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	From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Chuck Todd By Domenico Montanaro MSNBC [New York] June 22, 2007 http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/06/22/233612.aspx •••Update••• Activists are calling for Giuliani to take Alan Placa off the payroll. Giuliani says he'll do no such thing and believes his long-time friend and priest has been "unjustly accused" of molesting three boys and covering up the molestations of about 60 others. "There's ample evidence showing that Placa consistently protected predators, shrewdly deceived victims, and covered up horrific clergy sex crimes," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, in a statement, the AP reported. Giuliani Partners spokeswoman Sunny Mindel told the AP Giuliani is standing by his childhood friend. "The former mayor believes that Alan Placa has been unjustly accused," she said. ••••••• Has Giuliani's personal loyalty gotten him another skeleton for the press to go chasing after? Salon details Giuliani keeping a priest -- who is a life-long friend -- on the payroll of his consulting firm despite being accused of covering up more than 60 incidents of molestation and being involved in some cases. Monsignor Alan Placa was suspended by his diocese and that "a 2003 Suffolk County, N.Y., grand jury report that accuses Placa of sexually abusing children, as well as helping cover up the sexual abuse of children by other priests," Salon writes. Priest F, who Salon identifies as Placa, was "cautious, but relentless in his pursuit of victims," according to the grand jury report. (The report then goes into detail about Priest F's relationship with at least three young men.) "Everyone in the school knew to stay away from Priest F." Giuliani and Placa's ties run deep. Placa, 62, and Giuliani were childhood friends; they went to the same Brooklyn high school; Placa was a chief aide to Giuliani during his first term as mayor; they were in an opera club together; they would double-date; they went to the same college, and were in the same fraternity; Placa was Giuliani's best man at his first marriage in 1968; helped Giuliani get an annulment in 1982; Placa officiated at Giuliani's second wedding in 1984; While suspended by the diocese over the sexual abuse allegations and no longer permitted to perform priestly duties, Placa received special permission to officiate at the 2002 funeral of the former mayor's mother and presided over the funeral of Giuliani's father; Placa baptized both of Giuliani's children. A 1985 NY Times article notes Placa would stay over Giuliani's apartment as often as once a week, where they would "talk poetry, theology and politics deep into the night."
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