With only a GED, and having been a police officer previously for eight years, Giuliani soon made Kerik Police Commissioner. Giuliani again trampled on seniority and jumped over highly qualified and educated uniformed African Americans and Caucasians
[On The Spot]
I have said in my column since 2000 that once a true investigation commenced on Bernard Bailey Kerik that it would never end.
No credit goes to Bronx County District Attorney Robert Johnson who overlooked Kerik’s criminal past; all his misdeeds are finally coming out and his civil service crimes should not be omitted in the interest of justice.
Kerik lived in the Bronx and was entrusted to uphold the law when he raised his right hand to swear under oath to do so, several times. “I’m disappointed that the government brought forward this case,” Kerik says, of the recent tax fraud and corruption indictment against him. My question is, why only 16 counts? Most of Kerik’s victims are disappointed it took the government this long to bring the case.
Is there a fix somewhere in the works? What gave the Westchester District Attorney’s office in White Plans jurisdiction to hear this case? Why was Kerik not indicted in New York City where his crimes were committed?
The Black Star News will continue to ask the real and serious questions—and will not stop until they are answered. The Bronx DA dropped the ball on Kerik the first time and many others at the Department of Correction (DOC) when he was Commissioner. Numerous times, I informed DA Johnson’s office of ongoing crimes—I work for the Corrections department.
Some of Kerik’s go-along to get-along DOC members are still working; many have retired with their lucrative pensions. There are many crooks wearing uniform that still need to be arrested and indicted.
Some of us are not jumping up and down because Kerik was indicted. It does not mean anything unless he is found guilty and sent to jail. The system is rotten. The government is rotten. Kerik is rotten and disappointed because he still thinks he is above the law. Damn, he is wondering, why did the government bring this case?
Michael Mukasey, formerly The United States District Court Judge for The Southern District Of New York, and a close friend of Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani, got confirmed as US Attorney General by the same day Kerik was indictment. Can this criminal really be that lucky? Give me a break. I have seen this play before.
If the corruption at the Department of Correction are investigated properly, a few dead bodies may have to be exhumed. Kerik is a racist wannabe mobster: now, of all things, he faces Federal indictment for evading taxes.
Kerik –out on $500,000 bail, secured on his home, has whined about the past three years of his legal woes, and what his family has been through. His next court date is January 16, 2008. He has enough time to spend the holidays with his family; this is the same Kerik that fired hundreds of Corrections department employees for, get this, alleged tax transgressions, during the holiday season when he was Commissioner.
It was in December 1998, that Kerik terminated hundreds of African Americans and Latinos, accusing them of not properly filing tax returns. The union, under corrupt leadership just stood by and watched. Some ex-employees allegedly “took their own lives,” while some families were torn apart and many couples ended in divorce.
It was Giuliani who used his powers to politically cover up Kerik’s civil service crimes, which are being labeled as “time barred.” In addition to the Bronx DA, information about Kerik’s crimes sent to the NYC Public Advocate’s office, the DOC’s Department of Investigations (DOI), the governor, and elected officials was ignored—Kerik then seemed untouchable. In subsequent columns, we will reveal the names of some of the officials that did nothing.
Giuliani handpicked Kerik, who had dealings with the mob in New Jersey before becoming a member of the New York City Police Department, to be his official driver. Then Kerik was soon DOC’s commissioner – trampling on seniority and jumping over highly educated and qualified uniformed African American members with tenure, who came through the ranks.
With only a GED, and having been a police officer previously for eight years, Giuliani soon made Kerik Police Commissioner. Giuliani again trampled on seniority and jumped over highly qualified and educated uniformed African Americans and Caucasians for that matter, who had come through the ranks. Giuliani did what he wanted to and ran the city as if he was a dictator.
While Kerik was being moved to his new NYPD commissioner’ position, countless race discrimination complaints and lawsuits were filed against Kerik by DOC members. Perhaps realizing that Kerik’s resume was thin, the powers that be maneuvered for him and he got a meaningless and now shameful honorary doctorate from the University of Michigan.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Kerik and Giuliani became untouchable and their arrogance had no boundaries. The Manhattan detention center was renamed the “Bernard B. Kerik Complex.” Heck, why stop there? Giuliani convinced President George W. Bush to nominate Kerik to be the next Homeland Security Chief. Here is where their greed got the best of them – Kerik’s empire came to a crashing halt.
Kerik stood in front of the media as the world watched and withdrew his name as Bush looked at him in disgust. Giuliani now says referring Kerik was a “mistake.” The only “mistake” was that now the so-called mainstream media started writing about what I had covered in my columns since 2000.
Kerik thinks rules and laws do not apply to him. My Grandmother use to say what my mother says today, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
Now, it’s Giuliani’s time to withdraw his candidacy for U.S. President before more revelations from the Kerik fallout lead to his own closet.
Contact Winkfield: (347) 632-2272 By mail: On The Spot, Post Office Box 230149, Queens County 11423; for his consideration regarding covering your own story. Email: [email protected] or [email protected]; call (212) 481-7745. Watch Manhattan cable channel 34 or www.mnn.org channel 34 every Sunday at 7:30 P.M. for news updates and other articles. Together we can get the justice everyone just talks about.
To comment or to subscribe to or advertise in New York’s leading Pan African weekly investigative newspaper, or to send us a news tip, please call (212) 481-7745 or send a note to [email protected]
Also visit out sister publications Harlem Business News www.harlembusinessnews.com and The Groove music magazine at www.thegroovemag.com
“Speaking Truth To Empower.”
