Archive » July – December 1997

Archive

July – December 1997

December 29, 1997
No plums in Rudy’s visions
The night before Christmas, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani decided to stroll down Fifth Avenue to ponder his chances for national office.

December 22, 1997
Watchdog kept on short leash
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's attempts to muscle - and muzzle - an obscure watchdog agency known as the Citizens Budget Commission is another indication of what a bully - and a coward - our mayor is.

December 15, 1997
Race issue stews for Wansley
The vice president of the Guardians, the fraternal organization for black police officers, went on trial at Police Plaza last week, claiming the department wants him fired because of his position in the organization.

December 8, 1997
Safir breaks a long silence
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani celebrated his re-election by taking a cataclysmic step: He spent three days with his wife and children.

December 1, 1997
Reality check on Rudy video
This column erred last week when it described Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as the equal of Al Sharpton in exploiting the fissures between the city's ethnic and racial groups.

November 24, 1997
Mayor slams ethnic pitch
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani proved last week that he's the equal of Al Sharpton in exposing the fault lines between ethnic groups in this racially fractured town.

November 20, 1997
Rudy reopens hearing battle
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani yesterday seized on an anti-Semitic remark, and the failure of black and Hispanic members of Congress to condemn it, to discredit a controversial hearing on police brutality that he had refused to attend.

November 17, 1997
Cops may yet want monitor
Ever since the Mollen Commission, there's been talk of the need for an outside monitor to investigate corrupt cops.

November 10, 1997
Report card for commish
With Mayor Rudolph Giuliani winning big and praising Howard Safir to the heavens, here's a truer evaluation of Safir's 19 months as police commissioner.

November 3, 1997
Captain probed in drug case
A Bronx narcotics captain is under investigation for allegedly shutting down a sting operation to protect his teenage children from arrest.

October 27, 1997
Safir can claim no money woes
Do not cry, New Yorkers, for Police Commissioner Howard Safir.

October 20, 1997
Safir’s wife is in eye of storm
All New Yorkers concerned about the ethical lapses of Police Commissioner Howard Safir can relax.

October 15, 1997
Lawyer friend waives Safir fee
Police Commissioner Howard Safir has received what appears to be thousands of dollars in free legal services from a top celebrity divorce lawyer to settle a lawsuit in which Safir allegedly cheated a relative out of $88,000.

October 6, 1997
Death penalty arguments
Police Officer Anthony Sanchez was shot to death last May by the troubled son of a wealthy businessman, who'd just robbed his father at gunpoint in his Chelsea penthouse. Responding to a 911 call, Sanchez, in uniform, confronted the son in a stairwell and died in an exchange of gunfire.

September 29, 1997
On the outs among ranks
An obscure federal trial is providing a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the NYPD.

September 22, 1997
Livoti’s gone, but not forgotten
Bronx State Supreme Court Judge Douglas McKeon said last week that he would turn over to prosecutors what he described as "very, very disturbing" internal police testimony concerning the case of ex-cop Francis X. Livoti.

September 15, 1997
Sharpton eyes a Kelly type
Should the Rev. Al Sharpton win next week's Democratic runoff and then face Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, the city could witness a battle between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. The only question is which one is which.

September 2, 1997
It’s payback time
If revenge is a dish best eaten cold, Walter Mack is savoring a dessert he has kept on ice for two years.

August 29, 1997
Safir no-show at convention
Breaking department precedent, Police Commissioner Howard Safir was a no-show at the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association's annual convention yesterday.

August 26, 1997
Former IAB chief rips Rudy’s panel
John Guido, the legendary former chief of the NYPD's Internal Affairs Division, was so outraged by the events in Brooklyn's 70th Precinct that he called this reporter to say Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's newly formed 28-member community-relations task force was "a whitewash."

August 25, 1997
Commission just another joke?
In appointing a 28-man commission after a cop allegedly shoved the handle of a toilet plunger up the rectum of a Haitian immigrant in the bathroom of Brooklyn's 70th Precinct, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani revealed a side of himself never before seen by the public. The man has a sense of humor.

August 20, 1997
Another shot at lip service
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani unveiled an amorphous new commission yesterday following last week's outrage in a Brooklyn police precinct in which a cop allegedly shoved a stick up a Haitian immigrant's rectum.

August 11, 1997
Summing up a City Hall drama
So what do we really know about Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and his communications director, Cristyne Lategano?

August 6, 1997
Lategano puts mark on NYPD
Whatever Mayor Rudolph Giuliani did or did not do with his communications director, Cristyne Lategano, there is no question Lategano did plenty of damage to the image of the NYPD.

August 4, 1997
After arrests, mayor is there
When the World Trade Center was bombed in 1993, then-Mayor David Dinkins was out of the country and the initial news conferences were held by FBI Assistant Director James Fox, with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly at his side.

July 28, 1997
Reinstatement raises eyebrows
Even the most cynical of police brass are questioning the actions of Commissioner Howard Safir and his former First Deputy Tosano Simonetti for reinstating a dismissed cop after he paid a fine of $50,000.

July 21, 1997
You call that benevolent?
Sergeants, beware. If you have a problem, you might best avoid the Sergeants Benevolent Association.

July 7, 1997
PBA fixture’s legal troubles
Here are some of the details in last month's superseding federal indictment of the former Patrolmen's Benevolent Association great, Richie Hartman. The indictment arises from the government's corruption investigation of the Transit PBA and its lawyers and consultants, and provides an indication of where it may be heading.