Joseph Tabello

* Joseph G. Tabello as portrayed by a zealous district attorney and the television vultures is not the man I have known for over 30 years (Dec. 24). He is in a tough business, renting to the poor. Just a few questions:

* Did he put the cylinder head in his tenant’s apartment?

* Did he remove a toilet and place it in a living room?

* Did he know that tenant’s children slept in closets?

* Did he advise his tenants to toss garbage out of their windows and miss the trash bin to attract rats?

The Joe I know is a man who does not evict tenants because they lost their jobs. A man who makes sure that a widowed or unemployed friend has food on their table and their kids are clothed. Joe is a good man, done in by a sad system of law and television starved for sensational news.

EDWARD M. ESSA

Los Angeles