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Curtis Sliwa

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Curtis Sliwa
Born (1954-03-26) March 26, 1954 (age 70)
New York City, U.S.
Political partyRepublican (2020–present)
Other political
affiliations		Reform (until 2020)
Spouses Koren Drayton ​ ​(m. 1976; div. 1977)​
Lisa Evers ​ ​(m. 1981; div. 1994)​
Mary Galda ​ ​(m. 2000; div. 2012)​
Nancy Regula ​(m. 2018)​
PartnerMelinda Katz (sep. 2014)
Children3

Curtis Sliwa (/ˈsliwə/; born March 26, 1954) is an American activist, radio talk show host, and founder and chief executive officer of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit crime prevention organization. Sliwa was the Republican nominee for the 2021 New York City mayoral election, which he lost to Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams.

Early life

Curtis Sliwa was born on March 26, 1954, into a Catholic family of Polish and Italian descent, in Canarsie, Brooklyn. He has two sisters. He attended Brooklyn Prep, a Jesuit high school from which he was later expelled. He graduated from Canarsie High School. In his youth, he worked as a delivery boy for the Daily News, where he was awarded the title of "Newsboy of the Year" and a trip to the White House after he saved several people from a burning building while on a paper route.

Prior to founding the Guardian Angels, he was night manager of a McDonald's restaurant on Fordham Road in the Bronx.

Guardian Angels

Guardian Angels in Miami Metrorail, 2001

In May 1977, Sliwa created the "Magnificent 13", a civilian group dedicated to combating violence and crime on the New York City Subway. At the time, the city was experiencing a crime wave. The Magnificent 13 grew and was renamed the Guardian Angels in 1979. The group's actions drew strong reactions, both positive and negative.

Most of the Guardian Angels members were either Black or Hispanic. Unarmed, the group required training in karate and fulfillment of legal requirements for citizens' arrest for all members before they were to be deployed. Sliwa's red beret is a component of the Guardian Angels' uniform.

In 1981, then-Mayor Ed Koch, a critic of Sliwa and the organization, launched an investigation into the Guardian Angels, which, according to The Washington Post, proved "so positive that the Guardian Angels will soon be awarded some sort of official status." Then-Lieutenant Governor Mario Cuomo was a rare early advocate of the organization, being quoted saying "hey are a better expression of morality than our city deserves".

In 1992, Sliwa admitted that he and the Guardian Angels faked heroic subway rescues for publicity. He also admitted to having claimed falsely that three off-duty transit police officers had kidnapped him.

In the early 1980s, he expanded operations to Buffalo and was often critical of local police policies and practices. One incident involved Guardian Angels member Frank Melvin, who was fatally shot by a Newark police officer in December 1981 after an officer claimed they mistook his unzipping of his jacket – to display his Guardian Angels emblem – as a threat. Sliwa claimed that the killing of Melvin – an African American – was racially motivated, and had been done by a White officer who was being protected by the police department, rather than by the Hispanic officer identified as the shooter. An Essex County grand jury cleared both officers of charges related to Melvin's death.

Murder attempt

On June 19, 1992, Sliwa was kidnapped and shot by two gunmen after entering a stolen taxi in Manhattan. The taxi picked up Sliwa near his home in the East Village, and a gunman hiding in the front passenger seat jumped up and fired several shots, hitting him in the groin and legs. The kidnapping was foiled when Sliwa leaped from the front window of the moving cab and escaped. Sliwa underwent surgery for internal injuries and leg wounds.

John A. Gotti (middle) in an FBI surveillance photo

Federal prosecutors eventually charged John A. Gotti, the son of Gambino crime family leader John Gotti, with attempted murder and a raft of other charges. Prosecutors claimed that Gotti was angered by remarks Sliwa had made about Gotti's father on his radio program. After three attempts to try him, on September 20, 2005, three separate juries could not agree to convict Gotti on any of the charges brought against him, and the charges were dropped. Jurors later told reporters they believed he had a role in Sliwa's shooting. Prosecutors declined to re-try Gotti and dismissed the charges against him. Sliwa said he would seek damages in civil court.

Michael Yannotti, a Gotti associate, was also charged with shooting Sliwa in the incident but was acquitted.

Media career

Radio

Sliwa in September 2007
Sliwa and Ron Kuby with U.S. Representative Gary Ackerman in 2005

Sliwa has been a radio broadcaster for three decades, most of that time on WABC-AM, where he began his career in 1990. In 1994, the then city-owned and operated WNYC hired Sliwa, whom WABC had released. Some, including Sliwa, have suggested that he was given access to the station by newly elected Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whom he had supported in the 1993 mayoral race.

Sliwa has become a conservative radio talk show host. Since 1996, he has hosted various radio programs on WABC, and in 2000, he became the co-host, with an attorney Ron Kuby, of the long-running Curtis and Kuby in the Morning. The show lasted eight years before Citadel Broadcasting replaced the team with Don Imus. His longtime broadcast partner was lawyer Ron Kuby, with whom he had multiple times hosted in the past "Curtis & Kuby" weekday radio show at noon, on WABC-AM in New York City. Starting in June 2017, Sliwa's co-host was attorney and television commentator, Eboni Williams. His most recent co-host was Juliet Huddy, who joined the show in February 2019.

The Curtis Sliwa LIVE program began national syndication on December 1, 2008. WABC retained Sliwa until November 2009, when his show was cancelled after a contract dispute. He hosted both the morning and evening "drive time" shows on WNYM-AM 970, but as of January 2, 2014, Sliwa returned to WABC, replacing Rush Limbaugh who moved to WOR-AM. After officially declaring his candidacy in March 2021, Sliwa's radio program went on hiatus.

Politics

In September 2016, Sliwa and Frank Morano launched a successful hostile takeover of the Reform Party of New York State. The Party lost its ballot access in the November 2018 elections.

In December 2019, Sliwa declared in an interview that he hated then-President of the United States Donald Trump, calling him a "screwball and a crackpot". In February 2021, weeks after Trump left office, Sliwa switched from the Reform Party to the Republican Party.

Sliwa changed parties and lost control over the Reform Party after losing the required votes to keep the Reform Party on the ballot. Bill C. Merrell regained control over the NYS Reform Party and is now again NYS Chair of the Reform Party. The official state Party is again affiliated with the National Reform Party.

2021 mayoral campaign

Main article: 2021 New York City mayoral election

Sliwa announced on March 8, 2020, that he would be running for mayor of New York City in 2021 as a Republican, seeking to become the 110th mayor of New York City.

Once friends, the primary race turned Sliwa and Fernando Mateo into bitter rivals. The Manhattan, Queens, and Bronx Republican parties endorsed Mateo. In contrast, the Staten Island and Brooklyn Republican parties endorsed Sliwa. Sliwa criticized Mateo for donating to the 2017 re-election campaign of Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, and Sliwa also accused Mateo of breaking the law; Mateo replied that Sliwa's accusations were bogus and shameful.

During the campaign, Mateo and Sliwa clashed over loyalty to former president Donald Trump. Mateo voiced support for Trump's false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election; by contrast, Sliwa did not support Trump in either 2016 or 2020, and does not support Trump's election denial. The unofficial results showed Sliwa winning by 72 to 28 percent.

Sliwa has run on a platform opposing the defund the police movement, supporting a property tax overhaul so that working-class residents would not pay higher property taxes than wealthy citizens, keeping in place the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test while increasing opportunities for vocational training in charter schools, and focusing on fiscal restraint. He also opposes the killing of unwanted animals and supports making all animal shelters no-kill shelters.

Sliwa campaigned on beginning a trial program, if elected, to test out the feasibility of universal basic income in New York City.

Sliwa lost to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams in a landslide defeat in the general election on November 2, 2021, with Adams winning just over two-thirds of the votes. Sliwa conceded that same night, calling for unity in order to "save" New York City.

Anti-illegal immigration rallies

In late August 2023, Sliwa, along with four other organizers, were arrested after an anti-illegal immigration rally outside Gracie Mansion. Police issued a desk appearance ticket on misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and obstruction, but the Manhattan district attorney's office declined to prosecute. Sliwa had previously been arrested at several previous rallies.

Personal life

Sliwa at a Toronto gathering in July 2006

Sliwa has been married four times. He wed his second wife, Lisa Evers, in 1981. At the time, she was National Director of the Guardian Angels and co-hosted a WABC-AM radio show called Angels in the Morning. She is also a martial arts expert who briefly trained with the World Wrestling Federation in 1986.

In 2000, Sliwa married his third wife, Mary Galda, a former WABC employee who also served as The Guardian Angels' national director. They have one son.

Sliwa was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010, which he announced publicly on April 20, 2011.

Sliwa was in a relationship with Melinda Katz, the Queens County District Attorney, and separated from her in 2014; they have two children together, conceived in vitro over the previous five years. She is named in a court case involving Sliwa, accused by his ex-wife Mary of diverting money to Katz while still married to Mary, as part of a plan to build a "nest egg" with Katz prior to moving in with her.

On July 5, 2018, Sliwa wed his longtime girlfriend, animal activist and attorney Nancy Regula, at the Howe Caverns. They live on the Upper West Side with their many rescue cats.

References

  1. Uhlig, Mark A. (June 17, 1988). "Sliwa, Angels' Founder, A Herald, Not a Cherub". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
  2. Witchel, Alex (November 12, 1992). "Back On the Street With: Curtis Sliwa; Not Invincible, but Standing Fast". The New York Times.
  3. Couric, Katie (December 18, 2005). "Aleta St. James' journey to motherhood". NBC News.
  4. "Brooklyn's Favorite Crime-fighter, Curtis Sliwa, Is Honored by Local Politicians" (PDF). Brooklyn Daily Eagle. March 6, 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 20, 2010.
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  6. "Guardian Angel founder ambushed in cab". Tampa Bay Times. June 20, 1992. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  7. ^ Hester, Jere (August 14, 2017). "The early history of the Guardian Angels and their controversial New York City subway patrols". New York Daily News. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  8. "Curtis Sliwa, CEO and Founder". Guardian Angels. Archived from the original on September 5, 2007. Retrieved September 11, 2007.
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  10. Baker, Kevin (May 18, 2015). "'Welcome to Fear City' – the inside story of New York's civil war, 40 years on". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
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  12. Robbins, William (August 7, 1981). "Effectiveness of Guardian Angels called uncertain". The New York Times. Retrieved March 4, 2021.(subscription required)
  13. Gabbatt, Adam (August 6, 2021). "The cat-loving, beret-wearing Republican who wants to be mayor of New York". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 6, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2021.
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  15. Wadler, Joyce (April 14, 1981). "' Guardian Angels': Different Gang". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  16. David Gonzalez, Police Union To Sue Sliwa Over Hoaxes, The New York Times (November 26, 1992).
  17. "James Cunningham, Buffalo Police Commissioner, Dies". The New York Times. Associated Press. January 22, 1984.
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  46. ^ Dana Rubinstein, Jeffery C. Mays, Jazmine Hughes, Anne Barnard, Michael Gold and Mihir Zaveri, Wiley Wins the Progressives: 5 Takeaways From the NYC Mayor's Race, The New York Times (June 7, 2021).
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  50. "Why Curtis Sliwa Says He is Serious About Running For Mayor". www.ny1.com. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  51. Fitzsimmons, Emma G. (May 20, 2021). "What's the Next Mayor of New York's One Big Idea?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  52. Durkin, Erin (June 28, 2021). "'I come right at you': The vigilantelike figure who's running to be the GOP mayor of New York". Politico PRO. Retrieved June 29, 2021.
  53. Lepore, Stephen (May 20, 2021). "NYC Republican mayoral candidate Sliwa pitches universal basic income program".
  54. "Eric Adams, former police officer, wins New York mayor's race". The Guardian. November 3, 2021. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  55. Sommerfeldt, Denis Slattery, Chris (November 2, 2021). "Curtis Sliwa calls for unity as he concedes mayoral race to Eric Adams". nydailynews.com. Retrieved November 3, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  56. Woods, Amanda (September 11, 2023). "Manhattan DA will not prosecute Curtis Sliwa over migrant protest outside Gracie Mansion". New York Post.
  57. Carter, E. Graydon (December 28, 1981). "People: December 28, 1981". Time. Archived from the original on October 15, 2010. Guardian Angels National Director Lisa Evers, 28, who will marry Angels leader Curtis Sliwa, 26, on Christmas Eve in Manhattan
  58. Bernstein, Fred (February 8, 1982). "In a Time of Tragedy and Growth, the Guardian Angels' Curtis Sliwa Relies on His New Wife, Lisa". People.
  59. "Guardian Angel Embodies The Right Attitude". Chicago Tribune. Montreal Gazette. July 21, 1986.
  60. "Curtis Sliwa Was Ex-Council Member Melinda Katz's Sperm Donor and Now They're Getting Married". April 15, 2012.
  61. Zambito, Thomas (June 14, 2006). "Gotti Goons Target My Boy: Sliwa". Daily News. New York.
  62. "Curtis Sliwa Homepage". Archived from the original on July 30, 2012.
  63. Chung, Jen (April 15, 2012). "Curtis Sliwa Was Ex-Council Member Melinda Katz's Sperm Donor And Now They're Getting Married". Gothamist. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012. Retrieved April 19, 2012.
  64. Fanelli, James (May 9, 2013). "Guardian Angels' Curtis Sliwa Swindled Wife During Affair, Lawsuit Says". DNAinfo New York. Archived from the original on July 31, 2013.
  65. Gregorian, Dareh (December 11, 2013). "Curtis Sliwa Child-Support Trial: Queens Borough President-elect Melinda Katz Gets Grilled". New York Daily News.
  66. "Guardian Angel's Founder Curtis Sliwa Weds Attorney Nancy Regula". thebronxchronicle.com. The Bronx Chronicle. July 9, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2021.

Further reading

  • Paterson, David (2020). Black, Blind, & in Charge: A Story of Visionary Leadership and Overcoming Adversity. New York: Skyhorse Publishing.

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