Bernard Kerik, who led NYPD on 9/11 earlier than jail and pardon, has died at 69 : NPR

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Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP NEW YORK — Bernard Kerik, who served as New York Metropolis's police commissioner on 9/11 and later pleaded responsible to tax fraud earlier than being pardoned, has died. He was 69.

The New York Police Division confirmed his loss of life Thursday on social media. FBI Director Kash Patel mentioned his loss of life got here "after a personal battle with sickness."

Former New York Metropolis Mayor Rudy Giuliani mirrored on his lengthy historical past along with his former police commissioner on his present Thursday.

"We have been collectively for the reason that starting. He is like my brother," Giuliani mentioned by means of tears. "I used to be a greater man for having identified Bernie. I actually was a braver and stronger man."

Kerik, an Military veteran, was hailed as a hero after the 9/11 assault and finally nominated to go the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety, earlier than a dramatic fall from grace that ended with him behind bars.

He pleaded responsible to federal tax fraud and false assertion costs in 2010. The costs stemmed partially from over $250,000 in condominium renovations he obtained from a building agency that authorities say counted on Kerik to persuade New York officers it had no organized crime hyperlinks.

Throughout Kerik's sentencing, the choose famous that he dedicated a few of the crimes whereas serving as "the chief legislation enforcement officer for the most important and grandest metropolis this nation has."

He served three years in jail earlier than his launch in 2013.

President Donald Trump pardoned Kerik throughout a 2020 clemency blitz. Kerik was among the many visitors feting Trump after his first look in federal court docket in Florida in a case associated to his dealing with of categorised paperwork, attending the previous president's remarks at his Bedminster, New Jersey, membership.

Kerik was appointed by Giuliani to function police commissioner in 2000 and was within the place throughout the Sept. 11, 2001, assault.

In Kerik's 2015 e-book, "From Jailer to Jailed," he described turning into "America's Prime Cop" after the assault.

"However I would give something for that day to not have occurred. I want it hadn't. But it surely did," he wrote. "And I occurred to be there on the time. I used to be there, and I did the very best I might do beneath the circumstances. It is all any of us did."

He was tapped by President George W. Bush to assist arrange Iraq's police drive in 2003, then nominated to go the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety the next 12 months.

However Kerik caught the administration off guard when he abruptly withdrew his nomination, saying he had uncovered data that led him to query the immigration standing of an individual he employed as a housekeeper and nanny.

In 2005, Kerik based the Kerik Group, a disaster and danger administration consulting agency.

He later labored for the previous mayor of New York Metropolis surrounding the efforts to overturn Trump's 2020 loss.

Patel described Kerik in a publish on social media as "a warrior, a patriot, and one of the crucial brave public servants this nation has ever identified."

"He was adorned greater than 100 occasions for bravery, valor, and repair, having rescued victims from burning buildings, survived assassination makes an attempt, and introduced a few of the world's most harmful criminals to justice," he mentioned. "His legacy is not only within the medals or the titles, however within the lives he saved, the town he helped rebuild, and the nation he served with honor."

Kerik grew up in Paterson, New Jersey, the place he dropped out of the the trouble-filled Eastside Excessive College later depicted within the 1989 movie "Lean on Me."

He joined the Military, the place he turned a navy policeman stationed in South Korea. He went on to work personal safety in Saudi Arabia earlier than returning stateside to oversee a jail in New Jersey.

He joined the NYPD within the late Eighties. He was tapped within the Nineties to run New York's long-troubled jail system, together with the town's infamous Riker's Island advanced.