N.Y. Borough Chief Likens Ex-Ally Koch to Nazi, Paper Says

Besieged Queens Borough President Donald Manes likened his former ally Mayor Edward I. Koch to a top Nazi official in an interview with the New York Post today, and the mayor called on him to resign.

Manes’ attorney denied that he compared Koch, his one-time political friend, to Martin Bormann in a telephone conversation with a Post reporter.

Manes, who is recovering at his Queens home from a heart attack brought on by a suicide attempt three weeks ago, declined to comment on allegations that he extorted bribes from companies seeking contracts with the city.

But Manes lashed back at Koch, who recently called him “a crook.” He recounted a story he had heard several days earlier about a cabdriver who had told a friend of the borough president: “Boy, that Koch turned out to be some ‘friend’ of Manes. With friends like Koch you don’t need enemies. . . . Koch is a friend like that Martin Bormann was a friend.’ ”

The borough president said, “The cabbie is right.”