Daily News from New York, New York • 1477

i- i UWi'Ji'J Vl V.VV.V.UVV.W'-' I LJ 4V P1 wbim LJUU Vi7viiJ Lb Li QD By ROB SPEYER When the FBI first report-' ed the information. Emergency Service Unit vehicles surrounded Gracie Mansion for a day, sources told The News. "They blanketed the area with ESU guys," said one offi Daily News Staff Writer Police have substantially tightened security at Gracie Mansion, with extra cops, extra intelligence specialists and three-times-a-day bomb sweeps after receiving a death threat against Mayor Giuliani that they are taking "very seriously." ber of intelligence cops have been added to the mansion detail and more cops are protecting the mayor as he travels. The frequent bomb sweeps replace a system that swept the mansion only for special events. The death threat, directed at the mayor at his home, was reported to the FBI and passed on to the New York Police Department at the end of October, law enforcement sources told the Daily News.

"There is a tremendous upgrading of security," said one source. "The threat is still real." Death threats against high-profile public officials are common, and Giuliani received some when he was' U.S. attorney. But sources said this one was considered substantial. "Thisthreat we're taking very seriously," said one source.

The exact nature of the threat could not be identified, but one high-ranking official said the FBI received the information "from a very good source." --mmiiii mum i g-J- a Fra 1 omit; wic cruu vi ivuti sources said, there's been a "tremendous upgrading" of the NYPD force protecting the mayor's residence. Two officers who used to walk the perimeter have been drawn closer, an extra y.AMyii officer is permanently assigned to the rear of the residence, an unspecified num gets the once-over twice by cial. "But it was done on a very closed-mouth basis." Since then, the NYPD has significantly beefed up Giuliani's 24-hour security detail and the police presence at Gracie Mansion. The 14-room house, set on 2.4 acres, is protected by a 6-foot wrought iron fence and a slightly taller wooden fence. City Hall already is protected by a detail of city cops and by metal detectors.

NYPD intelligence police are unhappy with Gracie Mansion's 15-year-old electronic security system, which frequently breaks down. Sources said a new, $300,000 security system is under consideration. Two weeks ago, the head of the mansion detail was so concerned that, to test for possible breaches, he donned a white jacket and jumped the compound's iron fence, sources said. Deputy Inspector Dan Byrne's officers thought he was an intruder and pulled their guns before they tackled him, the sources said. Byrne did not return several calls for comment.

These security measures have been in effect since the end of October, sources said: At least two patrol officers are stationed permanently by the 83th St. and East End Ave. entrance to the mansion. Before the threat, these cops walked the perimeter of the mansion. BAt least one more officer has been assigned to patrol the back of the mansion.

These cops are in addition to the two or more officers assigned permanently to the main gate guard booth. BThe bomb squad sweeps the mansion three times a day, sources said. Giuliani's around-the-clock security detail has been in creased, sources said. Exact numbers could not be obtained. Up to a dozen cops from the NYPD Intelligence Unit which is coordinating the response to the threat are stationed in the mansion.

Sources could not say how many were there before. Spokesmen from Giuliani's office and the Police Department refused to comment on any threat or security arrangements. As Manhattan U.S. attorney in the '80s, Giuliani received death threats from Mafia bosses and drug lords. A former federal drug and mob informant pleaded in 1989 to plotting to kill if police manning the gate.

AUTO leaving Gracie Mansion grounds susan WAns OTififtoiry Death threats are an occupational hazard for public figures in New York. Normally fearless Sen. Alfonse D'A- mato admitted that cops scared him when they arrived at his home in May 1993 with word that he and Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) had been targeted for execution by Middle East terrorists. The thugs were upset that D'Amato and Hikind took a hard line against the World Trade Center bombing defendants. Cardinal O'Connor was more blase when city cops warned him in June 1992 that he would be shot if he participated Thomas Constantine also took the threat seriously.

"They have a track record of assassinating anybody who stands up to them," he said. In January 1990, bigotry was behind a death threat when David Dinkins was sworn in as the city's first black mayor. After receiving the threat, dozens of undercover cops were assigned to the ceremony. But Dinkins also got death threats from blacks after he denounced the Rev. Louis Farrakhan in 1985.

Corky Sietnaszko in an anti-abortion march and rally. Surrounded by extra-heavy security, O'Connor marched anyway, without incident Gov. Cuomo and former Mayor Ed Koch were rattled when the Medellin drug cartel trained their sights on them in August 1988, after police made a huge cocaine seizure in Federal judges in Brooklyn also were targeted. "This is something I have to think of," Cuomo said that November. "We have doubled the security since I've been put on the list" Then-State Police Superintendent.