-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 30, 2007 7:30:25 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: GOP "Lawman" Giuliani Able to "Forgive" and "FORGET"
Aide's Suspected Mafia Ties
"Giuliani admitted to a grand jury that his chief investigator
briefed him fully
--BEFORE he appointed Kerik as Police Commissioner of New York City--
about Kerik’s relationships with persons associated with organized
crime."
AFTER THAT, Giuliani recommended Kerik as 'boss' in Homeland Security!
TESTIMONY BY GIULIANI INDICATES THAT
HE WAS BRIEFED [FULLY] ABOUT KERIK IN 2000
By William K. Rashbaum
New York Times, March 30, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/us/politics/30rudy.html?
_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Rudolph W. Giuliani told a grand jury that his former chief
investigator remembered having briefed him on some aspects of
Bernard B. Kerik’s relationship with a company suspected of ties to
organized crime before Mr. Kerik’s appointment as New York City
police commissioner, according to court records.
Mr. Giuliani, testifying last year under oath before a Bronx grand
jury investigating Mr. Kerik, said he had no memory of the
briefing, but he did not dispute that it had taken place, according
to a transcript of his testimony.
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 when 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.
“He testified fully and cooperatively,” a statement from Mr.
Giuliani’s consulting firm said of the former mayor’s grand jury
appearance. The statement added: “Mayor Giuliani has admitted it
was a mistake to recommend Bernie Kerik for D.H.S. and he has
assumed responsibility for it.”
Mr. Kerik pleaded guilty last summer to improperly allowing the
company, Interstate Industrial Corporation, or its subsidiaries, to
do $165,000 worth of free renovations on his Bronx apartment in
late 1999 and 2000. The company has denied paying for the work and
has disputed any association with organized crime. But the two
brothers who run it have been indicted in the Bronx on charges they
lied under oath about their dealings with Mr. Kerik.
There is no evidence that Mr. Giuliani knew about the apartment
renovation before promoting Mr. Kerik to police commissioner. But
the top investigator who briefed Mr. Giuliani in 2000, the
transcript shows, was aware that Mr. Kerik’s brother and a close
friend had been hired by an affiliate of the company, which for
years had been struggling to secure a city license.
For Mr. Giuliani, who is seeking the Republican nomination for
president and who has done well in early polls, his history with
Mr. Kerik looms as a likely issue in the campaign. His own aides
have anticipated that questions are likely to arise about Mr.
Giuliani’s judgment in, among other things, promoting Mr. Kerik for
one of the country’s most important national security posts.
Now, Mr. Giuliani, whose private company provides background checks
for companies as part of its services, may have to explain his
response to the information that was provided to him in 2000.
His company’s statement yesterday said that Mr. Giuliani was not
concerned that issues surrounding Mr. Kerik would become a
liability to his presidential campaign.
The transcript of Mr. Giuliani’s testimony was not given to The New
York Times by any rival campaign.
In his testimony, Mr. Giuliani suggests he might have been
presented with only limited information about Mr. Kerik’s issues.
And he said the city investigators who did the background check on
Mr. Kerik ultimately cleared him to be hired as police commissioner.
Mr. Giuliani testified that the background investigators’ approval
might explain why he, and aides who were involved, could not
recollect any briefing, according to the 101-page transcript of his
April 20, 2006, testimony.
“We may have filed it away somewhere that it wasn’t as
significant,” Mr. Giuliani testified. Mr. Giuliani said Edward J.
Kuriansky, the commissioner of the city’s Department of
Investigation, had also forgotten about the briefings until he
checked his records days after Mr. Kerik’s withdrawal from
consideration as homeland security secretary in late 2004.
Mr. Kuriansky did not return phone calls seeking his account of
what he remembered telling Mr. Giuliani.
According to the grand jury transcript, a prosecutor for the Bronx
district attorney’s office told Mr. Giuliani that Mr. Kuriansky and
his investigators had compiled a considerable body of knowledge
about Mr. Kerik’s relationship with the company before his August
2000 appointment as police commissioner.
Mr. Kerik, who was then the city’s commissioner of correction, had
himself come forward months earlier to tell the investigators that
the company had recently given jobs to his brother, Donald, as well
as the best man from his wedding, Lawrence Ray, and that he himself
had interceded on the company’s behalf as it sought a city license,
the prosecutor told Mr. Giuliani.
Mr. Kerik even told the investigators that his friend Mr. Ray had
recently been indicted on federal criminal charges, along with
Edward Garafola, a reputed Gambino soldier, the brother-in-law of
Salvatore Gravano, the former underboss known as Sammy the Bull.
An Interstate affiliate was at that time seeking a license to
operate a waste transfer station on Staten Island. City officials
refused to license the transfer station because of the organized
crime allegations, which stemmed in part from the fact that the
transfer station was bought in 1996 from two organized crime figures.
Interstate is a construction company based in New Jersey that
undertakes large public and private projects in the metropolitan area.
The company has long denied the accusation of mob ties, and New
Jersey regulators issued a license to the company in 2004, allowing
it to do construction work on Atlantic City casinos, after a
lengthy review of the same material. That license was suspended
after the owners were charged with perjury last summer.
By 2000, Mr. Kerik had known or worked for Mr. Giuliani for close
to a decade. Mr. Kerik first came to know Mr. Giuliani when he
provided security during his second mayoral campaign. Mr. Giuliani
later became godfather to two of Mr. Kerik’s children and promoted
him to lead the Correction Department. Mr. Kerik was one of two
candidates Mr. Giuliani seriously considered to succeed Howard
Safir as police commissioner as Mr. Giuliani neared the final year
of his administration.
Mr. Kerik served in that post for 16 months, and was at Mr.
Giuliani’s side on the morning of Sept. 11 when the World Trade
Center collapsed.
In their questioning of Mr. Giuliani last April, Bronx prosecutors
sought repeatedly to determine how much the mayor remembered being
told about Mr. Kerik’s problems, and what, if anything, he had done
about the information.
Throughout his questioning, Mr. Giuliani said he remembered close
to nothing about what he had been told about the broader background
investigation of Mr. Kerik or what he had done after hearing it. He
testified that he remembered being told something about Mr. Kerik’s
experience as a security consultant in Saudi Arabia, but little else.
He testified, as well, that he could not remember if he had ever
discussed the issues with Mr. Kerik directly.
At one point, a senior Bronx prosecutor, Stephen R. Bookin, asked
Mr. Giuliani, “As you sit here today, your testimony is, and
correct me if I am wrong, that you don’t recall ever being told
that a close friend of your correction commissioner had been
indicted in a federal case?”
Mr. Giuliani responded: “I don’t recall that until 2004. I can’t
tell you that it wasn’t, but I don’t — I don’t — I don’t remember.”
The prosecutor also explored whether Mr. Giuliani would find it odd
that the city’s top investigator, with whom he met almost daily,
would not have fully shared what appeared to be rather alarming
information with him.
“Do you know of any reason why Mr. Kuriansky, who met with you
every day that you were in town, part of your core group as you put
it, would not have briefed you on these facts?” the prosecutors asked.
Mr. Giuliani, in the end, replied that the facts about Mr. Kerik
might not have been presented to him in as much detail and with as
much emphasis back in 2000.
The prosecutor then asked Mr. Giuliani whether, if the information
had been presented to him with as much emphasis, he would have
appointed Mr. Kerik police commissioner.
“If he told it to me the way you described it to me, no,” Mr.
Giuliani replied. “If he had told it to me in a different way
because, maybe he didn’t know all of the facts, or had come to a
different conclusion about the facts, then maybe I would have — I
can’t tell you that.”
Mr. Giuliani was a key backer of Mr. Kerik when President Bush
nominated him to be homeland security secretary in December 2004.
Mr. Kerik withdrew his name a week later, citing possible tax and
immigration problems involving his family’s nanny.
Several newspapers at the time were already pursuing stories about
his relationship with Interstate, which were published in the
succeeding days. It is unclear to what extent Mr. Kerik’s
relationship with the company was made clear to the White House
before his nomination.
But Mr. Giuliani testified that Mr. Kerik had assured him that he
had briefed presidential aides about the matter.
Mr. Kerik also assured him, Mr. Giuliani testified, that there was
no reason for concern when questions later arose as to whether
Interstate had paid for the renovations to his apartment.
“He told me that Interstate didn’t do the work, that another
company had done it legitimately, that he had the checks to show he
paid for it,” Mr. Giuliani said.
Mr. Giuliani testified that he took Mr. Kerik’s word for it and did
not ask to see the canceled checks.
Last year, when Mr. Kerik admitted in court that the renovations
had actually been largely underwritten by Interstate or its
subsidiaries, Mr. Giuliani released a statement that displayed no
irritation.
“Bernard Kerik has acknowledged his violations,” the statement
said, “but this should be evaluated in light of his service to the
United States of America and the city of New York.”
-------------------
December 13th, 2004
Reports Emerge of Links to Mafia, Misuse of Police Power, Affair
with Subordinate, Taser Stock Profits and More
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/13/1457224
... an array of other charges and questions about Kerik's
controversial past have dominated news headlines over the weekend.
Newsweek uncovered that an arrest warrant was issued for Kerik as
recently as six years ago over a dispute involving unpaid bills.
The 1998 warrant was issued as part of a series of lawsuits
relating to unpaid bills on his condominium in New Jersey.
The New York Daily News reports that Kerik had illegally accepted
thousands of dollars in cash and gifts while a public official. A
Daily News probe revealed that for many years, one of Kerik's main
benefactors was Lawrence Ray. Ray was later indicted on unrelated
federal charges tied to what the Daily News called a "$40 million,
mob-run, pump-and-dump stock swindle."
The Washington Post reports that nine employees of the hospital
Kerik worked at providing security in Saudi Arabia accused him of
using his policing powers to pursue the personal agenda of his
immediate boss.
Questions have also been raised about Kerik's misuse of police
power while the head of the New York police department. In one
example, he was fined for using the services of three police
officers to help research his autobiography "The Lost Son." He was
also accused of sending homicide police officers to question Fox
News journalists after the book's publisher, Judith Regan, lost a
mobile phone after an interview at the Fox studios. It turned out
to have just been misplaced.
Kerik has also coming under close scrutiny for his windfall profit
from stock options in stun-gun manufacturer, Taser International.
He netted over $5.5 million on the options, without ever having
invested any of his own money.
Questions have also raised about his failure in Iraq to train a new
Iraqi police force. Kerik went to Iraq for a six month tour of duty
to help rebuild the Iraqi police force but he abruptly left after
just three months.
On Thursday, the day before he withdrew his name from contention,
Kerik was forced to testify in a civil lawsuit about an alleged
affair with a subordinate.
---------------
In the interests of fair play, read this for the subtleties of
Kerik's defenders' side of the story: http://www.americanmafia.com/
Feature_Articles_287.html
--------------
Kerik Turns Down Federal Plea Deal
March 13, 2007
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1800434/posts
NEW YORK -- News Channel 4 has learned former NYPD commissioner
Bernard Kerik has rejected a plea deal offered by federal
prosecutors that would have required Kerik to serve time in prison.
Federal prosecutors offered Kerik a deal where he would plead
guilty to tax fraud and illegal eavesdropping conspiracy charges,
sources familiar with the negotiations say. In exchange for his
guilty plea, investigators were willing to end the federal criminal
probe into Kerik's alleged wrongdoing which includes allegations of
mortgage fraud, tax fraud, conspiracy to eavesdrop, and making
false statements on his application to become U.S. Homeland
Security Secretary.
"We rejected the plea deal because Mr. Kerik paid his taxes and did
nothing wrong," said Kerik's attorney Ken Breen. A spokesman for
U.S. attorney Michael Garcia declined to comment on the
investigation as did officials with the FBI, IRS, City Department
of Investigation and Westchester County District Attorney.
NewsChannel 4 has learned as part of the investigation, officials
want to know if Kerik received use of a midtown Manhattan apartment
from a prominent real estate developer without ever having claimed
use of that apartment on any tax or disclosure forms.
Allegations that Kerik may have been given use of a midtown
apartment come after the former police commissioner was criticized
for allegedly [commandeering] a [vacated] "ground zero" apartment
for personal [sexual] affairs after the 9-11 attacks.
Kerik has pleaded guilty to state misdemeanor charges for receiving
tens of thousands of dollars in free renovations to a Riverdale
apartment he owned while a city official. Those renovations were
provided by a New Jersey company with reputed links to organized
crime. But the federal investigation into allegations of mortgage
fraud in connection with his purchase of that Bronx apartment
continues.
NewsChannel 4 first reported Kerik and former Westchester County
District Attorney Jeanine Pirro were under federal investigation
for allegedly trying to record Pirro's husband having an affair
with another woman on his boat.
Pirro and Kerik's phone conversations were recorded discussing the
alleged scheme at a time when Kerik's phone was tapped in the
separate criminal probe.
Kerik worked as police commissioner under Rudy Giuliani, now a
candidate for president. Giuliani recommended Kerik for the post of
Homeland Security Secretary in the Bush administration. A Giuliani
aide, who asked not to be identified, says tonight Giuliani erred
in supporting Kerik's nomination. "As Mayor Giuliani recently said,
it was a mistake to recommend Bernie Kerik and he took
responsibility for it," the aide said.
Sources familiar with the investigation say talks between
prosecutors and Kerik's lawyers continue. It is unclear when a
decision on whether or when to file criminal charges will be made.
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