Michael Ragusa, a Rikers Island investigator who dropped out of a City Council race earlier this year after his campaign faced accusations of ballot petition fraud, recently began moonlighting as a security guard for embattled former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the Daily News has learned.
Ragusa, who mounted an unsuccessful GOP bid for the 47th Council District in southern Brooklyn before pulling the plug on it in April, confirmed Friday he started the Giuliani security guard gig about a year ago, months before the ex-mayor was indicted in Georgia this summer on criminal charges stemming from his role in ex-President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
The security guard job mostly involves protecting the mayor “when he goes out,” Ragusa told The News. He said he has also helped Giuliani produce his “America’s Mayor Live” YouTube show.
Ragusa simultaneously works for Health + Hospitals, the city’s public hospital system, as an associate director of investigations and safety, tasked with preventing and probing violence within clinics serving inmates on Rikers, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In some instances, city employees by law need to secure waivers from the city Conflicts of Interest Board in order to pick up side jobs in the private sector. Ragusa told The News he never got such a waiver, though, because it wasn’t applicable for his situation.
“I have nothing to hide because what I am doing is legal,” Ragusa said. “Mayor Giuliani is not a convicted felon or criminal. He cleaned this city up … He’s deeply loved by real New Yorkers because they know how he changed this city for the better.”
Ragusa did not want to say how much he earns from his Giuliani employment.
City payroll records do not divulge how much Ragusa earns in his H + H post, as the hospital system is a city government-controlled public benefit corporation, not a municipal agency.
A spokeswoman for the Health + Hospitals system declined to comment directly on Ragusa, citing internal protocols, but said: “Moonlighting positions require a COIB waiver if the second employer does business with or receives funding from the City of New York, any city agency, or NYC Health + Hospitals.”
Giuliani is not believed to have any business before the city. A rep for Giuliani did not return a request for comment Friday.
After hiring him, Giuliani endorsed Ragusa, a hard-right Republican and Trump supporter, in his campaign for the 47th District, which spans Bay Ridge, Coney Island and other southern Brooklyn neighborhoods.
But Ragusa cut his campaign short this spring after Republican State Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny accused his team of forging his signature on a ballot petition filed with the city Board of Elections to get him on this summer’s GOP primary ballot for the 47th.
Ragusa denied the ballot petition fraud accusation and claimed at the time that he had been “set up” by an unnamed rival in the 47th District primary.
Incumbent Councilman Ari Kagan, who switched party registration from Democrat to Republican, ended up winning the 47th GOP primary. Kagan faces Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan in November’s general election.
As part of his work for Giuliani, Ragusa has recently socialized with Trump, social media posts show.
The H + H employee-turned-Giuliani body man posted a photo on Instagram of him, Giuliani and Trump at the ex-president’s New Jersey golf club on Thursday. “Trump lookin slim,” Ragusa captioned the post.
They were at the club for an event hosted by Trump to raise funds for Giuliani’s legal expenses as he fights a criminal case in Georgia. Trump has been indicted in the same case, the fourth criminal indictment he’s under.
Ragusa delivered a speech at Thursday’s fundraiser hailing Giuliani as a mentor and vowing to support him and Trump as they battle their legal troubles.
“I’ve known [Giuliani] for almost two years now, on and off, but now I work for him,” Ragusa can be heard saying in an Instagram video of the remarks. “He’s one of the greatest men I know. If he had 50 cents, he’d give you 25, even if he had no money in the bank, and he’s like a father figure to me, and he needs to beat this because we need Trump back in the White House. We need the mayor to help Donald Trump, and we got to take this country back.”
Chris Sommerfeldt
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