Note from Jim: main article first, followed by a companion editorial.

What Lefkowitz missed in the main article is that the "rules" on money carrying as a pre-requisite will automatically create both racial and gender disparity in issuance.  Even if accidental, such disparity isn't allowed - see also "A Practical Guide To Race And Gun Control" (chapter two on equal protection) for details.

By Melanie Lefkowitz
STAFF WRITER

September 30, 2002

They had juice, but who knew how much?

Some of the most recognizable names in former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's inner circle were granted police permits to carry arms even as the number of handgun licenses issued by the city dropped nearly a quarter from the start of his administration, according to NYPD documents obtained by Newsday.

The one-time mayoral aides appear on a shrinking list of licensees. Nearly 30,000 carry permits were on the books in 1981; as of Aug. 31, the number was down to 3,389. Permits are down in every category except retired law-enforcement officers, driven by the large numbers of cops leaving the force.

Over the past two decades, would-be pistol packers have found it increasingly difficult to secure carry permits from the NYPD. Some of those seeking a license to carry a concealed weapon charge that police are clamping down unfairly. But officials say it's the city, not the standard, that is different.

"It's really the age of technology. People are using credit cards now," said Capt. Roy Richter, commanding officer of the NYPD's License Division, so fewer business people have a demonstrable need for a handgun. "Does the person who runs P.C. Richard have the substantial cash deposit that they did 10 years ago? Probably not.

"Do they use an armored-car service more so now than they did in the past for all their cash? Probably yes. But as society has changed we've kept the same requirements."

The list of licensees - requested by Newsday under the Freedom of Information Law - is peppered with notable names, such as former city commissioners, elected officials, judges and celebrities.

Onetime City Hall insiders with permits include: deputy mayor Rudy Washington; chief of staff Anthony Carbonetti; Youth and Community Development commissioner and Board of Education member Jerry Cammarata; Office of Emergency Management director Richard Sheirer and Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik - who, as a retired cop, is exempt from most of the stringent licensing requirements.

Giuliani's last fire commissioner, Thomas Von Essen, experienced the difficulty of the process firsthand when he applied for a carry permit but didn't get one, police officials said. Howard Safir, a fire and police commissioner under Giuliani, has a permit to keep a gun in his home.

At least three other former commissioners could carry guns, according to the NYPD data: Joel Miele of the Department of Environmental Protection; Diane McGrath-McKechnie of the Taxi and Limousine Commission, whose permit was canceled in August and has since retired out of state; and Sanitation head Kevin Farrell, a former NYPD chief.

It's unclear why each of the former mayoral aides or commissioners requested their permits. Though police would not discuss specific cases, they said city officials without law-enforcement duties would generally need to prove they were threatened to earn the permit.

Sunny Mindel, spokeswoman for Giuliani Partners, with whom Sheirer, Carbonetti and Von Essen are associated, did not return a call. Kerik told Newsday that he carries a gun because "every retired cop has the right ... I've always had one."

Miele did not return a call left at his business. Cammarata declined to say why he needed a permit. Washington did not respond to a call placed to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where he is a board member.

None of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's deputy mayors or top commissioners outside of law enforcement is on the NYPD list.

"I probably could say without ever fearing to be corrected that none of my deputy mayors carried guns," said former Mayor Ed Koch. "That doesn't mean the people in Giuliani's administration should be criticized, because you can't get a gun unless the police commissioner feels that you need one."

The most recent figures show that the NYPD denied 62 percent of the 220 requests it received for carry permits in the first eight months of 2002. The current total dropped 17 percent from last year, and 60 percent in the past five years.

Premise licenses, which allow people to keep guns in their homes and are easier to obtain, dropped 6 percent from last year to 18,860, compared with 20,018 in 2001. The only category increasing is guns issued to retired officers - which include members of the NYPD, Port Authority and FBI - probably because of the tide of retirements, Richter said. That number rose 5 percent over the past year to 12,208, according to police data.

Civilians must provide the Police Department with proof that they need to carry a concealed weapon - either receipts and tax returns showing they routinely transport large sums of cash; or a personal threat that has been investigated and substantiated by the NYPD. A typical application folder, Richter said, is about three inches thick.

Exceptions to these requirements are former police officers, officials with law-enforcement duties (such as Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, a longtime permit holder) and Civil, Criminal and State Supreme Court judges (including Justice Leslie Crocker Snyder of Manhattan, who received death threats after presiding over drug cases).

But even those applicants need to provide their fingerprints and maintain a clean record.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Donna Mills, for example, charged with driving her Rolls-Royce while intoxicated in the Bronx in July, had her carry permit suspended in August, police said.

Those licensed to carry guns in other states and even other jurisdictions within this state still need local approval to bring weapons into the five boroughs. According to the License Division, more than 800 people have this approval, including State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno and comedian Buddy Hackett.

Gun-rights advocates say the tightening of license requirements is most hurtful to the people who most need to protect themselves - legitimate business owners dealing with large sums of cash.

"There seems to be an agenda that somehow the government of the city of New York believes that licensing the business owners to carry concealed weapons is a mistake," said attorney John Chambers, who has represented gun owners for nearly two decades.

Chambers said the head of a small bank with five branches who has sometimes carried as much as $125,000 in cash was among those who recently got applications back marked, "You have failed to distinguish yourself from countless others who do business in the city of New York without the benefit of carrying a concealed weapon."

"Bobby De Niro went down there, got fingerprinted, and the next day picked up his license," Chambers said. "Celebrity status makes it much easier."

Richter disputed this. Movie stars - like De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Steven Seagal - and millionaires - like Donald Trump and Winthrop Rockefeller - have to meet the same requirements as anyone else, he said.

"We've had a number of celebrities apply who don't get it," he said.

Officials at the License Division pointed out a decrease not only in the number of permits, but in the number of applications. Those requesting carry permits were down 15 percent from last year, and premise requests were down 21 percent, according to the statistics. With crime still declining throughout the city, they suggested, perhaps people don't feel as strong a need to protect themselves.

"It's shown in the polls, beside the rate of crime decline there is a feeling of overall greater security," said Eli Silverman, a criminologist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "In periods of high-profile crimes, a rapist or a lot of home invasions, regardless of the area, you see a greater acquisition of guns. It may or may not prove to be safer."

Federal officials generally estimate that there are about 2 million illegal guns in New York City, but caution it is impossible to know for sure. Silverman said that while the reduction of legal guns may be linked to the decline in shooting crime since the 1980s and 1990s, he doubts it was a major factor.

"The bad guys who want guns can get them and do get them," he said.

Handgun Permits

The Numbers For 2002
Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, compared to same period last year

TOTAL HANDGUN LICENSES
Applications: Down 5% 2,651
Issued: Down 16% 2,117

RESIDENCE
Applications: Down 21% 784
Issued: Down 40% 566

CARRY FOR BUSINESS
Unrestricted Applications: Down 15% 220
Issued: Down 62% 68

LIMITED CARRY
Restricted by hour and day
Applications: Up 56% 28
Issued: Up 100% 16

CARRY GUARD
Armed security guard
Applications: Down 12% 454
Issued: Down 9% 398

SPECIAL ENDORSEMENT
Validation of concealed-carry license form elsewhere
Applications: Down 7% 52
Issued: Down 48% 23

RETIRED OFFICERS
Applications: Up 15% 1,113
Issued: Up 17% 1,046

High-Caliber Names
They Could Be Packing

Among the 38,299 handgun licenses in the city, here are some prominent names:

FORMER GIULIANI AIDES
Joel Miele - Environmental Protection Commissioner
Richard Sheirer - Emergency Management Director
Anthony Carbonetti - Chief of Staff
Jerry Cammarata - Youth/Community Development Commissioner
Bernard Kerik - Police Commissioner
Kevin Farrell - Sanitation Commissioner

MTA OFFICIALS
Lawrence Reuter - NYC Transit President
Joseph Hofmann - NYC Transit Senior Vice President
Thomas Savage - MetroCard operations chief
Michael Ascher - Bridges and Tunnels President
David Mack - Vice Chairman
Rudy Washington, former deputy mayor - Board Member
James Simpson - Board Member

ENTERTAINMENT FIGURES
Tommy Mottola
Record executuve
Steven Seagal
Buddy Hackett
Robert De Niro
Harvey Keitel
Chazz Palminteri
Howard Stern
Don Imus

OTHERS
Richard A. Brown - Queens DA
Leslie Crocker Snyder - State Supreme Court
Fernando Mateo - Livery-driver advocate
Winthrop Rockefeller - Millionaire
Donald Trump - Developer
William F. Buckley - Columnist
Joseph L. Bruno - State Senate Majority Leader

Columnist Ray Sanchez

September 30, 2002

It was a low point in the life of the subway, with riders driven away in record numbers by unsafe and unsavory conditions underground.

Back in 1981, Richard Ravitch was chairman of the deficit-ridden Metropolitan Transportation Authority. A token cost 75 cents and the MTA wanted more money from riders, who literally risked their lives taking trains during off-peak hours.

On a Monday night that April, the phone rang at Ravitch's home.

"You'd better not raise the fare," an anonymous caller warned.

Two days later, a man with a sawed-off rifle wounded a transit cop who discovered the gunman hiding near Ravitch's office at MTA headquarters on Madison Avenue. The chairman was home when he heard of the attack. The shooter escaped.

Transit advocate Gene Russianoff got a call from a detective inquiring about a heated meeting attended by Ravitch as well as hundreds of angry riders.

"He wanted to know if I remembered anyone who had expressed hostility to the MTA chairman," Russianoff said. "I said I couldn't remember anyone who hadn't."

Now, with transit ridership climbing and crime declining, NYPD records show that seven ranking MTA officials are licensed to own guns.

Call it the Metropolitan Trigger Authority.

The list includes New York City Transit president Lawrence Reuter and senior vice president Joseph Hofmann of the Department of Subways. There's also Thomas Savage, head of MetroCard operations, and Michael Ascher, president of MTA bridges and tunnels.

"In none of these positions," said MTA spokesman Tom Kelly, "is carrying a gun a prerequisite."

The MTA board members with carry permits are vice chairman David Mack, a developer and philanthropist; former Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington; and James Simpson, a moving-company executive from Staten Island.

As for the pistol-packing board members, Kelly said, "It's got nothing to do with the MTA or their position here."

Reuter, Hofmann and Ascher have received credible death threats, said Kelly, who would not elaborate except to say the threats started several years ago. The agency provided protection before the officials were given carry permits. "This is their personal security," he said. "They all have families. I'm not getting into it."

Hofmann's pistol was holstered to his waist, under a sportscoat, at a recent ribbon-cutting attended by Gov. George Pataki to mark return of service to South Ferry.

"This is not guys just running around because they're cowboys," Kelly said. "This is not buff business."

A police source familiar with the threats against Reuter and Hofmann said, "Some of it is emotionally disturbed people. Some of it is former employees. Some of it is union-related. Some of it is job-related. And some of it is the average psychopath who blames public officials for everything."

Savage, who was once in charge of the MTA police and security at NYC Transit, has been out of town and unavailable to comment.

Ascher, Hofmann and Reuter did not return calls seeking comment. Mack and Washington did not respond to messages left at the MTA.

Washington received death threats for his role in former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's campaign against the mob at the Fulton Fish Market, sources say.

Simpson, who was appointed to the MTA board in 1995, said he's had a carry permit for more than two decades. Simpson, 47, is president of Victory Worldwide Transportation, a moving and storage firm.

"I never take my gun to the MTA," he said. "I never take it on the subway. I only take it when I need it for business."

Moving human beings or office furniture, transportation is a rough business. Last year, Simpson said, shots were fired through a window at his Staten Island office. "Everybody wants to take it out on the president," he said.

"I've had guns put to my head with my wife with me," said Simpson, who chairs the MTA's safety and security committee. "I've been shot at. I had a guy threaten to kill me more than once. I've had guys with knives come after me. I've witnessed people being gunned down."

Simpson said he has never had to shoot anybody. He pulled his gun only once. "A guy was going to hold me up with two violent German shepherds," he said. "I pulled my gun from my ankle holster and said, 'First, I'm going to kill your dogs and then I'll kill you.' He ran out the door."

Said Russianoff, "I often had these slight bouts of vertigo in the subways wondering how many people on the trains might have a weapon. I stopped thinking about it because it was too scary.

"Who knew I would be thinking that thought at MTA board meetings?"

 Email: ray.sanchez@newsday.com