Giuliani faces several years in prison. Photo: AP
In the 1980s, Rudy Giuliani earned a reputation as a fearless prosecutor. by aggressively applying racketeering laws to incite mafia bosses.
These RICO laws helped him overthrow the leadership of New York's notorious Five Families, the Italian-American mafia that runs organized crime in the city.
But on Tuesday, Mr. Giuliani fought for his freedom after falling into the trap of the very legal strategy he first deployed.
It's a remarkable fall for a man once hailed as «America's mayor,» a hardline crime-fighting Republican who led New York City through its darkest hours since the 9/11 attacks.
Prosecutors in Georgia have charged Giuliani with 13 felony charges in connection with an alleged illegal conspiracy to undermine the 2020 presidential election along with longtime associate and former client Donald Trump.
Giuliani, 79, has now been in danger for years beyond lattice. “This is just the next chapter in the book of lies to frame President Donald Trump and anyone who is ready to challenge the ruling regime,” Giuliani said after the charges were dropped.
But for Mr. Giuliani, this stunning chapter certainly marks the lowest point in a decades-long tragic descent from national hero to public ridicule.
They include an unwitting cameo in Sacha Baron Cohen's film, in which Mr. Giuliani was filmed lying on a hotel bed with his hands in his trousers.
Since Mr. Trump burst onto the political scene, Mr. Giuliani has become one of the former president's most vocal defenders.
He played a major role in Trump's post-election drive to cling to power through what prosecutors allege was a criminal campaign of lies about election fraud.
Donald Trump with Rudy Giuliani at the Trump National Golf Club in 2020. Credit: AFP
His efforts have often come down to farce, such as the post-election 2020 press conference held outside the Four Seasons garden business, surrounded by a crematorium and sex shop.
At another press event, Mr. Giuliani and his allies claimed massive electoral fraud without a shred of evidence as hair dye dripped down his face.
Georgia Attorney Fanny Willis indicted him under the state Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Practices Act (RICO).
Ms. Willis, like Mr. Giuliani four decades ago, has pioneered the use of RICO laws. She accused Mr. Trump, Mr. Giuliani and 17 other defendants of an alleged «criminal enterprise» to deflect legitimate votes.
Ms. Willis used the RICO laws to do this, which allow multiple crimes to be linked into a single racketeering charge.
Ironically, this is a template that Giuliani perfected decades ago when he resigned from the Five Families as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
He used similar language to accuse the crime bosses of essentially acting like the «board of directors» of the New York mob.
Just last month, his spokesman hailed the former prosecutor's effective use of the mob law to «[destroy] the mob» and clean up New York.
He became mayor of New York in 1993 and won the nation over with his leadership of the city after the 9/11 attacks. This earned him the cover of the prestigious Time Magazine's Person of the Year.
His political fate began to change in 2008 after a failed bid for the White House. It was Trump who brought him back to the forefront of Republican politics by hiring him as his lawyer.
He has been on TV constantly defending Trump in the Russian election interference investigation. But amid his turbulent personal life, Mr. Giuliani has proved receptive to seemingly casual confessions, contradicting Mr. Trump's denials of secret payments to a porn star and his push for a business deal in Moscow ahead of the 2016 election.
After all, it was his involvement in attempts to undermine the results of the 2020 election that brought Giuliani himself to the attention of prosecutors.
His license to practice law has been suspended in New York due to his «knowingly false» statements about the stolen election, and he faces revocation of his law license in Washington.
Mr. Giuliani seemed to be aware of the pitfalls associated with Mr. Trump. “I'm afraid it will be on my tombstone. «Rudy Giuliani: He lied for Trump,» he told The New Yorker in 2019.
“If so, what do I care? I will die. I think I can explain it to Saint Peter.”
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