TICKET SCALPING

Sir:
In your article on Super Bowl ticket scalping (SCORECARD, June 30)
you wrongfully labeled my client Jack Catain as ''reputedly having
connections to organized crime'' and as being a ''federally protected
witness.'' The article also wrongfully states that Catain sold Super
Bowl tickets to David Adelman.
Catain has never been a government witness in anything. He is not
a federally protected witness. To the contrary, he has been at war
with the United States government for most of his adult life.
| He was subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury
investigating the possibility of ticket scalping. I was told by
federal lawyers that he is not a target of that investigation.
Immunity was ordered by the federal court before any questions were
asked.
JAMES A. TWITTY
Attorney-at-Law
Beverly Hills, Calif.
-- In an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in
1981, U.S. Secret Service agent Gerald D. Petievich cited
law-enforcement agency files indicating that Jack Catain was ''a
major organized-crime figure.'' A U.S. Justice Department memo
obtained by SI describes Catain as an ''organized- crime figure.''
Sources have told SI that Catain was an agent in the sale of at least
1,000 Super Bowl tickets to David Adelman. Catain appeared under a
grant of immunity before a federal grand jury in Los Angeles in May
to testify regarding ticket scalping. SI has no information that
Catain has ever been in the government's witness protection program.
-- ED.