New Yorkers know that Rudy Giuliani is a corrupt, self-seeking crook

Rudy's "business" in Ukraine seems to have included trading access to a corrupt U.S. president for profit. In addition to trying to extort campaign dirt, he was involved an effort to steer Ukrainian gas contracts to Republican bigwigs. And now federal prosecutors and counter-intelligence investigators are looking into security aspects of Rudy Giuliani's dealings in Ukraine. Amazing that Attorney General Bill Barr who seems to be a Trump sycophant hasn't been able to shut this probe down -- but so far, it continues.

But corruption is nothing new for this preening TV lawyer who was once a federal prosecutor and then New York's mayor. In fact, there are plenty of New York City firefighters and other first responders who believe that many of the deaths in the collapse of the Trade Towers on 9/11 should be laid to Giuliani's account -- because as mayor he was more interested in money and looking good than emergency preparedness.

This 2015 documentary from Brave New Films gave these critics a chance to tell their stories. It's free; it's only 18 minutes; it's a painful story of greed and betrayal of people trying to do their jobs. The bitterness left by Rudy's wake is deep.
Some snippets:

First responders
John Sferazo -- iron worker
"We're the kind of people that rush into an emergency while others flee. ... I've lost a great deal of my breathing capacity. ..."

Marianne Pizzitola -- FDNY - EMS Officers Union, Pension & Benefits coordinator
"The only times we saw him down there [Ground Zero] was for press conferences ... it really wasn't to help us. ... We haven't seen Mayor Giuliani help anybody."

Command center
Jim Riches - Deputy Chief, FDNY
"Why was Giuliani running around that day? Because he didn't have a command post, because he put it in the wrong place [the 23rd floor of Number Seven World Trade Center.] ... He abandoned ship; he was a coward that day."

[The city rented the location from the lease holder, Larry Silverstein, for 1.4 million dollars a year for 20 years. Silverstein returned Rudy's favor by holding a $100,000 fundraiser for the mayor on his yacht.]

Andy Ansbro -- New York City firefighter, former police officer
"It cost the lives of first responders that day because the command center was located at the World Trade Center. There were 60 firefighters killed in the Marriott; there was 121 killed in the North Tower ... if that command center had been operational, the death toll would probably have been cut in half. ... Before, during, and after there's not much you can find that Rudy did right except a really good television appearance."

[FWIW, the 9/11 Commission Report agreed with the assessment of these first responders.]

Motorola Radios carried by the firefighters
Jim Riches - Deputy Chief, FDNY
"Giuliani became mayor in 1994. He knew there was something wrong with those radios; they did not work for communication in the World Trade Center the 1993 bombing."

[In 2001, the Giuliani administration finally ordered new radios in 2001. They bought units that were never field tested from Motorola with a no-bid contract. Somehow the price jumped from 1.4 million to 14 million over a weekend.]

"... When new radios were put in service, they lasted one week."

[The new radios had to be recalled. Firefighters were reissued the old, malfunctioning radios. Cops evacuated the Towers because they could communicate. Firefighters, who never heard the order, remained in the Towers and died.]

For Rudy's misdeeds then, those harmed saw no accountability. Sound familiar?