Stunts, cats and crime: Sliwa’s colorful run for NYC mayor
Wearing his signature red beret, Curtis Sliwa is on television, stroking one of his 16 rescue cats in a campaign ad. He’s in the subway with his Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol. He’s breaking up restaurant brawls in Little Italy and blaming the mafia and the mayor when he’s banned from judging the meatball-eating contest.
This is how the Republican nominee is mounting an improbable quest to become New York City’s mayor — always in his red hat.
Sliwa has spent decades as a stunt-loving New York character, with a knack for keeping news cameras around and a history of bombastic statements. He once survived an attempted mob hit incited by his radio commentary.