Curtis Sliwa
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Curtis Anthony Sliwa. Born March 26, 1954. An American activist, radio talk show host, and the driving force behind the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit dedicated to crime prevention.
He's the Republican nominee for the 2025 New York City mayoral election, having run unopposed in his party's primary. You might remember him from the 2021 election, where he was the nominee, ultimately losing to Eric Adams.
Born into a Catholic family of Polish and Italian heritage in Canarsie, Brooklyn, Curtis attended several local schools. Though he didn't graduate high school, his early life was marked by a heroic act: as a delivery boy for the Daily News, he saved several people from a burning building, earning him the title "Newsboy of the Year" and a trip to the White House. Before his activist career, he managed a McDonald's on Fordham Road in the Bronx.
In May of 1977, Curtis Sliwa created the "Magnificent 13," a civilian group aimed at tackling subway violence. Amidst a city gripped by a crime wave, this group evolved into the Guardian Angels in 1979. Known for their signature red berets, members trained in karate and citizen's arrest, often drawing both praise and criticism. Even then-Mayor Ed Koch launched an investigation into the organization, which, surprisingly, yielded such positive results that official status was considered. Lieutenant Governor Mario Cuomo was an early, rare supporter, noting their "better expression of morality than our city deserves."
However, Sliwa has also admitted to orchestrating staged subway rescues for publicity and falsely claiming kidnapping by transit officers, stating these stunts were meant to highlight subway dangers during a period of high crime. In the early 80s, he expanded the Guardian Angels' reach to Buffalo, often clashing with local police. Tragically, one Guardian Angel, Frank Melvin, was fatally shot by a Newark police officer in 1981. Sliwa claimed racial motivation, though an investigation cleared the officers involved.
In 1992, Sliwa himself was the victim of an attempted assassination, kidnapped and shot in Manhattan. The incident led to charges against John A. Gotti, son of crime boss John Gotti, though Gotti was ultimately acquitted.
Sliwa's media career spans three decades, primarily on WABC-AM, where he began in 1990. He later moved to WNYC, and then back to WABC, hosting various talk shows. For years, he co-hosted "Curtis & Kuby" with lawyer Ron Kuby, a partnership that spanned two decades and various time slots. His national syndication began in 2008, and after a contract dispute, he returned to WABC in 2014. His shows have gone on hiatus during his mayoral campaigns.
Politically, Sliwa has been active in trying to revitalize the Republican party in New York City. He endorsed John Catsimatidis for mayor in 2013 and, with Frank Morano, took over the Reform Party of New York State. Interestingly, in 2019, he declared a dislike for then-President Donald Trump, calling him a "screwball and a crackpot," but switched his registration back to the Republican Party in 2021.
His 2021 mayoral campaign saw him win the Republican primary against Fernando Mateo. His platform focused on opposing the "defund the police" movement, advocating for property tax reform, supporting specialized high schools and vocational training, and championing fiscal restraint. He also expressed a strong commitment to animal welfare, aiming to make all animal shelters no-kill. Despite his platform, he lost the general election to Eric Adams in a landslide. After his loss, he humorously suggested feral cats could solve the city's rodent problem, leaving cats outside Adams' home after the mayor was fined for violations.
In 2023, Sliwa was arrested at an anti-illegal immigration rally outside Gracie Mansion, though charges were later declined. In early 2024, he and other Guardian Angels were involved in apprehending a man, wrongly accused of being an immigrant, during a Fox News segment.
Now, in February 2025, Curtis Sliwa has announced his candidacy for the 2025 New York City mayoral election, again as a Republican. He's apologized for past remarks about the Hasidic community and expressed concerns about due process for immigrants. Polls show him in third place, though he's rejected calls to exit the race, even from prominent figures like Donald Trump.
Personally, Curtis Sliwa has been married four times. His second wife, Lisa Evers, was National Director of the Guardian Angels. His third wife, Mary Galda, also served as national director and is the mother of their son, Anthony. After their divorce, Mary married former Governor David Paterson. Sliwa was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010. He also has two children with Melinda Katz, the Queens County District Attorney. He married his current wife, animal activist Nancy Regula, in 2018. Sliwa is also a notable animal lover, with a passion for rescue cats, and has competed in eating contests. He believes his stance on animal welfare could resonate with a significant portion of New York voters. He's continued to criticize Mayor Adams' approach to the city's rat problem, suggesting feral cats as a more effective solution.
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Curtis Anthony Sliwa ( SLEE-wə; born March 26, 1954) is an American activist, radio talk show host, and founder and chief executive officer of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit crime prevention organization.
Sliwa is the Republican nominee for the 2025 New York City mayoral election after running unopposed in the party's primary. He was previously the nominee for the 2021 New York City mayoral election, losing to Democratic nominee Eric Adams.
== Early life and education ==
Curtis Anthony Sliwa was born on March 26, 1954, into a Catholic family of Polish and Italian descent, in Canarsie, Brooklyn. He has two sisters. He attended St. Matthew's in Crown Heights, and P.S. 114 and Bildersee Junior High School, both in Canarsie. He later attended Brooklyn Prep, a Jesuit high school from which he was expelled, and Canarsie High School. Sliwa did not graduate from high school. In his youth, he worked as a delivery boy for the Daily News, where he was awarded the title of "Newsboy of the Year" and a trip to the White House after he saved several people from a burning building while on a paper route.
Prior to founding the Guardian Angels, he was the night manager of a McDonald's restaurant on Fordham Road in the Bronx.
== Guardian Angels ==
In May 1977, Sliwa created the "Magnificent 13", a civilian group dedicated to combating violence and crime on the New York City Subway. At the time, the city was experiencing a crime wave. The Magnificent 13 grew and was renamed the Guardian Angels in 1979. The group's actions drew strong reactions, both positive and negative.
Most of the Guardian Angels members were either Black or Hispanic. Unarmed, the group required members to train in karate and learn the legal requirements for citizens' arrest for all members before they were to be deployed. Sliwa's red beret is a component of the Guardian Angels' uniform.
In 1981, then-Mayor Ed Koch, a critic of Sliwa and the organization, launched an investigation into the Guardian Angels, which, according to The Washington Post, proved "so positive that the Guardian Angels will soon be awarded some sort of official status." Then-Lieutenant Governor Mario Cuomo was a rare early advocate of the organization, being quoted saying "[t]hey are a better expression of morality than our city deserves".
In late 1992, speaking on the Crown Heights riot and related issues to Hasidic Jews, Sliwa said of the difference between Hasids and Black New Yorkers:“There is no fear that the Jewish community is going to come to the streets and loot and rob and rape,” Sliwa said, “When in my lifetime have I ever seen a Hasid grab anyone’s pocketbook?”In late November 1992, Sliwa admitted that he and the Guardian Angels faked heroic subway rescues for publicity. He also admitted to having claimed falsely that three off-duty transit police officers had kidnapped him. Sliwa explained at the time his stunts were intended to underscore the dangers of the subways. When the Guardian Angels first began patrolling the streets and subways, New York City was experiencing some of its highest crime rates. "I feel the incidents we staged led to some improvements," he said.
In the early 1980s, he expanded operations to Buffalo and was often critical of local police policies and practices. One incident involved Guardian Angels member Frank Melvin, who was fatally shot by a Newark police officer in December 1981 after an officer claimed they mistook his unzipping of his jacket – to display his Guardian Angels emblem – as a threat. Sliwa claimed that the killing of Melvin – an African American – was racially motivated, and had been done by a White officer who was being protected by the police department, rather than by the Hispanic officer identified as the shooter. An Essex County grand jury cleared both officers of charges related to Melvin's death.
== Attempted assassination ==
On June 19, 1992, Sliwa was kidnapped and shot by two gunmen after entering a stolen taxi in Manhattan. The taxi picked up Sliwa near his home in the East Village, and a gunman hiding in the front passenger seat jumped up and fired several shots, hitting him in the groin and legs. The kidnapping was foiled when Sliwa leaped from the front window of the moving cab and escaped. Sliwa underwent surgery for internal injuries and leg wounds.
Federal prosecutors eventually charged John A. Gotti, the son of Gambino crime family leader John Gotti, with attempted murder and a raft of other charges. Prosecutors claimed that Gotti was angered by remarks Sliwa had made about Gotti's father on his radio program. After three attempts to try him, on September 20, 2005, three separate juries could not agree to convict Gotti on any of the charges brought against him, and the charges were dropped. Jurors later told reporters they believed he had a role in Sliwa's shooting. Prosecutors declined to re-try Gotti and dismissed the charges against him. Sliwa said he would seek damages in civil court.
Michael Yannotti, a Gotti associate, was also charged with shooting Sliwa in the incident but was acquitted.
== Media career ==
=== Radio ===
Sliwa has been a radio broadcaster for three decades, most of that time on WABC-AM, where he began his career in 1990. In 1994, the then city-owned and operated WNYC hired Sliwa, whom WABC had released. Some, including Sliwa, have suggested that he was given access to the station by newly elected Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whom he had supported in the 1993 mayoral race.
As a political conservative, Sliwa has hosted various radio talk shows on WABC since 1996. His longtime broadcast partner was lawyer Ron Kuby, with whom he hosted the "Curtis & Kuby" weekday radio show at noon on WABC-AM in New York City. In 2000, Sliwa and Kuby became the co-hosts of the long-running Curtis and Kuby in the Morning, which lasted eight years before Citadel Broadcasting replaced them with Don Imus.
The Curtis Sliwa LIVE program began national syndication on December 1, 2008. WABC retained Sliwa until November 2009, when his show was cancelled after a contract dispute. He hosted both the morning and evening "drive time" shows on WNYM-AM 970, but as of January 2, 2014, Sliwa returned to WABC, replacing Rush Limbaugh, who moved to WOR-AM. Starting in June 2017, Sliwa's co-host was attorney and television commentator, Eboni Williams. His most recent co-host was Juliet Huddy, who joined the show in February 2019.
After officially declaring his candidacy in March 2021, Sliwa's radio program went on hiatus. His programs once again went on hiatus upon the announcement of his second candidacy in February 2025.
== Politics ==
In 2007, Sliwa announced an intention to reinvigorate New York City's Republican party, and possibly run for office.
In 2013, Sliwa endorsed Republican candidate John Catsimatidis for mayor.
In September 2016, Sliwa and Frank Morano launched a successful hostile takeover of the Reform Party of New York State. The Party lost its ballot access in the November 2018 elections.
In December 2019, Sliwa declared in an interview that he hated then-President of the United States Donald Trump, calling him a "screwball and a crackpot". In February 2021, weeks after Trump left office, Sliwa switched his registration back to the Republican Party.
=== 2021 mayoral campaign ===
Sliwa announced on March 8, 2020, that he would run for mayor of New York City in 2021 as a Republican.
The primary race turned Sliwa and Fernando Mateo, once friends, into bitter rivals. The Manhattan, Queens, and Bronx Republican parties endorsed Mateo, while the Staten Island and Brooklyn Republican parties endorsed Sliwa. Sliwa criticized Mateo for donating to the 2017 re-election campaign of Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, and also accused Mateo of breaking the law; Mateo replied that Sliwa's accusations were bogus and shameful.
During the campaign, Mateo and Sliwa clashed over loyalty to former president Donald Trump. Mateo voiced support for Trump's claim that he won the 2020 presidential election; by contrast, Sliwa did not support Trump in either 2016 or 2020 and does not support Trump's election denial. The unofficial results showed Sliwa winning by 72 to 28 percent.
Sliwa ran on a platform opposing the defund the police movement, supporting a property tax overhaul so that working-class residents would not pay higher property taxes than wealthy citizens, keeping in place the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test while increasing opportunities for vocational training in charter schools, and focusing on fiscal restraint. He also opposed the killing of unwanted animals and supported making all animal shelters no-kill shelters, pointing to his own home life with 16 cats.
Sliwa campaigned on beginning a trial program to test out the feasibility of universal basic income in New York City.
Sliwa lost to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams in a landslide defeat in the general election on November 2, 2021, with Adams winning just over two-thirds of the votes. Sliwa conceded that same night, calling for unity in order to save New York City.
After his loss, he brought two cats outside the Brooklyn home of Adams in January 2023, after the latter had been fined for rodent violations, and suggested that feral cats could address the rodent problem in the city.
=== Anti-illegal immigration rallies and apprehension ===
In late August 2023, Sliwa, along with four other organizers, were arrested after an anti-illegal immigration rally outside Gracie Mansion. Police issued a desk appearance ticket on misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and obstruction, but the Manhattan district attorney's office declined to prosecute. Sliwa had been arrested at several previous rallies.
In February 2024, Sliwa and other Guardian Angels apprehended and assaulted a New York man, wrongly claiming that he was an immigrant and claiming that migrants had "taken over," during a segment on Fox News.
=== 2025 mayoral campaign ===
On February 13, 2025, Sliwa announced his candidacy to run for mayor of New York City in 2025, again as a Republican. During his candidacy, he apologized for past statements regarding the city's Hasidic population and criticized ICE's detainments of immigrants coming to courthouses for appointments and deportation without due process: "everybody gets due process in the United States."
A mid-July 2025 poll of registered NYC voters found Sliwa coming in third, with 13%. The pattern has continued into early September, with Sliwa placing third, after Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani and independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, but ahead of incumbent mayor Eric Adams. As of September 24th, Sliwa rejected calls for him to exit the race in order to help defeat Mamdani, including pressure from Trump and, Sliwa said, from billionaires who have offered to pay him to drop out.
== Personal life ==
Sliwa has been married four times. He wed his second wife, Lisa Evers, in 1981. At the time, she was National Director of the Guardian Angels and co-hosted a WABC-AM radio show called Angels in the Morning. She is also a martial arts expert who briefly trained with the World Wrestling Federation in 1986.
In 2000, Sliwa married his third wife, Mary (née Galda), a former WABC employee who also served as the Guardian Angels' national director. They have one son, Anthony, born circa 2004. In 2019, Mary became Mary Paterson, after marrying former New York State governor David Paterson.
Curtis Sliwa was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010, which he announced publicly on April 20, 2011.
Sliwa was in a relationship with Melinda Katz, the Queens County District Attorney, and separated from her in 2014; they have two children together, conceived in vitro over the previous five years. In court documents, Sliwa's ex-wife, Mary, accused him of diverting money to Katz while still married to Mary, as part of a plan to build a "nest egg" with Katz prior to moving in with her.
On July 5, 2018, Sliwa wed his longtime girlfriend, animal activist and attorney Nancy Regula, at the Howe Caverns.
Sliwa has competed in multiple eating contests.
Sliwa is a noted animal lover and in September 2025 he and his wife owned six rescue cats. During his 2025 mayoral campaign, he said he believes there is an underestimated population of animal-loving voters in New York City who his mayoral candidacy would resonate with. In August 2025, he criticized Mayor Eric Adams for failing to solve the city's rat problem, despite Adams having appointed a "Rat Czar" in 2023. Sliwa suggested that feral cats let loose in the city would be a more effective way of dealing with rats than the current methods employed.
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Paterson, David (2020). Black, Blind, & in Charge: A Story of Visionary Leadership and Overcoming Adversity. New York: Skyhorse Publishing.
== External links ==
Curtis Sliwa on Facebook
Appearances on C-SPAN
Curtis Sliwa at IMDb
Sliwa introducing stickball to Cuba, 2004 on YouTube
"Chester Sliwa, father of Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, dies at 92". New York Daily News. September 11, 2012.
"Frances Sliwa, mother of Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, dies at 93". The New York Times. May 31, 2017.
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