Mayor Rudy Giuliani

New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is probably best known for the way he held his city together during the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. What many people do not know is how he dealt with gangsters and generally cleaned up the city.

After graduating from New York University Law School and working several lower level attorney jobs, Rudy Giuliani was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. While district attorney, he fought, exposed and convicted several high level mob bosses. Famous cases of his include the “pizza connection case” in which the mafia had planned to import billions of dollars worth of heroin through pizzerias.

Another notable case is the Boesky trial. Ivan Boesky had made huge amounts of money by illegally taking advantage of insider knowledge of corporate takeovers.

As mayor, Rudy Giuliani has seen crime decline 57% and a 65% reduction in New York City murders. The F.B.I. has listed New York as the safest large city in America several times, which is a huge contrast from its early days of mob violence.

Originally, Mayor Rudy Giuliani was a democrat, but he moved to an independent and subsequently republican position. Today, he claims to have more of an affinity for republican ideals; however, many of his policies, such as his views on abortion or gay marriage, are too liberal for many republicans to espouse. This could be a cause for his surprisingly low popularity during the 2008 presidential election.

Following his tireless leadership after the 9/11 attacks, Rudy Giuliani received an honorary knighthood from the Queen of England. He also received Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2001.