Mafia ‘hatched plot to kill Giuliani’

FORMER New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who won worldwide respect for his handling of the aftermath of September 11, was once the target of a Mafia assassination plot, it was reported yesterday.

A team of hitmen was assembled to kill Mr Giuliani nearly two decades ago, when he was a top federal prosecutor bringing mobsters to justice.

The final straw for Mafia bosses was when, as Manhattan US Attorney, Mr Giuliani prosecuted top don Carmine “The Snake” Persico, who was jailed for life in 1986.

According to the New York Daily News, Persico ordered Joel Cacace to find a hit squad to “whack” Mr Giuliani and George Aronwald, who worked in the Justice Department’s Organised Crime Strike Force.

But the team bungled its orders and killed Mr Aronwald’s 78-year-old father by mistake.

Cacace later pleaded guilty to murder at Brooklyn Federal Court.

According to the newspaper, Mr Giuliani was told he had once been the target of an assassination plot but “brushed off the Colombo contract as an occupational hazard”.

A spokeswoman for Mr Giuliani said the former Republican mayor was travelling and could not be reached for comment.

Mr Giuliani provoked a mixed response from New Yorkers during his tenure as the city’s mayor.

Some criticised him for the “zero tolerance” policing policy, which many regarded as heavy-handed.

But his work to unite and calm New Yorkers in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre won him worldwide admiration.