Cop: Genovese crime family also mulled Rudy Giuliani hit
BY THOMAS ZAMBITO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, October 26th 2007, 4:00 AM

John Gotti wasn’t the only one who wanted Rudy Giuliani dead.

City cops investigated a September 1995 contract on the then-mayor by the Genovese crime family when Giuliani was trying to run the mob out of the Fulton Fish Market and the Javits Convention Center, the Daily News has learned.

Two low-level, Italian-born mob associates were suspected in the plot but never charged, according to Jim Kelly, the detective who headed the probe for two years in the mid-to-late 1990s. “I want to kill Rudy,” Kelly quoted one as saying. “I want the money, and I want to get out of here.”

The price for offing the former prosecutor was to be $50,000, but in a penny-pinching mood, the hoods considered farming out the job to “a Puerto Rican gang” for half that amount, Kelly sad.

But the Genovese associates eventually got the high-profile assignment for the original price. They were told they’d be spirited out of the country after the hit.

“I did interview a number of underbosses, soldiers, capos or bosses,” Kelly said. “These were very strong allegations. The guy was going to do it and then get out of America. I found reliable people who said this is true. We told them you best not do it.”

Kelly said the hit plot included some of Giuliani’s top deputies, including Randy Mastro, who led the Giuliani administration’s efforts to eliminate mob influence in the fish market and the city’s construction trades. Also named were Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington and Chief Counsel Dennison Young, Kelly said.

Kelly declined to reveal the men’s identities because they were never arrested in the plot. They were, however, hit with unrelated drug charges.

Conversations about the plot were picked up in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn and the Bronx, said Kelly, who at the time was assigned to the FBI/NYPD Joint Organized Crime Task Force.

Testimony at the trial of former FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio on Wednesday revealed that the heads of New York’s five crime families debated whacking Giuliani in 1986 when he was the Manhattan U.S. attorney. But Giuliani was spared by a 3-to-2 vote, with Gambino boss Gotti and Colombo boss Carmine (Snake) Persico voting to kill. Genovese boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante was among those who voted to let him live.

Yesterday, Giuliani told a radio interviewer he couldn’t keep track of the various plots against him, but gave a hint that he might have known something about the 1995 plot.

“I remember they threatened to kill some of my assistants, and I had to protect one of them and, you know, make sure he got the proper protection for it,” Giuliani said. “I don’t remember that I was part of that, but maybe I was.”

jmarzulli@nydailynews.com

Further, it is not like Zherka is a priest who lives in California or in Europe. He is a Manhattan strip club owner who is in close proximity to his brother.

Besides, any comment attributed to the Consultant or anyone else is protected free speech when it comes to a public figure the likes of Sam Zherka. The comment also may be misstated or misquoted in the suit, or taken out of context entirely. Or someone else could have said it. Sam Zherka has often published outlandish accusations about many people in the Guardian paper. But the important free speech protections also apply to others, not just to Sam Zherka. He cannot have it both ways.

Zherka is blaming Yonkers officials and the Consultant for his troubles, but it is the Manhattan district attorney who is investigating him. He would not be handing out all those grand jury subpoenas, according to Zherka, if there was nothing that interested him in a big way.

It makes more sense to believe that trying to blame that Manhattan investigation on anyone but himself is a desperate ploy by Zherka to put himself in a victim role, an attempt at intimidation, and also a troubling attempt to learn the identities of people who (based on his claims) would then be protected confidential informants of the Manhattan district attorney. The Manhattan district attorney would view that as a serious matter.

Sam Zherka claims he has a huge conspiracy plotting against him, but it is one that makes no sense. Paranoia, anyone? I would expect the Journal News knows that Zherka is throwing everything he can think of against a wall, even though it is not believable. They also must know they will protect their blogs from any attempts at invasion of privacy and so on which also would violate the first amendment and open a Pandora’s Box they don’t want to open because of other problems it would bring. Just one of those would include future attempts to stifle free speech and privacy protections.

I also think the DA in Manhattan will move to dismiss Sam Zherka’s case as groundless, and the same goes for Mike Edelman and the Yonkers officials.

Zherka’s revolting weekly paper and his constant lawsuits against anyone and everyone in the different communities undoubtedly reveal him for just what he is.

So he writes..
BUT WHAT YOU GUYS WROTE ON THESE BLOGS IS NOT FREE SPEECH. ITS VICIOUS RIDICULE, SLANDER, DEFAMATION,

Yea, maybe yes, maybe no but certainly vicious ridicule, slander and defamation define the Guardian in my opinion.

Further it’s protected speech as the United States Supreme Court has already stated in the Sullivan v New York Times case.

This piece of crap is a public figure so he can’t win. He knows it, his lawyers know it and so this must be a blackmail attempt. (By the way this is my opinion.)

Also since Salim Strip Club Sam Zherka says he is fine with opinions I want to add that I think he is a sex pervert since he makes money from the sex business. My opinion of course.

Also it’s my opinion that anyone who spends money on a company that would advertise in his rag are hurting themselves and our society.

Best wishes…...

A CLOSE AMIGO OF SAM ZHERKA

Someone called Smiles previously said it is about free speech. Yes, but that right doesn’t belong only to Zherka.

Mr. Bogdanos appears to be holding the key to Mr. Zherka’s future. Mr. Zherka might not find that to be pleasant with Mr. Bogdanos serving all those grand jury subpoenas.

Earlier, he quotes Zherka’s complaint as stating
the Manhattan assistant district attorney has issued “dozens of grand jury subpoenas” in his
investigation of Zherka.

According to the internet, Matthew Bogdanos
was given the nickname “pit bull” by the NY papers.
We can figure out why.

Right now, he appears to be Senior Investigative
Counsel in DA Robert Morgenthau’s office.

Nope, he’s not playing.

Is the Manhattan Assistant DA you’re referring to from
Zherka’s complaint named Matthew Bogdanos? If it is,
put “Matthew Bogdanos” + Manhattan into Google and read
the Wikipedia entry on him, at least.

This guy is a heavy hitter. He’s been with the DA’s
office since ‘88, has done a lot of big cases, and he
also is a Marine Corps Reserves Colonel who was honored
for his service in Iraq in 2003.

If this is who you (Zherka) are referring to, the
Manhattan District Attorney does not have a lightweight
or a beginner on the Zherka investigation. Just the
opposite.

That also would demonstrate the seriousness of their
investigation. And it could help explain why Zherka
seems to be bouncing off walls.

I believe it is pretty obvious who Zherka nuttily thinks David Doe aka Ethan Edwards is, and who he thinks Edmund Roe aka Mob Buster is. Zherka is bouncing off walls. That is just plain crazy. Zherka is on a wild and false fishing trip. I don’t know Mob Buster, but it is nuts to think he would be who Zherka thinks he is. Ditto for “David Doe.”

Anyone remotely familiar with Yonkers politics and policing would suspect Zherka is referring to Amicone’s spokesman David Simpson and to Police Commissioner Edmund Hartnett. And because Amicone also is named in this suit, it would seem such an opinion is probably correct. It also shows how unhinged Zherka seems to be.

As for “Janet Doe,” I can only guess who he thinks that is. My guess is he believes it is a top law enforcement official in Westchester—the DA, who is one of his favorite targets in the Guardian. I couldn’t even guess about who he crazily thinks “John Poe” and “William (or is it Wilma?) Roe” are. It doesn’t matter. It’s all crazy.

The Journal News said it has a copy of this lawsuit. So why didn’t it prominently report the encompassing investigation of Zherka being done by the Manhattan DA’s office—one that Zherka himself admits to in his complaint? Why not?

Zherka’s brother Ali is well-known to the Feds. He was indicted last year in NYC on drug and other charges, along with an allegedly crooked NYPD cop, and others. That indictment concerns alleged Albanian mob activities.

Zherka’s brother Ali also was known by law enforcement long before that, from the Scores strip club Albanian mob hits, and other things. That info is public record, and can be found on the internet.

It seems to me that the Manhattan DA’s office had any number of ways to develop its information about Sammy Zherka, information which began an investigation that Zherka himself acknowledges in his complaint.

All of which, in addition to your legal comments, renders this lawsuit worse than a dumb fishing expedition. It is paranoid. It also appears, in my protected opinion, that Zherka doesn’t want to face the possibility that confidential information and informants may have been developed by the authorities from within Zherka’s own circle. I’m not saying that HAS happened. I’m saying it MIGHT have happened.

As I said before, and for reasons you stated well, the Journal News and all media organizations and service providers have the legal and ethical responsibility to protect the anonymous nature of their blogs—unless there is a clear, present and indisputable danger to public safety. If they don’t, it’s all over. They couldn’t be trusted, and blogging would end.