Cooney’s Manager Cited in Luggage Search

Federal agents making a routine airport search found a loaded gun and a small quantity of marijuana in luggage belonging to Dennis Rappaport, manager of heavyweight boxing contender Gerry Cooney, officials said Tuesday.

“At this point an investigation is continuing,” said Robert Strang, a spokesman for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in New York. Justice Department officials said no charges had been filed against Rappaport.

“It’s a complete misunderstanding,” Rappaport said when called for comment at his Queens home Tuesday evening. “First of all, it has absolutely nothing to do with Gerry Cooney. The whole thing is a big misunderstanding, which I hope to get cleared up in the next few days.”

According to an affidavit filed at federal court in Brooklyn to obtain a search warrant, a U.S. Customs Service inspector made the discovery Monday night during “a routine narcotics check” with a drug-sniffing dog in the unclaimed baggage area of the American Airlines terminal at Kennedy Airport.

The search warrant request said the dog reacted to two garment bags and a carry-on bag that baggage tags indicated arrived Sunday from San Francisco.

Cooney won his first fight since December, 1984 on Saturday in San Francisco when he stopped Eddie Gregg in the first round of a nationally televised match.