Herbert Bates, 86; Justice Official Under Kennedy

Herbert E. Bates, 86, an administrative law judge for the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission and a former Justice Department official in the Kennedy administration, died of diabetes and congestive heart failure July 12 at Springhouse Assisted Living in Bethesda.

Mr. Bates worked under Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in the criminal division of the Organized Crime Strike Force. He investigated organized crime in Detroit and briefed the attorney general on his findings the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, hours before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.

"Bates, sitting in front of the group close to Kennedy's desk, presented a long report -- complete with a large chart listing his local scorecard -- on his continuing investigations on Detroit. The biggest numbers operation had been closed down, the investigating agencies, originally competitive with each other and combative toward us, were cooperating, and the heat was being felt," Ronald Goldfarb wrote in the book "Perfect Villains, Imperfect Heroes" (1995).

"[Bates] told of one gambler who asked him how long our efforts would continue; he was planning to get out of the rackets and even out of town," Goldfarb wrote. Bates "told Kennedy of a recent comment by the chairman of the Mafia board in Detroit, Joe Zerilli, that 'the mob should play things legitimately until the heat is off, then we'll get back in.' 'When is that going to be?' Kennedy asked. 'I guess when you and the president are out of office,' Bates speculated, unaware then of the eerily prophetic nature of his intended light remark."

Mr. Bates, the son of a cabdriver, was born in the Bronx, N.Y. As a boy, he competed citywide in speed-skating competitions and graduated from the University of Bridgeport. He served in the Army Air Forces during World War II and later obtained his law degree from George Washington University's night school while working for the FBI.

He worked as a special agent at the State Department, where he served on the security detail for Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth II during their official visits with President Harry S. Truman.

After working for the Justice Department, Mr. Bates became an administrative law judge at the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, an independent federal agency created to decide penalties resulting from OSHA inspections of workplaces. He retired in 1973 and volunteered helping low-income people with Social Security disability appeals.

He was a member of the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, the senior golf association at Kenwood Country Club and the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick.

His wife of 44 years, Helen D. O'Shea, died in 1990.

Survivors include a daughter, Patricia Bates Bardenwerper of Bethesda; a sister, Margaret Bates of Bethesda; and five grandchildren.