Bernard B. Kerik

Bernard B. Kerik served as New York City police commissioner when Rudolph W. Giuliani was the city's mayor. His reputation rose with that of his mentor after the Sept. 11th attacks, then plunged when his nomination to a Cabinet position led to allegations of impropriety and eventually his indictment on federal charges.
The arc of Mr. Kerik’s career — from high-school dropout to a leading candidate to head the department of Homeland Security Department to the target of a criminal investigation — is a dramatic one.
Mr. Kerik was born in Paterson, N.J., in 1956. In his 2001 memoir, ''The Lost Son: A Life in Pursuit of Justice,'' he wrote that he only learned while researching the book that his mother was a prostitute and that she had died from a severe blow to the head, and was possibly killed by her pimp.