Curtis Sliwa Hires Armed Security, Citing ‘Serious' Threats

By Katie Honan, The City

October 7, 2025

Curtis Sliwa says he will now travel with armed security after receiving “deranged” threats that have left the Republican mayoral nominee and Guardian Angels founder rattled during what his campaign described as an increasingly toxic run for office.

“For the first time in seven decades, the man who patrolled our subways, streets and parks now needs private security for himself and, more painfully, for his wife,” Sliwa spokesperson Dan Kurzyna said in a statement.

Sliwa is familiar to New Yorkers as the red beret-wearing leader of the Guardian Angels, the safety patrol he founded in 1979 to combat subway crime.

But after multiple emails threatening him and his wife, Nancy, his team decided he needed security.

“The stakes are high, but Curtis will not be deterred,” Kurznya said. “He will run his campaign and let New Yorkers decide.”

The major party candidates are entitled to a security detail from the NYPD, though Sliwa declined as the Republican nominee in 2021, saying the department was already stretched thin.

This time, he has hired a private company run by a retired NYPD official, Black Tie Protection Services Inc, for the 24-hour watch. The Guardian Angels are not involved with his security, he said on Monday.

Sliwa said that he made the decision after he and his wife Nancy received what he described as threats that were “considered to be serious,” and that it was the first time in his life he’d needed any such protection. He said he was planning to meet with the Police Department Tuesday to discuss the threats, but a spokesperson for the NYPD told THE CITY it has not received any reports of threats, nor does it have any meeting with the campaign scheduled this week.

The high-stakes mayoral race comes during a politically polarizing time across the country, marked by violence and death. Both Mamdani and Sliwa are also out in public frequently campaigning, which makes any threats feel more heightened.

In June, Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman was assassinated alongside her husband at her Minnesota home, hours after state senator John Hoffmann and his wife were shot and seriously injured by the same suspect. In September, Charlie Kirk, a right-wing political activist and media personality, was shot and killed during a speaking tour in Utah.

The ascension of Zohran Mamdani, who would be the first Muslim mayor if elected, has contributed to a spike in Islamaphobic messages and hate.

Last month, a Texas man pleaded not guilty to a 22-count indictment with charges that included making terroristic threats and aggravated harassment after he allegedly left threatening voice mails and emails to the Queens assemblymember’s district office in Astoria in June, before the primary election.

Jeremy Fistel allegedly called Mamdani a “terrorist” and said, “I’d love to see an IDF bullet go through your skull.”

Mamdani hired a private security company during the primary, spending more than $34,000 for the services of Advanced Security & Investigations, according to campaign filings.

The security company is owned and operated by Steve Cannon, who previously handled executive protection and advance work for former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is also running for mayor as an independent

Mamdani now travels with an NYPD detail as the Democratic nominee. That move was mocked by a PAC supporting Cuomo because of his previous criticisms of the Police Department, even as Mamdani has continued to face threats.

At a press conference Monday in Jackson Heights, a man wearing a mask and riding a bike repeatedly called him a “terrorist” before another man chased him off.

A spokesperson for the Mamdani campaign, Dora Pekec, said, “We take the safety of Zohran and our team very seriously and regularly review security measures as part of standard protocol.”

A Cuomo spokesperson declined to discuss the campaign’s security measures and the former governor himself told THE CITY he does not need any.

“I’m a New York City guy, I don’t need NYPD providing security,” he said.

This press release was produced by The City. The views expressed here are the author’s own.