Guardian Angel eyes Gracie Mansion
Volunteer watchman declares his Republican bid for mayor
BY ROSE ADAMS
Curtis Sliwa, the founder
of the civilian crime-fi ghting
troop Guardian Angels, announced
his plans to run for
mayor as a Republican, claiming
his time on the streets
makes him the perfect person
to lead the fi ve boroughs
— not some career politician!
“I’ve lived in the streets,
I’ve lived in the inner city,
and I’ve been baptized in
the subways,” said Sliwa. “I
understand what people go
through more so than Scott
Stringer, Eric Adams, Corey
Johnson, or anyone who has
been rumored to be a candidate.”
The Canarsie native
founded his vigilante watchdog
group in 1979, enlisting
unarmed volunteers to patrol
the streets and subways
wearing their signature red
jackets — and the organization
still boasts 150 local
members, Sliwa claimed.
If elected to City Hall,
Sliwa says his time at the
helm of the Guardian Angels
would help him lower crime
and reinvigorate the city’s
police force — which Sliwa
believes is caught up in nefarious
COURIER L 36 IFE, MARCH 20-26, 2020
behavior.
“They’re not wearing their
hats, they’re constantly clustered
up, sexting or texting
on their phones,” he said of
today’s policemen. “We need
cops in the neighborhood
serving as a visual deterrent,
which they’re not now.”
Sliwa says his law enforcement
priorities include
increasing police presence,
eliminating ticket quotas,
encouraging cops to patrol
in small groups rather than
idling in large clusters, and
working to mend police-community
relations.
The red-beret-wearing
watchman is also be a staunch
advocate for rolling back bail
reform so that it doesn’t apply
to violent crimes — although
he’s in favor of eliminating
cash bail for low-level
offenses.
“I’m the only candidate
who’s been locked up 77
times, so I know how the system
can screw the accused,”
he said, referencing his multiple
arrests during his time
as an unregulated vigilante.
“No cash bail makes a lot of
sense, but we were promised
it would be for non-violent
crimes.”
Now, the advocate enters
an uphill battle to replace the
city’s lame-duck chief executive
Bill de Blasio — needing
to win both the Republican
mayoral primary in June
2021, and the general election
against the likely-favored
Democratic nominee that November.
But fi rst, Sliwa — who’s
survived an assassination
attempt by mob boss John
“Junior” Gotti — will have
to overcome his own host of
scandals that would surely be
brought to light during a citywide
political contest.
In the Guardian Angels’
early years, Sliwa faked six
crimes so that the group
would gain publicity – a fact
he admitted and said he still
regrets.
“It was wrong then, and
it is wrong now,” he told the
Brooklyn Paper.
Former Angels claimed
that Sliwa also exaggerated
the group’s membership and
staged many other crimes he
didn’t disclose, a 1992 New
York Times article reported.
Sliwa, however, maintains
that the allegations aren’t
true. “There’s no doubt there
was six,” he said. “There
weren’t other incidences, and
I didn’t fake membership.”
In 2017, the watchmen was
arrested outside City Hall
while attempting to serve
Bill de Blasio with court papers
for an alleged infraction
of election law.
Sliwa also made headlines
for his love affair with
Queens District Attorney Melinda
Katz in 2013, when Sliwa’s
ex-wife sued him for funneling
money to Katz while
they were still married. Sliwa
and Katz dated for a few years
after that, before splitting in
an equally public falling out.
Meanwhile, Sliwa’s exwife
went on to marry former
Gov. David Patterson in
August after the ex-pol proposed
to her at a party hosted
for them by grocery store billionaire
John Catsimatidis,
who is also considering a Republican
mayoral bid in the
upcoming election.
BROOKLYN BOY: Curtis Silwa at
his childhood home in Canarsie.
Photo by Caroline Ourso