1. Curtis Sliwa is an American activist, radio talk show host, and founder and chief executive officer of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit crime prevention organization.
32 Facts About Curtis Sliwa
1. 2.
Curtis Sliwa is currently a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2025 New York City mayoral election.
3.
Curtis Sliwa was born on March 26,1954, into a Catholic family of Polish and Italian descent, in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
4.
Curtis Sliwa attended Brooklyn Prep, a Jesuit high school from which he was later expelled.
5.
In May 1977, Curtis Sliwa created the "Magnificent 13", a civilian group dedicated to combating violence and crime on the New York City Subway.
6.
Curtis Sliwa's red beret is a component of the Guardian Angels' uniform.
7.
In 1992, Curtis Sliwa admitted that he and the Guardian Angels faked heroic subway rescues for publicity.
8.
Curtis Sliwa admitted to having claimed falsely that three off-duty transit police officers had kidnapped him.
9.
On June 19,1992, Curtis Sliwa was kidnapped and shot by two gunmen after entering a stolen taxi in Manhattan.
10.
The kidnapping was foiled when Curtis Sliwa leaped from the front window of the moving cab and escaped.
11.
Prosecutors claimed that Gotti was angered by remarks Curtis Sliwa had made about Gotti's father on his radio program.
12.
Curtis Sliwa has been a radio broadcaster for three decades, most of that time on WABC-AM, where he began his career in 1990.
13.
Some, including Curtis 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.
14.
Curtis Sliwa 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.
15.
In December 2019, Curtis Sliwa declared in an interview that he hated then-President of the United States Donald Trump, calling him a "screwball and a crackpot".
16.
In February 2021, weeks after Trump left office, Curtis Sliwa switched from the Reform Party to the Republican Party.
17.
Curtis Sliwa changed parties and lost control over the Reform Party after losing the required votes to keep the Reform Party on the ballot.
18.
Curtis Sliwa announced on March 8,2020, that he would be running for mayor of New York City in 2021 as a Republican, seeking to become the 110th mayor of New York City.
19.
Mateo voiced support for Trump's claim that he won the 2020 presidential election; by contrast, Curtis Sliwa did not support Trump in either 2016 or 2020 and does not support Trump's election denial.
20.
The unofficial results showed Curtis Sliwa winning by 72 to 28 percent.
21.
Curtis 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.
22.
Curtis Sliwa opposed the killing of unwanted animals and supported making all animal shelters no-kill shelters, pointing to his own home life with 16 cats.
23.
Curtis Sliwa campaigned on beginning a trial program, if elected, to test out the feasibility of universal basic income in New York City.
24.
Curtis 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.
25.
Curtis Sliwa conceded that same night, calling for unity in order to save New York City.
26.
On February 13,2025, Curtis Sliwa announced his candidacy to run for the Mayor of New York City in the 2025 race, again as a Republican.
27.
Curtis Sliwa wed his second wife, Lisa Evers, in 1981.
28.
Curtis Sliwa is a martial arts expert who briefly trained with the World Wrestling Federation in 1986.
29.
In 2000, Curtis Sliwa married his third wife, Mary, a former WABC employee who served as the Guardian Angels' national director.
30.
Curtis Sliwa was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010, which he announced publicly on April20,2011.
31.
Curtis 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.
32.
On July5,2018, Curtis Sliwa wed his longtime girlfriend, animal activist and attorney Nancy Regula, at the Howe Caverns.