• The Story:
In Private Sector, Giuliani Parlayed Fame Into Wealth
• The Firm:
Giuliani Partners | Partners | Clients
• Doing Business:
Seisint Inc. | Oxycontin | Bankruptcy | Mexico City
The Partners
Giuliani brought to the firm some of his closest friends, political advisers and mayoral aides into the firm. Some have had been embroiled in legal cases and political controversies over the years. Here are some of the firm's best-known players.
Bernard Kerik
Kerik rose up through the ranks of city government when Giuliani was mayor, serving as chief of both prisons and commissioner of police. He moved to Giuliani's firm in 2002 and oversaw much of the firm's security work. In December 2004, at Giuliani's recommendation, President Bush named Kerik to head the Department of Homeland Security, but the nomination quickly fizzled when several allegations of wrongdoing surfaced. Kerik left the firm shortly thereafter. In summer 2006 he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor corruption charges in New York City.
• DOCUMENT: The 2005 New Jersey gaming division complaint laying out allegations of Kerik's association with organized crime and his acceptance of illegal gifts.
Michael D. Hess
Hess served Giuliani's mayoral administration as corporation counsel -- New York City's chief lawyer -- before joining the firm in 2002. Today he serves as senior managing partner, overseeing the firm's day-to-day operations.
• Hess's company bio
Anthony Carbonetti
Carbonetti has been one of Giuliani's longest serving political advisers, joining the mayor's office as 20-something aide in charge of patronage jobs and eventually rising to chief of staff.
• Carbonetti's company bio
Pasquale D'Amuro
One of the FBI's savviest anti-terrorism agents, D'Amuro rose through the ranks to become the bureau's executive assistant director -- its third-ranking official -- after the Sept. 11 attacks. In 2004, a Justice Department inquiry into the controversial removal of souvenirs from the World Trade Center attack site disclosed that D'Amuro had asked a subordinate involved in evidence recovery to gather a half-dozen non-evidentiary items from Ground Zero to keep as mementos just weeks after the attacks. D'Amuro acknowledged to investigators he "requested pieces of the WTC building ... for himself and possibly others working on the invetsigation" and kept one piece of granite for himself in June 2003. The IG report blamed senior FBI officials for failing to have a policy on the removal of such items from terrorism crime scenes. The FBI took no action against D'Amuro and he donated his memento to the New York City FBI office before retiring.
• DOCUMENT: The Justice Department's report on removal of items from Ground Zero debris. (PDF)
• D'Amuro's company bio
Alan Placa
Placa, a longtime Giuliani friend, resigned as vice chancellor of the Diocese of Rockville Centre in Long Island a week after being confronted by Newsday with allegations that former parishoners had been sexually abused. The newspaper published portions of a 2003 Suffolk County grand jury report in which accusers said he used his position to stifle priest-abuse complaints. The Long Island newspaper has reported that Placa denied the allegations, was not charged with a crime, and is going through a process within the church to clear his name. Placa has been described by the firm as a "consultant."
