WOW! BERNARD KERIK FROM NYPD POLICE COMISSIONER TO INMATE #210-717!

Bernard Kerik - former NYPD police commissioner, one-time Homeland Security Secretary nominee, national Sept. 11 hero - has a new label. Inmate No. 210-717.
Kerik got his assigned number at the Westchester County jail after becoming the first NYPD commissioner to wind up behind bars when a judge revoked his bail Tuesday for trying to taint the jury pool in his upcoming corruption trial.

Officials at the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla refused to say if Kerik was put in isolation.

Kerik declined requests for media interviews while his lawyers vowed a prompt appeal to try to get him out.

A furious Judge Stephen Robinson threw Kerik in the clink after prosecutors said the former top cop and the head of his legal defense fund engaged in a subversive campaign to sway potential jurors.

The judge blasted Kerik for ignoring his prior warnings to bar Anthony Modafferi, the head of the fund, from posting anti-prosecution rants on the Internet.

"Mr. Kerik has a toxic combination of self-minded focus and arrogance that leads him to believe that the ends justify the means, that rules that apply to all don't apply to him in the same way, that rulings of the court are an inconvenience," Robinson said.

The one-time "hero" of 9/11 was led away by U.S. marshals after handing his red tie, religious medals and a ring to his lawyers, standard procedure for all prisoners.

Kerik had been out on a $500,000 bond and set to go on trial next week on charges of accepting apartment renovations from a mob-linked contractor seeking a city license.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Perry Carbone revealed that Kerik's supporters were posting on the Web distorted information designed to "try to taint the jury pool."

In June, the judge learned that a nonpracticing lawyer affiliated with Kerik was speaking with witnesses.

Kerik acknowledged having retained the man for $1, and Robinson warned it better not happen again.

In recent weeks, prosecutors discovered that Modafferi wrote anti-prosecution screeds on a Web site linked to Kerik's defense fund site.

They said Kerik was also using Twitter to refer supporters to Modafferi's site. In one entry the judge quoted, Modafferi wrote, "In a heavy-handed attempt the government gave Kerik an ultimatum, plead or the government will do everything in its power to destroy Kerik and his family."

The judge also cited an affidavit in which Kerik admitted sending Modafferi a defense motion that included material that was not public.

Modafferi then sent an e-mail to The Washington Times about some of the material.

The Times did not publish it. In court, defense lawyer Michael Bachner called the e-mail "regrettable," but insisted Kerik was not intentionally trying to "circumvent an order of the court."

Being assigned a cell in Valhalla is just the latest humiliation in the slow-motion downfall of Kerik, who was appointed by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and labeled a national hero after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

His nomination for homeland security secretary imploded after a series of revelations tainted that image, including the expensive renovation of his Bronx apartment by a troubled contractor who, prosecutors say, wanted Kerik's help in getting a city license.