Title: Bernard Kerik goes from top cop to common crook
Uncle Sam - October 21, 2009 12:40 PM (GMT)
The NYPD is at its best when protecting the President and it was doubly dazzling Tuesday with the sun glinting off cops' shields and collar brass. :bad cop:
To look at our city's shining Finest was to wonder how it was possible that a man who once commanded them was even then being consigned to jail.
Few people have fallen as far as Bernard Kerik, the one-time police commissioner who landed in Westchester's county jail after a federal judge revoked his bail on corruption charges.
Where Kerik should be lodged is the city jail downtown once named the Bernard B. Kerik Complex.
Not even Boss Tweed had a jail named after him before he landed in a cell.
Kerik came to us from New Jersey, and his ticket to prominence was as one of Rudy Giuliani's bodyguards during a mayoral campaign.
Giuliani made Kerik correction commissioner, then police commissioner on the theory that if you elevate people far beyond their expectations they will be fiercely loyal to you.
Kerik proved to be loyal to nobody, not even the thousands who perished at the World Trade Center on 9/11, while he was commissioner.
At the edge of The Pit the murdered innocent made holy, Kerik used an apartment set aside for recovery workers to tryst with his mistress, publisher Judith Regan.
Kerik's only allegiance was to himself. His self-regard was so inflated he is said to have had 7-pound busts made of himself to give as gifts.
He imagined himself a big shot, but he was not making big-shot money, so he took free renovations on his apartment from people who did business with the city.
You can take the boy out of Jersey, but you can't take Jersey out of the boy.
That got him indicted. He made $500,000 bond and apparently continued to feel the rules did not apply to him.
Judge Stephen Robinson was of another opinion when he determined that Kerik had leaked court documents that were under seal.
Robinson remanded Kerik, rightly summing him up as a "toxic combination of self-minded focus and arrogance."
If Kerik had been lodged in the city jail that once bore his name, he may have heard the sirens and the rumble of motorcycles as President Obama visited the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Obama was there to thank the cops and federal agents who continue to seek justice for those murdered on 9/11 and prevent other innocents from falling victim to terrorism.
He then headed uptown for a big fund-raiser, our cops protecting him all the way, their silver and brass glinting in the late afternoon sun.
Our finest shone as bright as ever. The man who had been their boss tarnished only himself as he was put in what became the Bernard B. Kerik Cell in the jail in Valhalla.
Kerik will likely remain behind bars for years if he is convicted of Jersey-style corruption.
His greater transgression was trysting at the edge of Ground Zero in an apartment meant as a resting place for those who were truly doing the work of the Lord.
His mistress, Regan, has suffered enough in this realm by having everybody know she got naked with Bernie Kerik at Ground Zero.
As for the commissioner-turned-prisoner, if there is a hell, Kerik has earned himself an eternal place from which there is no parole.
From top cop to jailbird, the rise and fall of Bernie Kerik.
Sept. 4, 1955: Born in Newark.
July 1974: Drops out of high school to join the military police corps.
April 1978: Becomes corporate security officer in Saudi Arabia.
1984: Fired and deported amid royal scandal.
1986: Joins NYPD.
1987: Declares bankruptcy.
1993: Joins Rudy Giuliani's campaign as a driver.
1998: Becomes city correction commissioner.
2000: Appointed city's top cop.
Sept. 11, 2001: Is at Giuliani's side during the city's terrible ordeal. Impresses President George W. Bush.
November 2001: Publishes best-selling memoir revealing his mother, a prostitute, was murdered when he was 9.
Dec. 31, 2001: Steps down as police commissioner when Giuliani leaves office. Joins Giuliani partners.
May 2003: Appointed by Bush as Iraqi minister of interior to train Iraqi police.
September 2003: Returns home.
August 2004: Campaigns for GOP and endorses Bush at the Republican National Convention.
December 2004: Nominated by Bush to head the new Homeland Security Department.
December 2004: Withdraws nomination a week later amid scandal, including employing an illegal nanny, revelations of affair with publisher Judith Regan, a questionable stock sale and other ethics violations.
June 2006: Pleads guilty to misdemeanor ethics violations and fined $221,000 for accepting apartment renovations from firm seeking business with the city.
November 2007: Indicted by federal grand jury on corruption charges.
April 2009: Makes cameo on "The Real Housewives of New Jersey."
May 2009: Indicted by a federal grand jury for tax fraud, corruption and lying to homeland security vetters.
October 2009: Ordered jailed on the eve of trial for leaking sealed documents on a Web site.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...mmon_crook.html
To look at our city's shining Finest was to wonder how it was possible that a man who once commanded them was even then being consigned to jail.
Few people have fallen as far as Bernard Kerik, the one-time police commissioner who landed in Westchester's county jail after a federal judge revoked his bail on corruption charges.
Where Kerik should be lodged is the city jail downtown once named the Bernard B. Kerik Complex.
Not even Boss Tweed had a jail named after him before he landed in a cell.
Kerik came to us from New Jersey, and his ticket to prominence was as one of Rudy Giuliani's bodyguards during a mayoral campaign.
Giuliani made Kerik correction commissioner, then police commissioner on the theory that if you elevate people far beyond their expectations they will be fiercely loyal to you.
Kerik proved to be loyal to nobody, not even the thousands who perished at the World Trade Center on 9/11, while he was commissioner.
At the edge of The Pit the murdered innocent made holy, Kerik used an apartment set aside for recovery workers to tryst with his mistress, publisher Judith Regan.
Kerik's only allegiance was to himself. His self-regard was so inflated he is said to have had 7-pound busts made of himself to give as gifts.
He imagined himself a big shot, but he was not making big-shot money, so he took free renovations on his apartment from people who did business with the city.
You can take the boy out of Jersey, but you can't take Jersey out of the boy.
That got him indicted. He made $500,000 bond and apparently continued to feel the rules did not apply to him.
Judge Stephen Robinson was of another opinion when he determined that Kerik had leaked court documents that were under seal.
Robinson remanded Kerik, rightly summing him up as a "toxic combination of self-minded focus and arrogance."
If Kerik had been lodged in the city jail that once bore his name, he may have heard the sirens and the rumble of motorcycles as President Obama visited the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Obama was there to thank the cops and federal agents who continue to seek justice for those murdered on 9/11 and prevent other innocents from falling victim to terrorism.
He then headed uptown for a big fund-raiser, our cops protecting him all the way, their silver and brass glinting in the late afternoon sun.
Our finest shone as bright as ever. The man who had been their boss tarnished only himself as he was put in what became the Bernard B. Kerik Cell in the jail in Valhalla.
Kerik will likely remain behind bars for years if he is convicted of Jersey-style corruption.
His greater transgression was trysting at the edge of Ground Zero in an apartment meant as a resting place for those who were truly doing the work of the Lord.
His mistress, Regan, has suffered enough in this realm by having everybody know she got naked with Bernie Kerik at Ground Zero.
As for the commissioner-turned-prisoner, if there is a hell, Kerik has earned himself an eternal place from which there is no parole.
From top cop to jailbird, the rise and fall of Bernie Kerik.
Sept. 4, 1955: Born in Newark.
July 1974: Drops out of high school to join the military police corps.
April 1978: Becomes corporate security officer in Saudi Arabia.
1984: Fired and deported amid royal scandal.
1986: Joins NYPD.
1987: Declares bankruptcy.
1993: Joins Rudy Giuliani's campaign as a driver.
1998: Becomes city correction commissioner.
2000: Appointed city's top cop.
Sept. 11, 2001: Is at Giuliani's side during the city's terrible ordeal. Impresses President George W. Bush.
November 2001: Publishes best-selling memoir revealing his mother, a prostitute, was murdered when he was 9.
Dec. 31, 2001: Steps down as police commissioner when Giuliani leaves office. Joins Giuliani partners.
May 2003: Appointed by Bush as Iraqi minister of interior to train Iraqi police.
September 2003: Returns home.
August 2004: Campaigns for GOP and endorses Bush at the Republican National Convention.
December 2004: Nominated by Bush to head the new Homeland Security Department.
December 2004: Withdraws nomination a week later amid scandal, including employing an illegal nanny, revelations of affair with publisher Judith Regan, a questionable stock sale and other ethics violations.
June 2006: Pleads guilty to misdemeanor ethics violations and fined $221,000 for accepting apartment renovations from firm seeking business with the city.
November 2007: Indicted by federal grand jury on corruption charges.
April 2009: Makes cameo on "The Real Housewives of New Jersey."
May 2009: Indicted by a federal grand jury for tax fraud, corruption and lying to homeland security vetters.
October 2009: Ordered jailed on the eve of trial for leaking sealed documents on a Web site.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...mmon_crook.html
Pearl Bailey - October 21, 2009 03:08 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| Kerik's only allegiance was to himself. His self-regard was so inflated he is said to have had 7-pound busts made of himself to give as gifts. |
Whoa! Now that's arrogance! :shocked:
Kman - October 21, 2009 04:32 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
| had 7-pound busts made of himself to give as gifts |
who the hell is accepting that as a gift?
I'd be regifting that steaming pile of
Homey da Ranter - October 22, 2009 12:56 AM (GMT)
I gave bernie sum dead presidents ta take care of muh biotches
Uncle Sam - October 22, 2009 02:01 PM (GMT)
The food is bland. The smell is awful. And the neighbors are noisy - if not dangerous.
This was the depressing world that Bernard Kerik found himself in Wednesday - his first full day at the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla.
"People here live like animals," said 33-year-old Deidre Walters, whose boyfriend has been locked up there for three years. "When you're in their world, you throw your dignity out the window. You just try to make it to the next day."
Kerik became the first former NYPD commissioner to land in jail Tuesday when a judge revoked his bail for allegedly trying to taint the jury pool in his upcoming corruption trial.
The one-time "hero" of 9/11 found himself cuffed like a common criminal, given a number and made to pose for a mug shot.
"He was processed like any prisoner," jail spokesman Justin Pruyne said.
Unlike most of the 1,500 prisoners in the forbidding facility, Kerik can expect a bit more privacy because he is a federal prisoner - and because he's a former cop. :bad cop:
"He is segregated from the general population due to his background in law enforcement," said Pruyne. "That was not at his request."
Kerik is confined to a single-bed cell, which visitors described as little more than a foul-smelling closet with an open toilet. At least he doesn't have a roommate, which can be a perilous prospect for even a tough guy like Kerik.
"You eat, sleep and s--t with that roommate," said a visitor, who declined to give her name or identify her jailed relative, whose "first roommate tried to kill him."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...nard_kerik.html
This was the depressing world that Bernard Kerik found himself in Wednesday - his first full day at the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla.
"People here live like animals," said 33-year-old Deidre Walters, whose boyfriend has been locked up there for three years. "When you're in their world, you throw your dignity out the window. You just try to make it to the next day."
Kerik became the first former NYPD commissioner to land in jail Tuesday when a judge revoked his bail for allegedly trying to taint the jury pool in his upcoming corruption trial.
The one-time "hero" of 9/11 found himself cuffed like a common criminal, given a number and made to pose for a mug shot.
"He was processed like any prisoner," jail spokesman Justin Pruyne said.
Unlike most of the 1,500 prisoners in the forbidding facility, Kerik can expect a bit more privacy because he is a federal prisoner - and because he's a former cop. :bad cop:
"He is segregated from the general population due to his background in law enforcement," said Pruyne. "That was not at his request."
Kerik is confined to a single-bed cell, which visitors described as little more than a foul-smelling closet with an open toilet. At least he doesn't have a roommate, which can be a perilous prospect for even a tough guy like Kerik.
"You eat, sleep and s--t with that roommate," said a visitor, who declined to give her name or identify her jailed relative, whose "first roommate tried to kill him."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...nard_kerik.html
Uncle Sam - October 24, 2009 10:58 AM (GMT)
Disgraced former NYPD top cop Bernard Kerik was denied his initial bid for a get-out-of-jail-free card in court Friday.
Federal Judge Reena Raggi refused to reinstate the 54-year-old Kerik's $500,000 bail, which was revoked this week because he allegedly tried to influence the jury pool in his upcoming corruption trial.
Jury selection was to begin Monday, but the U.S. attorney's office early Friday announced a postponement.
Neither a reason for the delay nor a new trial date was given.
Raggi did grant Kerik an expedited appeal and set a hearing for Thursday, but ruled that Kerik must stay behind bars in Westchester County until then. She gave no reason for her decision.
Kerik is accused of accepting renovations to his Bronx co-op from a company that wanted to do business with the city.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...or_bernie_.html
Federal Judge Reena Raggi refused to reinstate the 54-year-old Kerik's $500,000 bail, which was revoked this week because he allegedly tried to influence the jury pool in his upcoming corruption trial.
Jury selection was to begin Monday, but the U.S. attorney's office early Friday announced a postponement.
Neither a reason for the delay nor a new trial date was given.
Raggi did grant Kerik an expedited appeal and set a hearing for Thursday, but ruled that Kerik must stay behind bars in Westchester County until then. She gave no reason for her decision.
Kerik is accused of accepting renovations to his Bronx co-op from a company that wanted to do business with the city.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...or_bernie_.html
Uncle Sam - October 29, 2009 01:49 PM (GMT)
Bernie Kerik must stay in jail while awaiting trial
Bernard Kerik, the NYPD's former top cop, will continue his stint in the joint.
A federal appeals court Wednesday shot down Kerik's bid for a get-out-of-jail pass while he awaits trial on corruption charges.
In a one-page decision, a three-judge 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld the ruling of a lower court judge who tossed Kerik, 54, in a cell for trying to taint the jury pool.
White Plains Federal Judge Stephen Robinson last week revoked Kerik's bail after prosecutors accused the former police commissioner of leaking secret information to an aide, who used it to bash the prosecution case.
Kerik is charged with accepting discount apartment renovations from a mob-linked firm trying to get a city permit.
Prosecutors say Kerik vouched for the firm and got $250,000 in upgrades in return.
Kerik allegedly gave the nonpublic documents to a pal after the former commissioner signed a protective order promising not to reveal nonpublic information in the case to anyone other than his immediate defense team.
Kerik is being held at the Westchester County jail in Valhalla.
His trial is to begin Nov. 9.
Kerik, who became a national hero after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is the first NYPD commissioner to spend time in the clink.
The jailing of Kerik, who was appointed by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is the latest humiliation in his prominent downfall.
Wednesday night, his lawyers declined to say if they would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...al_appeals.html
Bernard Kerik, the NYPD's former top cop, will continue his stint in the joint.
A federal appeals court Wednesday shot down Kerik's bid for a get-out-of-jail pass while he awaits trial on corruption charges.
In a one-page decision, a three-judge 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel upheld the ruling of a lower court judge who tossed Kerik, 54, in a cell for trying to taint the jury pool.
White Plains Federal Judge Stephen Robinson last week revoked Kerik's bail after prosecutors accused the former police commissioner of leaking secret information to an aide, who used it to bash the prosecution case.
Kerik is charged with accepting discount apartment renovations from a mob-linked firm trying to get a city permit.
Prosecutors say Kerik vouched for the firm and got $250,000 in upgrades in return.
Kerik allegedly gave the nonpublic documents to a pal after the former commissioner signed a protective order promising not to reveal nonpublic information in the case to anyone other than his immediate defense team.
Kerik is being held at the Westchester County jail in Valhalla.
His trial is to begin Nov. 9.
Kerik, who became a national hero after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is the first NYPD commissioner to spend time in the clink.
The jailing of Kerik, who was appointed by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is the latest humiliation in his prominent downfall.
Wednesday night, his lawyers declined to say if they would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...al_appeals.html
Uncle Sam - November 3, 2009 12:06 PM (GMT)
Kerik offered deal of less than 36 months jail for impending cases
On the eve of his corruption trial ex-NYPD top cop Bernard Kerik was offered a plea deal that would get him out of jail in under three years, the Daily News has learned. :bad cop:
Kerik faces three federal trials, the first on charges he got $255,000 in apartment renovations from a mob-linked contractor seeking a city permit.
The second trial, also in White Plains, involves charges of hiding more than $300,000 book fees, royalties and free rent from the IRS.
A third case filed in Washington federal court charges the former NYPD commissioner with making false statements on his application when President George W. Bush tapped him to be Homeland Secretary.
Under the proposed deal, the cases would be consolidated and Kerik would face a possible sentence of 27 to 33 months, a source familiar with the ongoing talks said. Kerik could be sentenced to 20 years if convicted.
As of yesterday, Kerik had not formally accepted the offer and could, in the end, decide to go forward with the first of three criminal trials starting next Monday in White Plains Federal Court.
Defense lawyer Barry Berke did not return calls seeking comment. A spokesman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara declined to comment.
The deal would let Kerik plead to lesser charges in the corruption case, sources said.
He would only have to admit to conspiracy to deprive the city of honest services. In turn, the feds would drop mail and wire fraud charges which carry potential five-year sentences, the source said.
The former appointee of Mayor Rudy Giuliani would also have to plead guilty to some charges in the tax evasion case, as well as admit to filing false statements.
Pressure has mounted on Kerik to resolve his outstanding legal issues since Oct. 20, when prosecutors claimed Kerik was involved in trying to sway potential jurors on the eve of his trial.
White Plains Federal Judge Stephen Robinson threw him into the Westchester County jail.
He was segregated from other inmates because of his law enforcement background. Two days after he arrived he was placed in the psychiatric unit after displaying certain unspecified "symptoms" in lockup.
A letter from Dr. Robert Mahler released yesterday said Kerik was placed there "for observational purposes and psychiatric assessment in the context of psychosocial stressors."
Kerik was discharged from the unit after doctors determined he "poses no risk to himself or others due to any psychiatric illness."
Kerik is charged with getting a mob-linked contractor to pay for $255,000 in renovations to his apartment.
At the time, the contractor was seeking a city permit. Kerik, then the city's corrections commissioner, vouched for the contractor, prosecutors say.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2..._for_impen.html
On the eve of his corruption trial ex-NYPD top cop Bernard Kerik was offered a plea deal that would get him out of jail in under three years, the Daily News has learned. :bad cop:
Kerik faces three federal trials, the first on charges he got $255,000 in apartment renovations from a mob-linked contractor seeking a city permit.
The second trial, also in White Plains, involves charges of hiding more than $300,000 book fees, royalties and free rent from the IRS.
A third case filed in Washington federal court charges the former NYPD commissioner with making false statements on his application when President George W. Bush tapped him to be Homeland Secretary.
Under the proposed deal, the cases would be consolidated and Kerik would face a possible sentence of 27 to 33 months, a source familiar with the ongoing talks said. Kerik could be sentenced to 20 years if convicted.
As of yesterday, Kerik had not formally accepted the offer and could, in the end, decide to go forward with the first of three criminal trials starting next Monday in White Plains Federal Court.
Defense lawyer Barry Berke did not return calls seeking comment. A spokesman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara declined to comment.
The deal would let Kerik plead to lesser charges in the corruption case, sources said.
He would only have to admit to conspiracy to deprive the city of honest services. In turn, the feds would drop mail and wire fraud charges which carry potential five-year sentences, the source said.
The former appointee of Mayor Rudy Giuliani would also have to plead guilty to some charges in the tax evasion case, as well as admit to filing false statements.
Pressure has mounted on Kerik to resolve his outstanding legal issues since Oct. 20, when prosecutors claimed Kerik was involved in trying to sway potential jurors on the eve of his trial.
White Plains Federal Judge Stephen Robinson threw him into the Westchester County jail.
He was segregated from other inmates because of his law enforcement background. Two days after he arrived he was placed in the psychiatric unit after displaying certain unspecified "symptoms" in lockup.
A letter from Dr. Robert Mahler released yesterday said Kerik was placed there "for observational purposes and psychiatric assessment in the context of psychosocial stressors."
Kerik was discharged from the unit after doctors determined he "poses no risk to himself or others due to any psychiatric illness."
Kerik is charged with getting a mob-linked contractor to pay for $255,000 in renovations to his apartment.
At the time, the contractor was seeking a city permit. Kerik, then the city's corrections commissioner, vouched for the contractor, prosecutors say.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2..._for_impen.html
Uncle Sam - November 6, 2009 12:22 PM (GMT)
Bernard Kerik first NYPD commish to admit to crime :bad cop:
Bernard Kerik became the first NYPD commissioner to admit committing a crime Wednesday, pleading guilty to lying about a secret payoff he took from a mob-linked contractor.
In a 90-minute hearing in White Plains Federal Court, Kerik pleaded guilty to eight of 15 charges against him.
They included not telling the IRS the contractor footed the bill for a $255,000 renovation of his apartment, and lying to the White House.
With his corruption trial set to begin next week, the former top cop worked out a last-minute deal in which prosecutors dropped the most serious charges - mail and wire fraud - and agreed to recommend prison time of 27 to 33 months.
"I think this is all a very sad day," Federal Judge Stephen Robinson in accepting the dramatic plea.
The judge noted that Kerik has lived "a full life," and that "there is much good in that life" he would take into account when Kerik is sentenced Feb. 18.
"I don't look at you as a one dimensional figure," the judge said. "There is a lot about your life that will be taken into account."
Wearing a dark suit with white shirt and red tie, Kerik entered the courtroom rubbing his hands together, his eyes straight ahead.
During the hearing, Kerik stood to answer the judge's questions about his competency to enter the plea, admitting that he'd recently been under the care of a doctor.
Then, facing the prospect of admitting to eight separate crimes, he sat down, placed his hands on the table and read from a prepared statement in a firm but quiet voice.
Although he did not admit to the first count of the indictment - conspiring to sell his office - he acknowledged:
* Hiding a $255,000 secret payment on his apartment renovation from a mob-linked contractor.
* Speaking with city investigators looking at the contractor's ties to the Gambino crime family.
* Lying to the White House about his involvement with the contractor when President Bush nominated him to run Homeland Security.
After his plea, Kerik was returned to the Westchester County Jail. His lawyers said they will ask that he be released in the coming days.
Kerik's plea leaves a permanent stain on the reputation of his mentor, ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a potential Republican candidate for governor.
Giuliani appointed Kerik to run city jails in 1998, then to head the NYPD in 2000. Both were hailed as heroes after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and, for a time, Kerik was President Bush's nominee to run Homeland Security.
That nomination was withdrawn after Kerik admitted he hadn't paid Social Security to a nanny, but that was just the tip of the Kerik iceberg.
The scope of his poor judgment emerged Wednesday as he admitted his wrongdoing.
While he was corrections commissioner and just before Giuliani made him top cop, prosecutors said Interstate Materials, a New Jersey contractor seeking a city permit had secretly funded renovations to Kerik's Bronx apartment.
In exchange, Kerik admitted, he spoke to city investigators vouching for the integrity of the contractor. The firm was ultimately barred from bidding on city contracts due to financial ties to members of the Gambino crime family.
The News exclusively reported Kerik's plea deal on Tuesday, 12 days after Judge Robinson tossed him into Westchester County jail for trying to taint his potential jury pool.
Since 1901, the NYPD has been run by a single commissioner appointed by the mayor. Kerik was the first to admit to a felony.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...come_felon.html
Bernard Kerik became the first NYPD commissioner to admit committing a crime Wednesday, pleading guilty to lying about a secret payoff he took from a mob-linked contractor.
In a 90-minute hearing in White Plains Federal Court, Kerik pleaded guilty to eight of 15 charges against him.
They included not telling the IRS the contractor footed the bill for a $255,000 renovation of his apartment, and lying to the White House.
With his corruption trial set to begin next week, the former top cop worked out a last-minute deal in which prosecutors dropped the most serious charges - mail and wire fraud - and agreed to recommend prison time of 27 to 33 months.
"I think this is all a very sad day," Federal Judge Stephen Robinson in accepting the dramatic plea.
The judge noted that Kerik has lived "a full life," and that "there is much good in that life" he would take into account when Kerik is sentenced Feb. 18.
"I don't look at you as a one dimensional figure," the judge said. "There is a lot about your life that will be taken into account."
Wearing a dark suit with white shirt and red tie, Kerik entered the courtroom rubbing his hands together, his eyes straight ahead.
During the hearing, Kerik stood to answer the judge's questions about his competency to enter the plea, admitting that he'd recently been under the care of a doctor.
Then, facing the prospect of admitting to eight separate crimes, he sat down, placed his hands on the table and read from a prepared statement in a firm but quiet voice.
Although he did not admit to the first count of the indictment - conspiring to sell his office - he acknowledged:
* Hiding a $255,000 secret payment on his apartment renovation from a mob-linked contractor.
* Speaking with city investigators looking at the contractor's ties to the Gambino crime family.
* Lying to the White House about his involvement with the contractor when President Bush nominated him to run Homeland Security.
After his plea, Kerik was returned to the Westchester County Jail. His lawyers said they will ask that he be released in the coming days.
Kerik's plea leaves a permanent stain on the reputation of his mentor, ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a potential Republican candidate for governor.
Giuliani appointed Kerik to run city jails in 1998, then to head the NYPD in 2000. Both were hailed as heroes after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and, for a time, Kerik was President Bush's nominee to run Homeland Security.
That nomination was withdrawn after Kerik admitted he hadn't paid Social Security to a nanny, but that was just the tip of the Kerik iceberg.
The scope of his poor judgment emerged Wednesday as he admitted his wrongdoing.
While he was corrections commissioner and just before Giuliani made him top cop, prosecutors said Interstate Materials, a New Jersey contractor seeking a city permit had secretly funded renovations to Kerik's Bronx apartment.
In exchange, Kerik admitted, he spoke to city investigators vouching for the integrity of the contractor. The firm was ultimately barred from bidding on city contracts due to financial ties to members of the Gambino crime family.
The News exclusively reported Kerik's plea deal on Tuesday, 12 days after Judge Robinson tossed him into Westchester County jail for trying to taint his potential jury pool.
Since 1901, the NYPD has been run by a single commissioner appointed by the mayor. Kerik was the first to admit to a felony.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...come_felon.html
Uncle Sam - November 13, 2009 02:29 PM (GMT)
Do you feel sympathy for ex-NYPD Police Commissioner for his fall from grace?
Yes, no matter what, he was a great police commissioner
No, he's just a big crook
Maybe just a little bit of sympathy
Fuck him he got what he deserved!
Craaaaaaack!
That was the sound you heard last week coming from inside the polished head of the man that Rudy Giuliani once anointed commissioner of the city's jails.
The same man Giuliani later made his police commissioner.
The same man Giuliani touted to President George W. Bush as the quintessential national strongman, "America's Police Commissioner," to protect the American homeland in the wake of 9/11 as director of Homeland Security with a $52 billion budget and overseeing the INS, Customs, FEMA, TSA, Coast Guard and the Secret Service.
Craaaaaaack!
That was the sound of Bernie Kerik's brain splitting like an egg - after just one week in a Westchester County lockup for defying a federal judge's order. Kerik's behavioral fissure was so pronounced that officials sent him for psychiatric observation.
"I don't think Kerik was scamming for a psycho transfer," says noted criminal defense attorney Steve Murphy, in the hallway of Queens Supreme Court. "He knows from being jails chief that the psycho ward is 10 times worse than jail. You're in with violent lunatics. I think that sitting in his isolation cell, he got a taste of the 15-20 years he's facing in three federal trials and he just cracked."
That crack echoed from inside the head of the same Bernie Kerik who once cracked the whip to keep inmates in line in Rikers Island here in Queens. The same Bernie Kerik who labeled himself as a hero for running for cover with his boss Giuliani at Ground Zero, while truly heroic firefighters rushed into the doomed towers. Giuliani expects us to believe that Kerik paused long enough to hear Rudy pronounce, "Thank God that George W. Bush is our President!"
The same Kerik who then used a condo across from Ground Zero designated for rescue workers digging in the dust of the dead as his personal harem.
The same Kerik who used to give away 7-pound busts of himself in uniform before he was, well, busted himself.
The same Kerik who exploited 9/11 for obscene personal wealth with Giuliani while the funeral bagpipes wailed across places like the Rockaways.
The same Kerik who declared bankruptcy in 1987, but hyped his 9/11 mythology into a $6.2 million windfall as the face of a Taser gun company.
The same Kerik who marched into Baghdad amid photo op fanfare to build an Iraqi police force, an effort that former U.S. commander in Iraq Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez labeled "a waste of time," leaving behind a Baghdad PD that couldn't compete with the school crossing guards of Bayside.
This was the same Bernie Kerik who supported the use of enhanced interrogations and indefinitely incarcerating prisoners without trial in Guantanamo.
Craaaaaaack!
That was also the sound you heard about any plans Giuliani had to run for governor. Because if Rudy runs, that crack will spread like a geological fault through his campaign, with voters asking how he could have appointed this high school drop-out with a GED to the top two law enforcement posts in New York. And then endorse him for the job as top cop of America.
Rudy's silence since Kerik's incarceration reminds you that when Giuliani arrived at the World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, he lugged a low-30s approval rating. Kerik was a citywide joke, with Rudy's hand up his shirt back as the clock ticked down on Giuliani's final term, steering both toward the political trash heap.
Then the towers fell.
And in the agonizing aftermath, these two men cynically mined gold from the hillocks of Ground Zero.
Kerik faced three federal trials for tax evasion, lying to the federal government and influence peddling for a mobbed up contractor in exchange for $255,000 in condo renovations.
Craaaaaaack!
Funny how that's what a woman named Susan McDougal DID NOT do after being remanded for 22 months in jail for refusing to tell former Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr what he wanted to hear about Bill Clinton. But then, Susan McDougal has bigger onions than Bernie Kerik.
Now this same barrel-chested son of a prostitute who swaggered through the city's jails like a colossus - naming one of them after himself - who talked so tough on the right wing gas bag talk shows about how a vote for John Kerry would result in a new terrorist attack, now cops a corruption plea in exchange for a 27-33 month sentence.
"Kerik already pled guilty to the influence peddling charge in a Bronx state court," says Stephen Murphy. "Hard to beat a charge in a federal courtroom he already pled guilty to. And if he'd turned down a plea deal and blew trial, this tough judge would probably have banged Kerik out with a max sentence."
Cliiiiiink!
That is the sound of the door of a jail cell closing behind Bernard Kerik.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens...g_disgrace.html
Bernie Kerik hanging in there, but he's 'screwed,' says Geraldo Rivera
Bernie Kerik, under house arrest until his sentencing, got a visit Thursday - from Geraldo Rivera.
The Fox News regular said he rang Kerik's Franklin Lakes, N.J., front door as "a friend of the family," not a muckraking journalist.
"Considering he's been hung out to dry by the justice system, I think he's doing remarkably well," Rivera told the Daily News after his half-hour visit with Kerik.
"He's a man of great integrity and courage and he'll get through it," said Rivera, as he left Kerik's house in a dark blue Bentley, his wife, Erica Levy, at his side.
Kerik, 54, pleaded guilty Nov. 4 to eight felony counts stemming from lying about a secret payoff he took from a mob-linked contractor. He was released from jail Tuesday and will remain under house arrest until his sentencing Feb. 18.
"He's doing all right. He's dealing," said Rivera, 66.
He declined to say if Kerik showed off his ankle monitoring bracelet, but did share one tidbit of their meeting.
"I can tell you what I said. I said he was screwed," Rivera said as he drove away.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...ed_geraldo.html
Yes, no matter what, he was a great police commissioner
No, he's just a big crook
Maybe just a little bit of sympathy
Fuck him he got what he deserved!
Craaaaaaack!
That was the sound you heard last week coming from inside the polished head of the man that Rudy Giuliani once anointed commissioner of the city's jails.
The same man Giuliani later made his police commissioner.
The same man Giuliani touted to President George W. Bush as the quintessential national strongman, "America's Police Commissioner," to protect the American homeland in the wake of 9/11 as director of Homeland Security with a $52 billion budget and overseeing the INS, Customs, FEMA, TSA, Coast Guard and the Secret Service.
Craaaaaaack!
That was the sound of Bernie Kerik's brain splitting like an egg - after just one week in a Westchester County lockup for defying a federal judge's order. Kerik's behavioral fissure was so pronounced that officials sent him for psychiatric observation.
"I don't think Kerik was scamming for a psycho transfer," says noted criminal defense attorney Steve Murphy, in the hallway of Queens Supreme Court. "He knows from being jails chief that the psycho ward is 10 times worse than jail. You're in with violent lunatics. I think that sitting in his isolation cell, he got a taste of the 15-20 years he's facing in three federal trials and he just cracked."
That crack echoed from inside the head of the same Bernie Kerik who once cracked the whip to keep inmates in line in Rikers Island here in Queens. The same Bernie Kerik who labeled himself as a hero for running for cover with his boss Giuliani at Ground Zero, while truly heroic firefighters rushed into the doomed towers. Giuliani expects us to believe that Kerik paused long enough to hear Rudy pronounce, "Thank God that George W. Bush is our President!"
The same Kerik who then used a condo across from Ground Zero designated for rescue workers digging in the dust of the dead as his personal harem.
The same Kerik who used to give away 7-pound busts of himself in uniform before he was, well, busted himself.
The same Kerik who exploited 9/11 for obscene personal wealth with Giuliani while the funeral bagpipes wailed across places like the Rockaways.
The same Kerik who declared bankruptcy in 1987, but hyped his 9/11 mythology into a $6.2 million windfall as the face of a Taser gun company.
The same Kerik who marched into Baghdad amid photo op fanfare to build an Iraqi police force, an effort that former U.S. commander in Iraq Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez labeled "a waste of time," leaving behind a Baghdad PD that couldn't compete with the school crossing guards of Bayside.
This was the same Bernie Kerik who supported the use of enhanced interrogations and indefinitely incarcerating prisoners without trial in Guantanamo.
Craaaaaaack!
That was also the sound you heard about any plans Giuliani had to run for governor. Because if Rudy runs, that crack will spread like a geological fault through his campaign, with voters asking how he could have appointed this high school drop-out with a GED to the top two law enforcement posts in New York. And then endorse him for the job as top cop of America.
Rudy's silence since Kerik's incarceration reminds you that when Giuliani arrived at the World Trade Center on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, he lugged a low-30s approval rating. Kerik was a citywide joke, with Rudy's hand up his shirt back as the clock ticked down on Giuliani's final term, steering both toward the political trash heap.
Then the towers fell.
And in the agonizing aftermath, these two men cynically mined gold from the hillocks of Ground Zero.
Kerik faced three federal trials for tax evasion, lying to the federal government and influence peddling for a mobbed up contractor in exchange for $255,000 in condo renovations.
Craaaaaaack!
Funny how that's what a woman named Susan McDougal DID NOT do after being remanded for 22 months in jail for refusing to tell former Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr what he wanted to hear about Bill Clinton. But then, Susan McDougal has bigger onions than Bernie Kerik.
Now this same barrel-chested son of a prostitute who swaggered through the city's jails like a colossus - naming one of them after himself - who talked so tough on the right wing gas bag talk shows about how a vote for John Kerry would result in a new terrorist attack, now cops a corruption plea in exchange for a 27-33 month sentence.
"Kerik already pled guilty to the influence peddling charge in a Bronx state court," says Stephen Murphy. "Hard to beat a charge in a federal courtroom he already pled guilty to. And if he'd turned down a plea deal and blew trial, this tough judge would probably have banged Kerik out with a max sentence."
Cliiiiiink!
That is the sound of the door of a jail cell closing behind Bernard Kerik.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens...g_disgrace.html
Bernie Kerik hanging in there, but he's 'screwed,' says Geraldo Rivera
Bernie Kerik, under house arrest until his sentencing, got a visit Thursday - from Geraldo Rivera.
The Fox News regular said he rang Kerik's Franklin Lakes, N.J., front door as "a friend of the family," not a muckraking journalist.
"Considering he's been hung out to dry by the justice system, I think he's doing remarkably well," Rivera told the Daily News after his half-hour visit with Kerik.
"He's a man of great integrity and courage and he'll get through it," said Rivera, as he left Kerik's house in a dark blue Bentley, his wife, Erica Levy, at his side.
Kerik, 54, pleaded guilty Nov. 4 to eight felony counts stemming from lying about a secret payoff he took from a mob-linked contractor. He was released from jail Tuesday and will remain under house arrest until his sentencing Feb. 18.
"He's doing all right. He's dealing," said Rivera, 66.
He declined to say if Kerik showed off his ankle monitoring bracelet, but did share one tidbit of their meeting.
"I can tell you what I said. I said he was screwed," Rivera said as he drove away.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2...ed_geraldo.html
rateye - November 13, 2009 03:06 PM (GMT)
What was the Royal Scandal in Saudi Arabia??? and did he really leak the sealed evidence?? Rivera is the only journalist sticking up for him. As much as I like normal heterosexual sex, banging your mistress by the ruins of the WTC that's obscene, it's like getting a hickey at the Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. or a hand job at Arlington National Cemetary--------disgusting as to location, it's just not done, bad form old chap !!!!.
Rob Whitey - November 13, 2009 06:02 PM (GMT)
fuck dat nypd is sum criminal muther fuckers :killem4: :bad cop: