Giuliani was briefed on Kerik's mob ties

Rudy Giuliani testified that he was briefed about Bernie Keriks ties to a mobbed up company before he promoted Kerik to Police Comissioner.

Mr. Giuliani’s testimony amounts to a significantly new version of what information was probably before him in the summer of 2000 as he was debating Mr. Kerik’s appointment as the city’s top law enforcement officer. Mr. Giuliani had previously said that he had never been told of Mr. Kerik’s entanglement with the company before promoting him to the police job or later supporting his failed bid to be the nation’s homeland security secretary.

In his testimony, given in April 2006, Mr. Giuliani indicated that he must have simply forgotten that he had been briefed on one or more occasions as part of the background investigation of Mr. Kerik before his appointment to the police post.

He said he learned only in late 2004 that the briefing or briefings had occurred, after the city’s investigation commissioner reviewed his own records from 2000. To this day, Mr. Giuliani testified, he has no specific recollection of any briefing or the details of what he was told. But he said he felt comforted because the chief investigator had cleared Mr. Kerik to be promoted. [NYT]

If you were hiring a police commissioner, don't you think you'd remember little details like the applicant's ties to organized crime?

Comments

[Ghost of Joe Liebling's Dog]

Pshaw ... folks who spend seven years as US Attorney and then COS to the Deputy Attorney General forget being told that a long-time close friend and advisor and business partner has mob connections ... happens all the time ... most natural thing in the world.

[B-Money]

This is why politicians are idiots! Plain and simple.

My God, it is only April (alomst) and we are already into the discredting phase of the presidential campaign. I feel worse for Obama because he has been built up by the media so much, they can't wait to rip him down. Rudy will weather this minor issue, as I think when it all comes down, Rudy has other much more serious issues to explain, namely his personal life and his abortion stance.

[FreddyMoraca]

"If you were hiring a police commissioner, don't you think you'd remember little details like the applicant's ties to organized crime?"

not if your daddy was a mobbed up ex felon: no, in that case any curiosita about kerik's associates would be exactamente nulla, see:

"Rudy! An investigative biography of Rudolph Giuliani" by Wayne Barrett assisted by Adam Fifield (Basic Books, New York, 2000).

[Chris O.]

Republicans are the most forgetful people on earth. Yeah, that must be the explanation.

[The Phantom]

I'd have a hard time thinking of anyone in public life who has gone after the Mafia with more intensity than did Prosecutor or Mayor Giuliani.

Anyone foolish enough to try to rewrite history on this particular issue --those who say, or imply that Giuliani was soft on the Mafia--are going to be laughed off the stage of public opinion, along with those who say that Guiliani didn't make a major impact on crime in NYC.

That having been said, the revelation that Giuliani had been briefed about Kerik is disturbing. As is Giuliani's bizarre statement that, as President, he would welcome his wife Judy Nathan at cabinet meetings. Which brings to mind the Clintons' offer to give the voters "two for the price of one" (Bill and Hillary), weird and unsettling then, and still.

[burritoboy]

"I'd have a hard time thinking of anyone in public life who has gone after the Mafia with more intensity than did Prosecutor or Mayor Giuliani."

I.E. he made sure he got a lot of career-building publicity for his anti-Mafia activity (which, admittedly, was very substantial). He fought the Mob when that helped him.

Not only was Guiliani formally briefed, but he had to have been ignoring what people were informally telling him about Kerik. Major mafiosos were attending Kerik's wedding, paying bills for Kerik, renovating his apartment and so on. The defacto head of a major crime family (a guy who sold uncover feds $2 million in drugs in one shot and is thought to have defrauded the state of New Jersey for $800 million) renovated Kerik's apartment, for instance. There simply had to be NYPD and FBI investigators who knew this about Kerik - hell, reporters knew about this stuff, too. Rumors had to be floating around about Kerik - and I don't think Rudi would have failed to hear at least some of them. He just didn't care.