Bernard Bernie Kerik, photographed in Manhattan in 2000. Kerik, a New Jersey native rose rapidly in the ranks of the New York Police Department and was appointed Police Commissioner by Rudolph Giulian, leaving as the Mayor's term expired on December 31, 2001. He was at the Mayor's side during and after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack which brought down the Twin Towers. The feisty, controversial Kerik ran afoul of the law on several occasions in the ensuing years and served a stretch in a federal prison for income tax evasion and making false statements. He supported Donald Trump's false charges of a stolen election in 2020 and was pardoned on all previous convictions by President Trump subsequently. Kerik died in a Manhattan hospital on May 29, 2025, from heart irregularities at the age of 69.
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