"Sleight of hand," "litany of needless fights," "ugly racial polarization" - just some of the phrases in this week's New York magazine's cover story about Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor turned presidential candidate. Chris Smith's article serves as both refresher to New Yorkers about Giuliani's reign as mayor with some fun tidbits (did you realize that then-Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik commissioned 30 miniature busts of himself?) as well as a cautionary tale to non-New Yorkers.......

Rudy Giuliani told the American public, via a sit-down with Katie Couric, that the story pointing out expenses for trips to the Hamptons - to see then-mistress Judi Nathan - were billed across a number of obscure city agencies was a "typical political hit job" and a "debate day dirty trick." He even called it a "false story," but Politco, the website that broke the story, pointed out neither Giuilani or his aides "have questioned......

Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was indicted in federal court yesterday and the U.S. Attorney prosecuting him pulled no punches describing his legal prey. "In meticulous detail, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia assembled count after count painting Kerik as a money-grubbing liar who tried to cover his tracks." Kerik allegedly had a mob-controlled contracting firm renovate his apartment for free, while telling city investigators that that same firm had no criminal ties.......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck at White Plains Rd. and 219th St. in the Bronx, an animal incident on Rochelle Pl. on Staten Island, and a hate crime at Columbia University in Manhattan. A tour of Jam Master Jay's studio, where the rap impressario was gunned down five years ago. A brief update on the unforgettable case where a man beat the bejeezus out of a grunting and yelping spin class......

That thud you heard this afternoon? The jaws of Jeanine Pirro's campaign staffers. It turns out that Republican candidate for NY State Attorney General Pirro is under state and federal criminal investigation. WNBC's Jonathan Dienst had the scoop: State and federal agencies were looking into whether Pirro eavesdropped on her husband, who she suspected might be cheating on her. (Well, he did father a love child a couple years into their marriage.) So she......

The Daily News continued its coverage of the Page Six gossip scandal with the emails between reporter Jared Paul Stern and one of Ron Burkle's staffers - and these emails show Stern asking where the money is! Stern, under investigation by the feds for trying to extort billionaire Burkle in exchange for more neutral coverage, claims that he was asking about an investment Burkle was supposed to make in his Skull & Bones clothing company,......

Kudos to New York magazine for turning former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, currently laughingstock after being a September 11 "hero," into a crying, blubbering mess in their exclusive interview as he recounts the unraveling of his nomination as the head of Homeland Security. Gothamist was struck by how weepy Kerik was, like he was watching Brian's Song...Oprah producers are probably all over him to appear again, this big tough cop reduced to tear. The NY......

On Saturday morning, news broke the former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik had resigned his nomination to head the country's Homeland Security nomination, using the illegal status of a housekeeper as his excuse. But it turns out, there were other things about his nomination that were questionable, leading to the use of "untenable" in a NY Times headline about the story. Like some questionable financial dealings, as well as scuttlebutt about Kerik's affairs, including one with......

We'll finally see a New Yorker in the Cabinet, as President Bush has nominated from NYC Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik as the new Secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik, who was police commissioner during September 11, 2001, is noted as being a "sharp departure from the usual button-downed mold of Bush appointees" (NY Times), as he's a high school dropout, was a NJ jail warden, ran the NYC Correction Department, admitted that he fathered a child......

The 9/11 Commission held its first day of hearings yesterday. The most notable portion of the day, besides the opening statement of the events on September 11 (with straightforward explanations, like "At 9:01 a.m., the NYPD patrol mobilization point at West and Liberty was moved to West and Vesey, in order to handle the greater number of patrol officers who would be responding to the Level 4 mobilization.") which replayed footage of the World Trade......

The "9/11 Comission," really the National Commission on Terror Attacks Upon the United States, is meeting today at the New School, to speak with various NYC government officials and servants, from past and present, to understand how the city reacted on September 11, 2001. At the center will be how first responders, from NYPD, FDNY, and emergency services, reacted, as the September 11's events will be summarized. The Times reports that the Pentagon's response plan......