Rudy Giuliani has claimed that the mafia in Italy put an $800,000 contract on his head while he was mayor of New York City.
Giuliani, who was praised for his leadership during the 9/11 terrorist attacksy, revealed to Oprah Winfrey on her OWN cable-channel show "Oprah: Where Are They Now" that as a former prosecutor he was a target for criminals who he'd put behind bars, especially mobsters.
"I don't think anybody prosecuted more mafia members than I did," said Giuliani, who was U.S. Attorney before becoming the mayor from 1994-2001.
"Certainly, no one sent them to prison for the lengthy periods of time that I did."
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Giuliani, a Republican, said that a contract to kill him was put out by the Sicilian mafia the first year he was mayor.
"They offered $800,000 to kill me. Then, toward the end of the time I was the mayor, a particular mafia guy who we convicted and put in jail for 100 years put out a contract to kill me for $400,000."
Giuliani, who turns 70 in May, added with a laugh, "I kind of felt bad that I went down in value. I started at 800, I went down to 400."
But, he said, he never was that concerned about threats from members of organized-crime gangs.
"Now, when we start talking about Islamic extremist terrorism — that worries me more, because they are suicidal.
"Part of why I didn't worry about the mafia was because there was a certain rationality to their kind of violence. This other kind of violence is completely irrational violence."
Giuliani, who runs the security consulting service Giuliani Partners, that helps companies and governments deal with terrorism and crime, pointed out that New York has bounced back since 9/11 and is now doing "fabulous" with a record 50 million tourists last year.
"Even though we were attacked, even though there were threats of attacks, people know how to process it correctly. They realize it's a small, small risk in comparison to the wonderful things you can do here."
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