Thread by @bansisharma

1. Curtis Sliwa Is For Real

This guy is for real. I have known about him for decades. Unlike most people in public life, he speaks his mind without fear or favor, and he has cojones of steel. He did not back down even after being shot by Mafia. I admire this man.

https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1382029855131377666

2. On June 19, 1992, Sliwa was kidnapped and shot by two gunmen. The kidnapping was foiled when Sliwa leapt from a front window of the moving cab and escaped. Sliwa underwent surgery for internal injuries and leg wounds.

3. Federal prosecutors eventually charged John A. Gotti, the son of Gambino crime family leader John Gotti, with the attempted murder and a raft of other charges. Prosecutors claimed that Gotti was angered by remarks Sliwa had made on his radio program about Gotti's father.

4. In his youth, Sliwa worked as a delivery boy for the New York Daily News, where he was awarded the title of "Newsboy of the Year" and a trip to the White House after he saved several people from a burning building while on a paper route.

5. In May 1977, Sliwa created the "Magnificent 13", a group dedicated to combating violence and crime on the New York City Subway. At the time, the city was experiencing a crime wave. The Magnificent 13 grew and was renamed the Guardian Angels in 1979.

6. Membership of the Guardian Angels showed 80% of them were either black or Hispanic in ethnic origin. Unarmed, the group required training in karate and fulfillment of legal requirements for citizens' arrest for all members before they were to be deployed.

7. NYC Mayor Ed Koch, a critic of Sliwa and of the organization, launched an investigation into the Guardian Angels, which according to The Washington Post, proved "so positive that the Guardian Angels will soon be awarded some sort of official status."

8. Then-Lieutenant Governor Mario Cuomo was a rare early advocate of the organization, being quoted saying "they are a better expression of morality than our city deserves".

9. Sliwa announced on March 8, 2020, that he would be running for mayor of New York City in 2021 as a Republican, seeking to become the 110th mayor of New York City.

I will be rooting for him. NYC cannot do better than having Sliwa as mayor. Godspeed Curtis Sliwa!

The End