former White...

INSIDE THE BIG 'BUFFY' FINALE

THE rumor mill is in overdrive about exactly what will happen during the series finale of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." [Editor's note: The following story contains plot spoilers. If you...

'FROG' HAS LEGS

A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD [ 1/2] At the Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues. Call (212) 239-6200. ----- I was not born yesterday...

ADAM WAS FIRST

ADAM Sandler is the favorite - once again - among kids, who gave him not one but two orange Blimp Awards at Nickelodeon's 16th Annual Kids' Choice Awards over the...

STARR REPORT

Anna: So who invited this guy? Well, her show might be struggling, but Anna Nicole Smith is soldiering on - and making some interesting news along the way. There was...

BOSOM BUDDY - BEFORE VERSACE, ONLY STREET WALKERS COULD GET AWAY WITH WEARING CLOTHES LIKE THAT

Biography: "House of Versace" [ 1/2] Tonight at 8 on A&E ----- WOMEN - pre-Gianni Versace - who wore black leather bras, slashed-up leather shorts and thigh-high boots were usually...

CLOTHES CLONES - FASHION COPYCATS SO CLOSE EVEN THE DESIGNERS CAN'T TELL

THERE are knock-offs - and then there are rip-offs. Affordable chain stores, including Zara, Arden B and Le Chateau, are churning out copycat items so close to the big-name originals...

SILVER TREASURE - TORT-REFORM FOE'S FIRM WON $280M IN SUITS

ALBANY - A top law firm that recently hired Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver - the Legislature's chief opponent of tort reform - has won at least $280 million in personal-injury...

A 'FARE' OF THE HEART

UNLIKE in the fairy tales, there was no bell tolling at the 14th Street IRT station when the clock struck midnight and New York officially entered the no-token era. Yet...

NYERS' 'FORGOTTEN' REFUNDS

Are you cash-strapped as Tax Tuesday looms? You may be one of more than 10,460 New York residents still owed tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service. The average unclaimed...

WEIRD BUT TRUE

The Catholic Church has banned popular love songs like "My Heart Will Go On," "Lady in Red" and "Wind Beneath My Wings" from being played at wedding ceremonies in County...

YANKEL-SLAY RETRIAL OPENS

The retrial of Lemrick Nelson Jr. for the murder of a rabbinical student in the Crown Heights riots is set to get under way with jury selection today. Twelve years...

COLLEGE BUDGET BIG AXED

The president of Kingsborough Community College fired the school's veteran budget watchdog - after the financial officer challenged fund-raising and spending practices, The Post has learned. Joseph Musicus, 60, the...

POL RIPS TEXTBOOK CA$E OF NEGLECT

New York City teachers are using photocopies from textbooks to educate kids - and that will continue if Gov. Pataki's budget passes, a state assemblyman said yesterday. Pataki plans to...

WE'LL FIND FOES' WMD, COLIN VOWS

Secretary of State Colin Powell insisted yesterday that the United States will find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. "The combat period is over, and we can now turn our...

SADDAM'S HALF-BROTHER CAUGHT FLEEING TO SYRIA

A Saddam Hussein half-brother who's one of the regime's most notorious thugs got nabbed by coalition forces as he tried to flee to Syria, knocking out the five of spades...

TEEN SURRENDERS IN KID'S 'HIT-RUN'

A young man was arrested yesterday after he turned himself in to cops searching for the SUV driver who mowed down a 10-year-old boy on a Queens street, police said....

KIN'S PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED - POW'S B'KLYN COUSINS ELATED

The Madeam family said a prayer at noon yesterday in their Brooklyn home - just as they've done every day since their niece, Shoshana Johnson, became a POW in Iraq....

BAGHDAD SHOCKER BARES RUSSIAN-SADDAM SPY TIE

Top-secret Iraqi intelligence documents found in Baghdad show that Russian spies funneled secrets to Saddam Hussein and even tipped him off about a private exchange between President Bush and British...

SHARON: U.S. WIN IS PEACE AID

The U.S. victory in Iraq could help further the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday. "The Iraq war created an opportunity with...

SEVEN SOLDIERS SAFE AND SOUND - * RELIEF AS TROOPS RESCUE POWS; * AMERICA HAS SADDAM'S DNA; * RUSSIA-IRAQ SPY SHOCKER BARED

Marines miraculously found seven American POWs alive and well yesterday, ending three weeks of fear about their fate at the hands of Iraqi captors. "I'm ecstatic," said Ronald Young Sr....

BUSH CANCELS CANADA VISIT

The White House yesterday announced that President Bush is indefinitely postponing his May 5 visit to Canada, which refused to join in the war against Iraq. The final straw was...

NYER SLAIN IN COMBAT - WASH. HTS. KIN MOURN 'DEDICATED' MARINE

A young man from Washington Heights who "loved being a Marine" and fighting for his adopted country has become the third New York City fatality in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Military...

SYRIANS WARNED BY PREZ

President Bush yesterday warned Syria that it had better "cooperate" with America and stop giving safe passage to fleeing thugs from Saddam Hussein's "horrendous" government - but stopped short of...

SON'S RELEASE BITTERSWEET NEWS FOR N.J. FAMILY

The parents of Sgt. James Riley learned they were getting their son back yesterday - a tremendous joy tempered by the tragic death of their daughter days after Riley was...

TAX SURCHARGE EYED AS APPLE BUDGET BOOST

GOV. PATAKI called a late-night budget meeting yesterday to try to come up with a new spending plan that would include a bailout for Mayor Bloomberg - who has warned...

SURVIVAL IS HELL FOR DUNGEON SEX SLAVE

The last victim to be tortured and humiliated by an alleged Syracuse sex fiend is a withdrawn wreck, timid with her family and scared of strangers, her sister says. "It's...

NYPD DAILY BLOTTER

THE BRONX * A teenager has been arrested in connection with last month's fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy in Williamsbridge, and cops are searching for two more suspects. On...

NIGHTMARE OF 7 FREED POWS - * SPENT WEEKS SURE THEY'D DIE; * CHILLING TALE OF NASIRIYAH AMBUSH

Seven American POWs were found alive and well yesterday after three weeks of captivity that began with beatings and threats - but ended with their jailers using their own money...

CUNY SET TO BUILD A MEGA-LAB

The City University of New York plans to build a "cutting edge" community science research and training facility in Harlem, with labs that will be available to public-school students and...

PORN GAL'S AGONY - STOX INSIDER TELLS OF HER SUICIDE TRIES

Ex-porn star Kathryn Gannon revealed yesterday she tried to commit suicide six times after a Manhattan judge slapped her with a prison sentence for insider trading. But after being released...

YOUR CHANCE TO BE A COMIC STAR

Marvel Comics wants YOU! The home of Spider-Man, Daredevil and the Hulk is holding an "open casting call" for anybody who wants to write or draw comics. "If you have...

SEX SLAVE'S PAIN GOES ON

SYRACUSE - The last victim to be tortured and humiliated by an alleged sex fiend is a withdrawn wreck, timid with her family and scared of strangers, a relative said....

ATLANTIC AVE. BOOKSHOPS HAVEN'T TURNED THE PAGE ON HATE

THOUSANDS of miles from Baghdad, allied victory seems less than a sure thing. Here, in the thriving Muslim neighborhood of Brooklyn - a largely peaceful enclave hiding dots of treachery...

IT'S NOT EASY BEING MEAN: UDAY'S 'DADDY DEAREST' LETTER

Saddam Hussein's a murderous tyrant that not even a maniacal son could love. Despite showering his oversexed son Uday with palaces, yachts, Lamborghinis and pet lions, the Butcher of Baghdad...

U.S. FORCES STORM THE CITY WHERE SADDAM WAS SPAWNED

WASHINGTON - U.S. Marines launched the final knockout blow against Saddam Hussein's regime yesterday by entering his hometown of Tikrit, the last major Iraqi city not under coalition control. A...

SEIZER'S PALACE IN GI HANDS

From Saddam's presidential compound BAGHDAD - GIs here are now playing the palace - the 258-room New Presidential Palace on the west bank of the Tigris River, where Saddam Hussein...

FORENSICS TEAM HAS SADDAM DNA ON FILE

War commander Gen. Tommy Franks yesterday said he has DNA of Saddam Hussein and his sons, Uday and Qusay, so he'll be able to make positive confirmation if their bodies...

'CIG BAN KILLED HIM' - BOUNCER KNIFED AS HE BOOTS SMOKER

A bouncer was stabbed to death yesterday in a melee at an East Village nightclub after he asked a patron to put out his cigarette - and his relatives blamed...

'ANGER MANAGEMENT' SCOOPS UP SOME MAD MONEY

"Anger Management" bullied its way to the top of the box office - raking in $44.5 million over the weekend. The Jack Nicholson-Adam Sandler comedy grabbed more cash than the...

SEVEN SOLDIERS SAFE AND SOUND - * FREED POWS REVEAL NIGHTMARE; * BUSH GIVES SYRIA STERN WARNING; * RUSSIA-IRAQ SPY SHOCKER BARED

Seven American POWs were found alive and well yesterday - and said that their Iraqi captors were cruel at first, but softened up quickly during the three-week ordeal. "I thought...

ONCE AGAIN, AUGUSTA IS MASTER OF CBS' SOUL

SO what did we think of CBS' Masters coverage? The same thing we've thought about it for the last 20 years: It was strange. There's no congratulating or condemning any...

ISLES COUNTING ON NASSAU MAGIC

The intensity level of this Islanders-Senators quarterfinal series, tied 1-1, gets kicked up several notches this evening as it swings back to the Coliseum, where the Senators will be walking...

WITH ISLES, YOU NEVER KNOW

BAGGAGE? Not even Ted Donato at trading deadlines has carried the luggage Peter Laviolette says his Islanders did coming back from a 6-11-2 start to make the playoffs. "Last year,...

ALMONTE'S STRUGGLE CONTINUES

YANKEE NOTES Erick Almonte's mother probably told him he'd have days like this. But what about homestands? In yesterday's 2-1 loss to the Devil Rays, the rookie shortstop suffered through...

GIAMBI WALKS OWN PATH

IT was supposed to be easier this year for Jason Giambi. He had survived a struggling start in his Yankee debut season, particularly a boo-laden beginning in The Bronx, to...

D-RAYS' ORDONEZ CONSIDERS RETIREMENT

At just 32 years old, ex-Met Rey Ordonez is contemplating retirement. "This is maybe my last year," Ordonez, now the Devil Rays' shortstop, told The Post. "I'm thinking about it."...

PANDOLFO RELIVES HIS COLLEGE DAYS

BOSTON - It even made Pat Burns smile. That was the true test of Jay Pandolfo's work of wonder. It is a goal Pandolfo will remember the rest of his...

JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS FOR ROCKET

The road to 300 wins includes days when your stuff is not exactly right, but you win anyway. With 295 career victories, Roger Clemens knows this about as well as...

FRANKEL'S 1-2 PUNCH ON TARGET

As the sun set Saturday over Aqueduct and Keeneland racetracks, trainer Bobby Frankel wore the befuddled, even worrisome expression of a man thinking "pinch me, I must be dreaming." Within...

CAN'T WIN 'EM ALL - SLOPPY YANKS FALL SHORT VS. D-RAYS

Devil Rays 2 - Yankees 1 Bernie Williams lashed an RBI single to left field and suddenly everything changed. Suddenly, in the bottom of the eighth inning, it didn't matter...

DEVS TRIP UP BRUINS - BRODEUR LEADS WAY TO 3-0 EDGE

GAME 3: Devils 3 - Bruins 0 BOSTON - Whether they sweep tomorrow is nearly immaterial. The Devils are going to the second round, soon. The real importance of these...

JERSEY IN COMFORT ZONE

BOSTON - They made themselves at home yesterday at the Fleet just the way they used to at Boston Garden, which the Devils shut down for good by going 3-0...

STOIC TIGER: 'I JUST DIDN'T HAVE IT'

AUGUSTA - Tiger Woods had hoped to win a record third straight green jacket by generating some early momentum that would rattle the other contenders in yesterday's final round of...

OTHER LEFTY ADDS TO PHIL'S MAJOR HEADACHE

NOTEBOOK AUGUSTA - A left-handed player won The Masters yesterday, becoming only the second lefty in golf history to win a major, joining Bob Charles, who won the 1963 British...

GREEN JACKET'S HEADED NORTH - WEIR WINS PLAYOFF TO BECOME FIRST CANADIAN CHAMP

AUGUSTA - Oh, Canada, a Canuck has been fitted for the 2003 Green Jacket. Hockey-crazed Canada has a new sports hero in Mike Weir, whose footwear features golf spikes, not...

TOUGH DAY FOR TIGER SPOILS THREE-PEAT DREAM

NOTEBOOK AUGUSTA - The Tiger Woods three-peat will have to wait - at least another three years. Woods, who after his third-round 66 was most people's chalk pick to come...

MAGGERT LIVES NIGHTMARE

AUGUSTA - No Masters participant had a more agonizing day yesterday than Jeff Maggert. Maggert, who entered the final round with a two-shot lead over eventual winner Mike Weir, was,...

MATTIACE HAS HIS MOMENT - L.I. NATIVE STANDS TALL DESPITE PLAYOFF FLOP

AUGUSTA - It has been a long journey from Mineola - where Len Mattiace was born 35 years ago - to the 10th tee at Augusta National on a Masters...

MATTIACE NOT DONE YET - MINEOLA NATIVE SHOWS HE BELONGS WITH ELITE

AUSGUSTA - It has been a long journey from Mineola, where he was born, to the 10th tee at Augusta National on a Masters Sunday for Len Mattiace. The kid...

ADD INJURY TO MIKE AND MO'S PROBLEMS

MET NOTES SAN JUAN - The Mets suffered two more casualties yesterday when Mo Vaughn and Mike Piazza suffered injuries. Neither is expected to be serious, but the bench was...

PIG PEN AT IT AGAIN - BENITEZ, STANTON TEAM UP IN CHOKE

10 INNINGS: Expos 2 - Mets 1 SAN JUAN - Have you ever heard the term "player hater?" Apply it to the multitude of Mets fans that have no use...

TIME TO DUMP BENITEZ

SAN JUAN - The first thing you notice about ninth innings in Puerto Rico is that they're still serving ice-cold beer and pina coladas in the stands. Is this a...

NETS HAVE A WEEK TO CENTER SELVES

Things to do: cut down turnovers, recover endgame focus and execution, improve decisions, get Dikembe Mutombo in productive form, secure the No. 1 seed in the East, and regain a...

ALLAN: JORDAN TARNISHED AIR

WASHINGTON - Allan Houston wasn't trying to slight Michael Jordan. He was just being honest. As a fan, Houston preferred His Airness had stayed retired. Jordan will play his final...

HERB WILL BE BACK TO ASSIST THE DON

KNICK NOTES WASHINGTON - With two games and two days left, Don Chaney will soon have to start thinking about his coaching staff for next season. But at least he...