Kerik: Mob Commish Faces Trial

If convicted, Kerik, Giuliani’s ex-enforcer, could spend the rest of his natural life in prison and pay approximately $5 million in fines. Kerik survived his state crimes in a Bronx court. Will he have the same kind of luck this time?

[On The Spot]


 

 

 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) commences its trial against Bernard Bailey Kerik on May 22nd, in a White Plains courtroom charging him with approximately 15 federal counts of corruption, alleging obstruction of justice, tax and mail fraud and lying to the government.

If convicted, Kerik, Giuliani’s ex-enforcer, could spend the rest of his natural life in prison and pay approximately $5 million in fines. Kerik survived his state crimes in a Bronx court. Will he have the same kind of luck this time? It does appear – knowing people in high places does have its advantages; at least for now.

Having a close friend like former Republican presidential hopeful, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani who has strong ties to President George W. Bush; U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, former Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York; and, Republican presidential candidate John McCain – makes you kind of wonder if justice will prevail.

In my opinion, Giuliani who happens to be Kerik’s mentor, should be sitting right beside him – being charged as well. It’s worth exploring Kerik’s mindset; and in his book, he discusses how as New York Police Commissioner, he sent NYPD detectives to Newark, Ohio, to investigate the death of his mother; she had died decades earlier, in 1964.

On page 15, of “The Lost Son, A Life In Pursuit Of Justice,” he writes: “She had a pretty substantial criminal record ….” and “She had ten aliases ….” and “And there are arrests …” and “Three arrests; two for prostitution and one for escape.”

Kerik’s mother, Patricia Joann Bailey Curtis, was found dead in Newark, Ohio after being badly beaten. “The cops apparently had no desire to investigate the murder of a white prostitute who slept with Black men,” Kerik writes [The Lost Son page 231] referring to the Ohio police department. Did he mean to suggest that if his mother had been a prostitute who slept only with White men, then she would have garnered more attention?

There is something disturbing about the certainty with which Kerik makes the assertion; it reveals much about his attitude towards Blacks.

There’s no mention of how Kerik dealt with his mother’s death in his adult life. However, it shows in his actions and policies as commissioner, such as ordering women not to wear uniform skirts, make up, or painted nails. Kerik also preferred 3 A.M. raids on jails, which affected mainly, Black men, who were shocked out of their sleep, stripped naked, and order to stand in line skin-to-skin and back-to-back of each other, which caused many problems.

Kerik dropped out of school in the 10th grade, but managed to get into the Army and to become a warden at a small jail in New Jersey. He left his warden’s position to become a New York City Police Officer, which put him in position to meet the man who would later become his children’s godfather – Rudolph Giuliani.

Giuliani was the mayor who would step on, and over, qualified people to put Kerik in key management positions, and start to build Kerik’s resume by broad-banding him into the New York Department of Correction (DOC). Most of the top positions were filled by Blacks, which soon changed under the Giuliani administration.

Kerik was a “made” man. He became Commissioner Anthony Schembri’s chief of staff and shortly thereafter, literally stabbed him in the back. “… Schembri’s main experience was being police commissioner of the sleepy bedroom town of Rye, New York, where he had thirty-six police officers,” Kerik writes contemptuously (page 251). Perhaps he didn’t realize the attack also meant a swipe at Giuliani, for naming Schembri the commissioner in the first place.

The Department of Investigation (DOI) is the city’s watchdog agency, responsible for the integrity and investigation into any criminal activity or complaints in city government. Michael Caruso was DOI’s investigator in charge at the DOC. Caruso allegedly conducted a background check on Kerik and handed over his findings to Schembri. “That’s Kerik’s file. Congratulations. You’ve just hired Rambo,” Caruso was quoted saying (Page 243).

Having no regard for rank and file, Giuliani named Kerik the new DOC commissioner. “The door opened, and the first one to come through was the deputy mayor, Peter Powers. I stood to say hello and he shook my hand and said, ‘Congratulations.’ Then he pulled me over and kissed me on the cheek. He already knew. Next was Randy Mastro, the mayor’s chief of staff. He did the same. In this dark sitting room, one by one, the mayor’s closest staff members came forward and kissed me. They all knew. I know the mayor is as big a fan of the Godfather as I am, and I wonder if he noticed how much becoming part of his team resembled becoming part of a Mafia family,” Kerik writes, and adds, “I was being made. I was now a part of the Giuliani family, getting the endorsement of the other family members, the other Capos,” (Pg. 253).

In 1994, Giuliani, Kerik, Caruso, and the names go on, were the very people who ran and controlled New York City and its governmental agencies. The corruption, racism and terminations, which I refer to as organized career theft – was on the rise.

In plain English, you can read for yourself the arrogance of the true Kerik. When he talked about the DOC in his book, he told one lie after the other.

There was nowhere to report wrongdoing because Giuliani had the DOI’s Caruso in his back pocket. From November 1998 to the present, the Public Advocate’s office, under both Mark Green and later Betsy Gotbaum, ignored complaints about the corruption in the DOC that I forwarded.

Just about every investigative agency under Giuliani proved to have been ineffective.

Many complaints were filed against Kerik with the Public Advocate and Bronx District Attorney’s offices. Kerik has never been charged for the real crimes he committed under former Mayor Giuliani.

Just about every complaint reported to an investigative agency fell on deaf ears. When Kerik was the commissioner at the DOC, he mocked the Mafia and put fear in many of his subordinates – a lot of them are now retired and still cowed.

“Kerik got away with stealing one million dollars of the inmates commissary money. I bet he didn’t mention that in his book,” said a retired supervisor who did not want to be named. “I hope Kerik gets what he deserves, because Chief Anthony Serra and Patrick took the fall for him and spent time in a federal lockup. The inmates’ money was put in a bogus account named New York City Foundation,” headed by Kerik.

Frederick J. Patrick, a non-uniform chief in the DOC used his signature to move the money out of the account. When Patrick was pleading guilty for his malfeasance in 2003, Kerik ran to Iraq, by orders of President Bush.

Right in the midst of a criminal investigation, which involved Kerik, he was given the title “Interim Minister of Interior,” in Iraq and the White House cleared him to leave the United States, to play top cop, over the Iraqi police. Clearly, someone knew the noose was tightening; how long could the corrupt Kerik and his enablers endure?

“His whole contribution was a waste of time and effort,” said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the former commander of US forces in Iraq, in a recent television interview.
Kerik’s trip to Baghdad was nothing more than smoke and mirrors. The White House knew Kerik was a criminal. I personally made several calls to expose Kerik’s misdeeds. I also questioned how Kerik received clearance while a criminal investigation was on-going. What did the White House do next? Kerik was nominated for the Secretary of Homeland Security position. I knew then, that this country had hit rock bottom.

We are going to see how much longer Kerik’s friends in high places are going to be allowed to keep him from paying for the crimes he committed and the civil service crimes he’s never been charged on. You really have to take a hard look at a guy who would use his own mother’s short comings as a stepping stone, as he pathetically reveals in the book, instead of being grateful that, given her career of ill-repute, she had not aborted him.

Kerik filed fraudulent records against anyone he felt was not a team player. Every termination that bears Kerik’s name should be revisited and investigated.

The City’s Corporation Counsel, which handles legal matters, should stop wasting taxpayers’ money to cover for Kerik’s malfeasance because it has already been proven that Kerik broke the law and trespassed against his oath of office and the public’s trust.

Betsy Gotbaum’s office declined to schedule a meeting with me to discuss the reasons why her office failed to take any action based on information I provided. Former Commissioner Schembri could not be reach for comment.

More to come.

 

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