Curtis Anthony Sliwa ( SLEE-wə; born March 26, 1954) is an American politician, activist and radio talk show host at 710 WOR Radio in NYC. He is the founder and chief executive officer of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit crime-prevention organization headquartered in New York City. Sliwa was twice the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Mayor of New York, being defeated in 2021 by Democratic nominee Eric Adams and in 2025 by Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani.
In 1977, Sliwa founded the safety group "The Magnificent 13" to patrol the Bronx and the New York City Subway overnight. As crime rates spiked across the five boroughs, the group enrolled hundreds of recruits and gained prominence throughout the city. In 1979, it was re-established as the Guardian Angels. Since then, his leadership has expanded domestically and internationally, covering fourteen countries and over 130 cities. The Angels specialize in crime prevention, self-defense training, youth mentoring, and homeless outreach.
Sliwa has hosted talk shows on local New York radio for over thirty years, on WABC, WNYC, WNYM, and others. He began his radio career in 1990 on WABC-AM and stayed with the station until the 2025 mayoral election, when he quit during a heated live interview. Shows like Curtis Sliwa Live and Curtis & Kuby in the Morning (with Ron Kuby) have centered predominantly around current affairs from a conservative perspective, often with shock jock humor.
In addition to his history with the Guardian Angels, Sliwa has engaged in protests and civil disobedience on issues regarding crime and immigration. He has been arrested at least 77 times as of 2023. Sliwa refers to himself as a populist and an outsider, focusing solely on right-wing New York politics. As an influential activist in the city for decades, he has been supported and endorsed by many New York politicians, including Republicans George Pataki, Nicole Malliotakis, and Elise Stefanik, among others. As a candidate, Sliwa likens himself to former mayor Rudy Giuliani, and cites former state governor Pataki as his mentor. His campaigns have highlighted law and order, public safety and policing, poverty and homelessness, and widespread tax cuts on income and property. He is also an ardent animal welfare supporter.
Curtis Anthony Sliwa was born on March 26, 1954, into a Catholic family of Polish and Italian descent, in Canarsie, Brooklyn. His mother, Francesca, identified as Italian-American. His father, Chester Sliwa, was a merchant seaman from Chicago who served in the United States Merchant Marine for 46 years. Both of Chester's parents, Anton and Wanda, were immigrant dairy farmers from Limanowa, Poland, with the original surname spelled Śliwa. Sliwa has two sisters, Aleta and Maria.
Sliwa attended St. Matthew's in Crown Heights, and P.S. 114 and Bildersee Junior High School, both in Canarsie. He later attended Brooklyn Preparatory School, a Jesuit high school, where he was class president. Sliwa was expelled from Brooklyn Prep for student activism, after leading protests against the school's dress code. He subsequently attended and graduated from Canarsie High School. In his youth, he worked as a delivery boy for the Daily News, where he was awarded the title of "Newsboy of the Year" and a trip to the White House after he saved several people from a burning building while on a paper route.
Prior to founding the Guardian Angels, he was the night manager of a McDonald's restaurant on Fordham Road in the Bronx.
In May 1977, Sliwa created the "Magnificent 13", a civilian group dedicated to combating violence and crime on the New York City Subway. At the time, the city was experiencing a crime wave. The Magnificent 13 grew and was renamed the Guardian Angels in 1979. The group's actions drew strong reactions, both positive and negative.
Most of the Guardian Angels members were either Black or Hispanic. Unarmed, the group required members to train in karate and learn the legal requirements for citizens' arrest before being deployed. Sliwa's red beret is a component of the Guardian Angels' uniform.
In 1981, then-Mayor Ed Koch, a critic of Sliwa and the organization, launched an investigation into the Guardian Angels, which, according to The Washington Post, proved "so positive that the Guardian Angels will soon be awarded some sort of official status." Then-Lieutenant Governor Mario Cuomo was a rare early advocate of the organization, being quoted saying "[t]hey are a better expression of morality than our city deserves".
In the early 1980s, he expanded operations to Buffalo and was often critical of local police policies and practices. One incident involved Guardian Angels member Frank Melvin, who was fatally shot in New Jersey by a Newark police officer in December 1981 after an officer claimed they mistook his unzipping of his jacket – to display his Guardian Angels emblem – as a threat. Sliwa claimed that the killing of Melvin – an African American – was racially motivated, and had been done by a white officer who was being protected by the police department, rather than by the Hispanic officer identified as the shooter. An Essex County grand jury cleared both officers of charges related to Melvin's death.
In late 1992, speaking on the Crown Heights riot and related issues to Hasidic Jews, Sliwa said of the difference between Hasids and Black New Yorkers:"There is no fear that the Jewish community is going to come to the streets and loot and rob and rape." When in my lifetime have I ever seen a Hasid grab anyone's pocketbook?"In late November 1992, Sliwa admitted that he and the Guardian Angels faked six early incidents for publicity. He admitted to having faked an injury while fighting rapists, the rescue of a mugging victim, and a false allegation that three off-duty transit police officers had kidnapped him. Sliwa explained at the time his stunts were intended to underscore the dangers of the subways. When the Guardian Angels first began patrolling the streets and subways, New York City was experiencing some of its highest crime rates. "I feel the incidents we staged led to some improvements," he said.
In April 1992, Sliwa was assaulted outside his Lower East Side home. He was struck by three men, two dozen times, with baseball bats. Sliwa suffered a broken wrist and head injuries from the assault. Prosecutors later argued that John A. Gotti was behind the attack, presenting evidence in court.
On June 19, 1992, Sliwa was kidnapped and shot by two gunmen after entering a stolen taxi in Manhattan. The taxi picked up Sliwa near his home in the East Village, and a gunman hiding in the front passenger seat jumped up and fired several shots, hitting him in the groin and legs. The kidnapping failed when Sliwa leaped from the front window of the moving cab and escaped. Sliwa underwent surgery for internal injuries and leg wounds.
Federal prosecutors eventually charged John A. Gotti, the son of Gambino crime family leader John Gotti, with attempted murder and racketeering. Prosecutors claimed that Gotti was angered by remarks Sliwa had made about Gotti's father on his radio program. After three attempts to try him, on September 20, 2005, three separate juries could not agree to convict Gotti on any of the charges brought against him, and the charges were dropped. Jurors later told reporters they believed he had a role in Sliwa's shooting. Prosecutors declined to re-try Gotti and dismissed the charges against him. Sliwa said he would seek damages in civil court.
Michael Yannotti, a Gotti associate, was also charged with shooting Sliwa in the incident but was acquitted.
In June 2020, during a riot in the SoHo neighborhood following the murder of George Floyd, Sliwa and several Guardian Angels engaged in a clash with looters while trying to prevent them from robbing a Foot Locker store. Roughly 300 looters were present, variously armed with baseball bats, claw hammers, lock cutters, and machetes. Some of the looters began detonating fireworks and throwing blunt objects at the Angels, including glass bottles and bricks. Sliwa was treated at Bellevue Hospital for a linear fracture of the jaw, while fellow Guardian Angel Aram Sabet suffered a broken eye socket and broken nose. Sabet received 48 stitches.