N.Y. Justice Tied to Myerson Scandal Quits

NEW YORK —  Hortense W. Gabel, the state Supreme Court justice whose dealings with Bess Myerson are at the crux of a scandal, resigned Monday.

In a letter to Chief Judge Sol Wachtler of the state Court of Appeals, Gabel, 74, said she suffered “serious health problems” but had thought they would not impair her effectiveness as a judge.

Myerson, a former Miss America, was the city’s commissioner of cultural affairs until earlier this year, after it was disclosed that she had taken the Fifth Amendment while testifying before a grand jury investigating her lover, Carl A. Capasso.

In the course of a city inquiry, an investigator found that Myerson had misused her position to influence Gabel, who was presiding over Capasso’s divorce case.

Capasso, a major city contractor, is serving a four-year sentence for tax evasion.