26 March 2007

Lentorama 2007: The Non-Canonized Catholic Person of the Day

After a too-long hiatus, we return with Curtis Sliwa, who went from being a night manager at a McDonald's to the founder of the Guardian Angels, the red beret and white T-shirt wearing volunteer crime-fighting (or vigilante, depending on how you look at it) group. Formed in 1979, there are now units in cities worldwide.

Sliwa is also a talking head, as he's had a radio show in some fashion since the early 1990s. His first show allegedly got him in a little trouble with the Gotti family, as remarks about the Teflon Don may have led to an assassination attempt. John Gotti, Jr. was tried three times on attempted murder charges, with each ending in mistrial due to a deadlocked jury. Not surprisingly for the founder of the Guardian Angels, Sliwa has occasionally subbed for the likes of Sean Hannity.

Sliwa is also a fan of stickball and competitive eating. In the latter, his favored food are pickles, apparently holding the current world record by eating 4 and three-quarter pounds worth in under 10 minutes. Talk about a Renaissance man.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if you've seen papers today, but Mr. Sliwa and his red hat are headed to Boston this week to fight our crime. Maybe you can get an autograph!

Mark said...

I saw his mug on the front page of the Herald. The only way I'd want his autograph is if he'll sign a pickle.

For want of anything better to post, here's a breakdown of if I've been to the most populous 100 cities in the US, and if so for how...