Bernard Kerik, NYPD commissioner during 9/11, dies at 69
Bernard Kerik, who served as New York City's police commissioner on 9/11 and later pleaded guilty to tax fraud before being pardoned, has died. He was 69.
FBI Director Kash Patel said that Kerik's death Thursday came after an unspecified "private battle with illness."
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who tapped Kerik as a bodyguard for his 1993 mayoral campaign and later appointed him to lead the NYPD, reflected on their long history on his show Thursday.
"We've been together since the beginning. He's like my brother," Giuliani said through tears. "I was a better man for having known Bernie. I certainly was a braver and stronger man."
Kerik, who joined the NYPD in 1986, served as the department's 40th commissioner from 2000 to 2001 under Giuliani.
"For nearly two decades, Kerik served and protected New Yorkers in the NYPD, including helping rebuild the city in the aftermath of 9/11. We offer our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones," the NYPD wrote on social media.
"Don't think there are very few people in my life that I relied on more," Giuliani added. "Nor are there too many people in my life, actually, there was no one in my life that was braver than he was."
Bernard Kerik, former New York Police Commissioner, speaks during a news conference outside Manhattan criminal court in New York on May 20, 2024.
Alex Kent/Bloomberg via Getty Images
In 2003, Kerik served in President George W. Bush's administration as the head of a provisional police force in Iraq.
"It was just this afternoon that I stopped by the hospital to see Bernie Kerik, my friend of nearly 30 years, before his passing. He was with his loved ones who are in my prayers tonight. He was a great New Yorker and American. Rest in peace, my friend," New York City Mayor Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.
"He epitomizes what I always say: Generals lead from the front. Bernie led from the front. He was willing to lead his troops into battle protecting his city," Adams added Friday.
Kerik, an Army veteran, rose to the pinnacle of law enforcement before a fall so steep that even a city jail named after him was renamed.
In 2009, he pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud and false statement charges, partially stemming from over $250,000 in apartment renovations he received from a construction firm that authorities say counted on Kerik to convince New York officials it had no organized crime links. He served three years in prison before his release in 2013.
President Trump pardoned Kerik during a 2020 clemency blitz. Kerik was among the guests feting Mr. Trump after his first appearance in federal court in Florida in a case related to his handling of classified documents, attending the former president's remarks at his Bedminster, New Jersey, club.
"I think that the legacy that he really leaves is that he was a cop, he saved a lot of lives, and he never stopped," Timothy Parlatore, Kerik's close friend, told CBS News New York.
Attorney General Pam Bondi called Kerik a "dear friend" in a post to social media sending prayers to his family and friends.
Kerik caught the Bush administration off guard when he abruptly withdrew his nomination to run the Department of Homeland Security in 2004.
At the time he said he had uncovered information that led him to question the immigration status of a person he employed as a housekeeper and nanny.
The sprawling homeland security bureaucracy, created by Bush in the aftermath of 9/11, oversees the federal agencies responsible for enforcement of the nation's immigration laws, among many others.
In 2005, Kerik founded the Kerik Group, a crisis and risk management consulting firm.
He later worked for the former mayor of New York City surrounding the efforts to overturn Mr. Trump's 2020 loss.
Patel described Kerik in a post on social media as "a warrior, a patriot, and one of the most courageous public servants this country has ever known."
"He was decorated more than 100 times for bravery, valor, and service, having rescued victims from burning buildings, survived assassination attempts, and brought some of the world's most dangerous criminals to justice," he said. "His legacy is not just in the medals or the titles, but in the lives he saved, the city he helped rebuild, and the country he served with honor."
contributed to this report.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
19 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Seattle man charged with string of burglaries at the homes of NFL and MLB stars
SEATTLE — A Seattle man was charged Friday with a string of burglaries at the homes of prominent current and former football and baseball players, marking the latest example of well-known athletes being targeted in home thefts. Earl Henderson Riley IV, 21, was charged with several counts of residential burglary in both occupied and unoccupied homes, along with first-degree robbery, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.
CBS News
32 minutes ago
- CBS News
7-year-old tried to save sisters with CPR after fatal stabbing in Streamwood, Illinois, prosecutors say; accused killer hid weapon, tried to sell car
As the man accused of stabbing and killing his two sisters last month in Streamwood was fleeing the scene and trying to avoid capture, the victims' 7-year-old brother tried to save their lives by performing CPR, prosecutors said on Friday. Jalonie Jenkins, 25, was arrested last Sunday night in Downers Grove following a manhunt, after the bodies of his sisters, Janiya Jenkins, 21, and Eyani Jones, 10, were found inside a home in the 1600 block of McKool Avenue on May 28. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Jenkins appeared in court for the first time after Wednesday's hearing was postponed due to him being in the hospital following his arrest. His attorney made the case that he was suffering from a mental health episode. He admitted the facts of the case are horrendous, but said Jenkins is being supported by his mother and other family members. Prosecutors said Jenkins lived in his childhood home with his mother and siblings. They said Eyani was on a Snapchat call with a friend when the stabbing attack occurred. Jenkins stabbed her at least 10 times and Janiya at least 12 times, all while two other young family members, 7 and 3, were playing outside. After the stabbings, the state's attorney said Jenkins locked the two younger children in a bathroom, hid the weapon, a kitchen knife, in the home, and left with a bag of bloody clothes in a Lexus registered to him. They said he tried to sell his car and turned off his phone to evade police. He admitted to stabbing his sisters. Meantime, Eyani's and Janiya's 7-year-old brother left the bathroom about 20 minutes after Jenkins locked him in, and found Janiya and Eyani covered in blood. He tried to perform CPR on them, but couldn't save them. He went back to the bathroom to get his niece, and ran to a nearby home, brought a neighbor back to the bloody crime scene, and then called their mother and 911, according to prosecutors. Jenkins' defense attorney said the accused killer is now on medication for psychosis and asked for a mental health evaluation, which the judge agreed to. Jenkins is due back in court on June 26 at 9 a.m. in Rolling Meadows.
CNN
36 minutes ago
- CNN
Utah judge rules a convicted killer with dementia is competent to be executed
Crime Getting older DementiaFacebookTweetLink Follow A convicted killer in Utah who developed dementia while on death row for 37 years is competent enough to be executed, a state judge ruled late Friday. Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, was sentenced to die in 1988 for killing Utah mother of three Maurine Hunsaker. Despite his recent cognitive decline, Menzies 'consistently and rationally understands' what is happening and why he is facing execution, Judge Matthew Bates wrote in a court order. 'Menzies has not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that his understanding of his specific crime and punishment has fluctuated or declined in a way that offends the Eighth Amendment,' which prohibits cruel and unusual punishments, Bates said. Menzies had previously selected a firing squad as his method of execution. He would become only the sixth U.S. prisoner executed by firing squad since 1977. The Utah Attorney General's Office is expected to file a death warrant soon. Menzies' lawyers, who had argued his dementia was so severe that he could not understand why he was being put to death, said they plan to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court. 'Ralph Menzies is a severely brain-damaged, wheelchair-bound, 67-year-old man with dementia and significant memory problems,' his attorney, Lindsey Layer, said in a statement. 'It is deeply troubling that Utah plans to remove Mr. Menzies from his wheelchair and oxygen tank to strap him into an execution chair and shoot him to death.' The U.S. Supreme Court has spared others prisoners with dementia from execution, including an Alabama man in 2019 who had killed a police officer. Over nearly four decades, attorneys for Menzies filed multiple appeals that delayed his death sentence, which had been scheduled at least twice before it was pushed back. Hunsaker, a 26-year-old married mother of three, was abducted by Menzies from the convenience store where she worked. She was later found strangled and her throat cut at a picnic area in the Wasatch Mountains of northern Utah. Menzies had Hunsaker's wallet and several other belongings when he was jailed on unrelated matters. He was convicted of first-degree murder and other crimes. Matt Hunsaker, who was 10 years old when his mother was killed, said Friday that the family was overwhelmed with emotion to know that justice would finally be served.
