In the most stinging cross-examination of the tax-fraud and extortion trial of Leona M. Helmsley, her lawyer, Gerald A. Feffer, yesterday hammered at the witness, Edward Kleiner, the former controller of the Park Lane Hotel.

Mr. Wanger's lawyer, Anthony J. Pope Jr., aggressively hammered away at inconsistencies between statements the witness made to the police and in the courtroom.

Over the past six weeks his lawyers had hammered out the details of the new Starpower, Ltd. partnership.

Mr. Shah's lawyer, David S. Greenfield, hammered away yesterday at testimony by Superintendent Monteagudo, who on Tuesday described taking Mr. Shah into custody nearly five days after investigators say Mr. Murad was caught and Mr. Yousef fled.

His lawyers hammered away at the notion that he was singled out by the Government as a big catch and was repeatedly pressed by Federal agents to engage in the scheme, even though he showed signs of reluctance.

In their cross-examinations of Mr. Louima, the lawyers hammered away, for example, at his admissions that he lied early in the investigation when he said that one of the officers he encountered said, "This is Giuliani time!"

During nearly five hours of sharply contrasting summations, Mr. Williams's lawyers hammered at the central themes of Mr. Williams's defense - that Mr. Christofi, 55, was killed because of a malfunction in Mr. Williams's 10-year-old shotgun.

Interspersed were light moments that drew muffled laughs from jurors and the crowd, as lawyers hammered away at the credibility of Mr. Radler, who reached a deal with prosecutors to reduce his sentence for his share of what the government says was a $60 million fraud.

Mr. Lumumba and another lawyer, Judith Holmes, hammered at differences between Mr. Rison's testimony in the two trials.

The lawyer defending Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega hammered away at the prosecution's star witness for the second consecutive day today, accusing him of "shaking down" the cocaine-trafficking ring based in Medellin, Colombia, for $500,000 in bribes by "trading on the general's name."