Gates’ Autobiography Attacks Mayor, Reiner : LAPD: He says that he and Bradley had ‘learned to tolerate each other, barely’ and accuses the D.A. of ‘grandstanding’ in King case.

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, writing in his upcoming autobiography, says he and Mayor Tom Bradley were “scarcely on speaking terms” at the time of the videotaped police beating of Rodney G. King and accuses the mayor of having done nothing “remotely constructive toward the policing of this city.”

In his book, “Chief: My Life in the LAPD,” co-written by journalist Diane K. Shah and to be released by Bantam Books on May 20, Gates says that his relationship with Bradley had deteriorated over the years to the point “we learned to tolerate each other, barely--speaking only when we had to, mainly by phone.”

Gates, in a chapter obtained by The Times titled “Outrage,” also calls Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, whose office prosecuted the four officers charged in the beating, a “political animal who always has one eye on the road ahead.”

He accuses Reiner’s office of not cooperating with LAPD detectives who prepared and presented the original criminal case against the officers. “Reiner’s intentions were clear to me,” Gates says, referring to Reiner’s decision to reject the Police Department’s case and instead seek grand jury indictments. Later, he talks of Reiner “grandstanding” on the criminal investigation.

“Now, with the FBI coming in to investigate, civil rights groups up in arms and every TV station and newspaper in the country glued to the story, he saw a golden klieg-lit opportunity,” Gates wrote.

In the 342-page book’s prologue, also obtained by The Times, Gates offers a strong condemnation of the beating--stronger than his public pronouncements at the time--revealing that he reviewed the videotape 25 times the morning after the beating. He wrote that the tape made him feel “sick to my stomach, sick at heart.”

Even after the repeated viewings, he was incredulous, he says. He describes the beating as “a very, very extreme use of force--extreme for any police department in America.” He goes on to describe the incident as “revolting” and “unconscionable.”

Later, in the “Outrage” chapter, Gates says that he was silent early in the case to maintain his objectivity, should the beating lead to disciplinary action against any of the officers. “As chief, I would be their sole judge and jury,” he wrote.

Gates goes on, however, to criticize Sgt. Stacey Koon--the supervising officer at the beating scene--for failing “miserably” to control his officers. In a moment of introspection, he also second-guesses his own decision not to speak “boldly of the horror I felt.”

His silence, Gates concedes, was “a significant error.”

“I should have been more candid about my feelings and less worried about the niceties of due process,” he wrote.

Gates wrote that he had been seriously considering retirement in 1991, but changed his mind when Bradley moved to “politicize” the Police Commission with new appointees, whom he called “complete neophytes.” He describes former Commissioner Melanie Lomax as a “ticking time bomb,” and current commission President Stanley K. Sheinbaum as a man whose “knowledge of police was questionable.” The chapter also tells of run-ins with Reiner and Bradley.

On March 12, Gates says, a detective showed him a series of computer messages sent from the car assigned to Officers Laurence M. Powell and Timothy E. Wind, both of whom were charged in the beating. The messages include a racial reference to the movie, “Gorillas in the Mist,” which Gates describes as “clearly racist in nature.”

Gates says he alerted Bradley and later telephoned Reiner, saying he wanted to release to the public digital tapes of the computer messages. He quotes Reiner as advising against it, arguing that the tapes were confidential because of a grand jury investigation into the incident.

Gates did not then release the tapes, but did so a week later after a heated telephone conversation with Bradley aide Phil Depoian, he wrote. The chief wrote that Depoian called him to announce that the Police Commission was ordering him to release the tapes.

“We had a conversation with Ira Reiner, and he said he never told you that you couldn’t release the tapes,” Gates quotes Depoian as saying. “So now the mayor’s ordering you to.”

“Screw you,” Gates quotes himself as responding. “And screw the mayor.”

In a separate incident, Gates tells of a story in The Times about a behind-the-scenes campaign directed by Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani to force him to quit. Gates says that Bradley telephoned him immediately after the story appeared, denying its accuracy.

But two weeks later, on April 2, Gates says that he learned of Bradley’s true intentions. The mayor called him to his office and announced, “I am today going to ask for your resignation,” Gates wrote.

“Many people have this picture of the mayor as a brilliant man, a great leader who loves the city, has the highest moral principles, and is totally committed to the underdog and the needy, “ Gates says. “This description may have fit him at one time, but not anymore.”

The book also tells of Gates’ bitter humiliation in temporarily being removed from his post by the Police Commission, and his successful fight to regain his job.

“I was crushed,” he says of the Police Commission action. “I felt stripped of my dignity and embarrassed beyond belief. You don’t humiliate a person without just cause. You simply don’t do that. I will never forget what they did, never. I hope God forgives them, because I can’t.”

In another account of his personal anguish, Gates wrote about breaking two ribs during a jogging fall near his home after a particularly rough day at Parker Center. For the first time in his long career, Gates confesses, he was unable to “park my problems on the front doorstep” after work.

Gates tells of arriving home late, “too tired to eat, too upset to watch TV, and just falling into bed.” After one City Council meeting, where he had been called to answer questions about the King beating, Gates recalls retreating to the chorus of “Gates gotta go! Gates gotta go!”

“The strain, and the throbbing pain from my broken ribs were wearing me down,” he wrote. “I was prepared to talk reason with anyone, anytime,” he continues later. “But no one seemed to be talking reasonably to me.”