In an interview with New York’s RNN TV, Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota, who served as a deputy mayor in the administration of Rudy Giuliani, argued his former boss was responsible for saving the lives of many African-American men. Lhota made this claim when host Dominic Carter asked him about rocky race relations during the Giuliani administration, which saw African-American men become victims to multiple high-profile incidents of police brutality including the shooting of Amadou Diallo and the brutal beating of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima.
“The actions that happened during the Giuliani administration; the Amadou Diallo thing and the relations that you said with the African-American community, you know, there were no riots during that period of time,” Lhota said to Carter. “You got to understand that, during Rudy Giuliani’s administration–more African-American men are alive today because he reduced murder by almost 60 percent. He needs to–he deserves to get the credit for that.”
Though his critics argue other factors contributed to the decrease in crime during his time in City Hall, New York City’s murder rate did drop over 60 percent during Giuliani’s administration. Giuliani is supporting Lhota’s candidacy and has made personal campaign appearances for him.
Lhota’s RNN TV interview airs tonight at 6 PM. Watch a clip of him discussing Giuliani and the African-American community below.
