 After a two-month-long trial, Gabel was acquitted in December 1988 of charges that she had reduced Andy Capasso's alimony payments in exchange for Bess Myerson hiring Gabel's daughter Sukhreet to a $19,000 position as a special assistant.Gabel died of heart failure at age 77 on December 6, 1990.In the 2019 film "Motherless Brooklyn", a community activist played by Cherry Jones was primarily based on Gabel.