Latest news with #BernardKerik
New York Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
End of watch for ex-NYPD Commish Bernie Kerik, 1955-2025
Former NYPD commissioner Bernard Kerik, 'America's Cop,' who helped make New York the safest big city in America and led the department through the 9/11 terror attack, passed away Thursday at 69. A high-school dropout from Paterson, NJ, he joined the Army and eventually earned his GED while stationed at Fort Bragg (and, much later, a college degree). A few years after leaving the service, he joined the NYPD in 1986, earning the department's Medal of Valor for saving his partner in a gun battle. He shifted to the Department of Correction in '94, rising to head it in '98. At DOC, he led a complete turnaround of the Rikers Island jail complex, ending an epidemic of inmate violence. In 2000, recalled his old boss, Mayor Rudy Giuliani, 'He became police commissioner when they thought crime couldn't be reduced any further, yet he reduced it further. His work helped New York become the safest big city in America and a shining example of urban renaissance.' In his 16 months as the city's top cop, he was lauded for his hands-on leadership — even making five arrests, plus collaring two ex-cons driving a stolen van in Harlem — and presiding over a 63% drop in violent crime. He'd just written a memoir of his rise, 'The Lost Son,' when the planes hit the towers. After 9/11, Kerik's work overseeing NYPD rescue and recovery efforts at Ground Zero led to his honorary appointment as a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire and brought him to the attention of President George W. Bush, who tapped him to organize Iraq's provisional police force and then named him to head the newly-created Department of Homeland Security. Then the roof fell in, as the vetting process uncovered some stupid mistakes that torpedoed the nomination and eventually led him to plead guilty to federal tax fraud and do four years' hard time. Yet Kerik bounced back, eventually penning his second best-seller, 'From Jailer to Jailed: My Journey from Correction and Police Commissioner to Inmate #84888-054.' He devoted much of his later years to prison issues and (sensible) criminal-justice reform. Bernard Kerik was a cop's cop. Rest in peace.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Bernard Kerik, N.Y.C. Police Commissioner Who Led 9/11 Response and Was Pardoned by Trump for Felonies, Dies at 69
Bernard Kerik, who served as NYPD police commissioner during 9/11, has died at age 69 Kerik was first hailed as a hero for facilitating the emergency response to the attacks, but later fell from grace due to multiple legal woes He pleaded guilty to eight felonies in 2009 and served three years in prison, then was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2020Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik has died. He was 69. FBI Director Kash Patel announced news of Kerik's death in a Thursday, May 29 post on X, noting that Kerik had been in the midst of a "private battle with illness." Kerik led the NYPD during the 9/11 terrorist attacks and was widely regarded as a hero for facilitating the department's response, according to Reuters. His career was on a steady rise until a series of accusations and investigations in the mid-2000s — including tax evasion, fraud and making false statements — landed him in prison. President Donald Trump pardoned him in 2020. Kerik, the 40th NYPD police commissioner, grew up in Paterson, N.J., and dropped out of Eastside High School. He then enlisted in the Army and was stationed in South Korea, according to the Associated Press, which reports that Kerik worked in private security in Saudi Arabia before coming back to the U.S., where he supervised a New Jersey jail. His career with the NYPD began in the '80s, and Kerik was eventually tapped to oversee the city's troubled prison system. In 2000, Kerik was appointed police commissioner by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and held the position for 16 months, The New York Times reported. Kerik was on the ground at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and helped facilitate the building's evacuation. His actions on 9/11 earned him praise and many formal honors, cementing him as one of the day's heroes. Yet, his legal troubles began shortly after. In 2004, he was nominated to lead the Department of Homeland Security by former President George W. Bush. Kerik unexpectedly withdrew his name from consideration because he employed an undocumented person in his household and his failure to pay payroll taxes, according to the Times. His admission led to further investigations into Kerik's dealings, which revealed that he carried on an extramarital affair in an apartment meant for rescue workers at the World Trade Center site. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. It was also revealed that he had commissioned renovations from a construction firm with alleged ties to organized crime, had committed tax fraud and had made false statements to federal investigators, according to the Times. In 2009, Kerik pleaded guilty to eight felonies, according to CNN, including tax fraud and making false statements to federal officials. He was sentenced to four years in prison but ended up serving three for good behavior. Kerik later wrote a memoir, From Jailer to Jailed, which was published in 2015. Trump granted Kerik a full pardon in 2020, after which Kerik became a staunch supporter of the president. Like Giuliani, Kerik denied the results of the 2020 election and said former President Joe Biden won because of fraudulent voting practices, according to the Times. During the House Jan. 6 committee, Kerik provided documents implicating himself in other efforts to deny the election results. Read the original article on People
New York Times
2 days ago
- Health
- New York Times
Bernard Kerik, New York's Police Commissioner on 9/11, Dies at 69
Bernard B. Kerik, the New York City police commissioner who was hailed as a hero for overseeing the department's response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, only to fall from grace after he pleaded guilty to federal corruption and tax crimes, died on Thursday in Manhattan. He was 69. His family said he died in a hospital, where he was being treated for heart disease. He had been hospitalized with skin cancer last year. A cocksure high school dropout with a black belt in karate, shaved head and bulging biceps, Mr. Kerik vaulted to senior public posts as a disciple of Rudolph W. Giuliani after serving as Mr. Giuliani's bodyguard during his successful 1993 mayoral campaign. In 1997, after Mr. Kerik had risen through the ranks of the Police Department from a street cop in Times Square and narcotics investigator, Mr. Giuliani promoted him to correction commissioner. In that position, he curbed sick-time abuse by prison guards and reduced violence by inmates. Mr. Kerik's appointment as police commissioner in August 2000 was not well received, in part because he had been so rapidly promoted despite his lack of a college degree, which uniformed police officers ordinarily needed for promotion to captain and above. His highest rank before becoming commissioner was detective third grade. He later went on to earn a degree in 2002. During his 16-month tenure as police commissioner, crime continued the decline that had been largely achieved by two of his predecessors, Raymond W. Kelly and William J. Bratton. Morale among officers improved. So did relations between the department and Black and Hispanic New Yorkers who had been alienated by incidents of police abuse. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Bernard Kerik, who led NYPD on 9/11 before prison and pardon, dies aged 69
Bernard Kerik, who served as New York City's police commissioner on during the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and later pleaded guilty to tax fraud before being pardoned, has died. He was 69. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Kash Patel said that Kerik's death Thursday came after an unspecified 'private battle with illness'. Rudy Giuliani, the Republican former city mayor, 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 podcast on Thursday. 'We've been together since the beginning. He's like my brother,' Giuliani, also the troubled former lawyer for Donald Trump, said through tears. 'I was a better man for having known Bernie. I certainly was a braver and stronger man.' The current New York City mayor, Eric Adams, a Democrat and also a former NYPD officer, said he'd visited Kerik, his 'friend of nearly 30 years', at a hospital earlier in the day. Kerik, an Army veteran, was hailed as a hero after the 9/11 attack and eventually nominated to head the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), before a dramatic fall from grace that ended with him behind bars. He served nearly four years in prison after pleading guilty in 2009 to tax fraud, making false statements and other charges. The charges stemmed partially from apartment renovations he received from a construction firm that authorities say wanted Kerik to convince New York officials it had no links to organized crime. During Kerik's sentencing, the judge noted that he committed some of the crimes while serving as 'the chief law enforcement officer for the biggest and grandest city this nation has'. Trump pardoned Kerik during a 2020 clemency blitz. Kerik was one of the guests feting Trump after his first federal court appearance in Florida in a case related to his handling of classified documents. Kerik grew up in Paterson, New Jersey, where he dropped out of the troubled Eastside high school later depicted in the 1989 film Lean on Me. He joined the Army, where he became a military policeman stationed in South Korea. He joined the NYPD in the late 1980s and was appointed in the 1990s to run New York's long-troubled jail system, including the city's notorious Riker's Island complex. Kerik was appointed by Giuliani to serve as police commissioner in 2000..
BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Bernard Kerik, head of New York police during 9/11, dies at 69
Bernard Kerik, New York City's former police commissioner during the 11 September 2001 attacks, has died aged death was confirmed by FBI Director Kash Patel, who said the former police officer died Thursday after a "private battle with illness."Kerik oversaw the police response to the deadliest terrorist attack in US history, and was later appointed by former US President George Bush as head of a provisional police force in pleaded guilty to charges of tax fraud in 2009 and served three years in prison, though he was pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2020. Those who paid tribute to Kerik include former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was in office when Kerik served as commissioner of the NYPD, and current mayor Eric Adams."We've been together since the beginning. He's like my brother," Giuiliani said Thursday on his show. "I was a better man for having known Bernie," Giuiliani said. "I certainly was a braver and stronger man."Adams, who had been friends with Kerik for nearly 30 years, said he had visited him in hospital before his death."He was with his loved ones who are in my prayers tonight," Adams said in a statement. "He was a great New Yorker and American."Kerik, a former army veteran and a decorated law enforcement officer, rose up the ranks through his career, and was nearly tapped to run the Department of Homeland Security under Bush in 2004 before he abruptly withdrew his 2009, Kerik pleaded guilty to federal charges after he was accused of lying to investigators about interest-free loans he received from an Israeli billionaire and a New York real estate magnet while he was in public was granted a full pardon by Trump in 2020, and later joined Giuiliani's efforts to overturn Trump's election loss that same year.
