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Kerik Off to Prison Today After Blogging About <em>Rocky</em>
By
John Del Signore
Published May 17, 2010
Modified May 17, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 17, 2010
Modified May 17, 2010
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Today's the day the guy whom George Bush wanted to run Homeland Security goes to prison for four years. After pleading guilty to lying on his application for the position, lying to the feds, tax fraud, and accepting $250,000 in renovations to his Bronx apartment provided by a company accused of having mob ties, a judge sentenced disgraced NYPD Commissioner Bernard Kerik to a term well beyond the recommended federal guidelines, telling him "The fact that Mr. Kerik would use [9/11] for personal gain and aggrandizement is a dark place in the soul for me." But yesterday, on the eve of his imprisonment, Kerik hit back like Clubber Lang.
"Words cannot express my disappointment in the prosecutors, the judge and his sentence that followed," Kerik wrote on his blog. "I have repeatedly expressed remorse for what I may have done, however, unlike many, I can’t remain silent in the face of what I believe has been a gross injustice, which I pray will be remedied by an appellate court."
The rest of Kerik's blog post is more pitiful than defiant, and he reveals that he's turned to God and Sylvester Stallone for solace: "I sat with [my daughters] and watched the movie Rocky Balboa, for the sole purpose of having them watch one scene where Rocky speaks to his son and says, 'The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are….it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward!'"
Today Kerik's moving forward to the minimum-security wing of the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland.
Tagged
9/11
Bernard Kerik
corruption
nypd
prison
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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