The News has experienced a sharp decline in circulation as newsstand dealers wary of violence have refused to carry the paper, and that has discouraged advertisers.

It is also sold via newsstand dealer to many other communities in Northern Ontario with a subscription rate for readers outside of the general circulation territory.

But newspaper investment analysts said that the initial violence and reports of threats against vendors might have been all it took to persuade skittish newsstand dealers not to stock the paper.

They are the ones who are now screaming about intimidation of newsstand dealers.

In the recent Daily News strike, the union's ability to intimidate newsstand dealers to keep them from selling the paper was its strongest weapon.

The newspaper was bankrolled by Mafia loans in the '50s, and gangsters leaned on newsstand dealers who refused to sell it.

In his statement, Mr. Hoge said he told the board that circulation had increased "despite continued violent intimidation against newsstand dealers and small retail store owners."

Violence linked to the Daily News strike was cited in a $30 million class action suit filed by two newsstand dealers.

The lawsuit also seeks to block sharp increases in fees, also to have become effective yesterday, that the newsstand dealers pay to the city to operate their sidewalk businesses.

Union members and some newsstand dealers said the street vendors were put nearby on purpose, to pressure them subtly into restocking the paper.