HOW RESCUING A NEAR-DEATH DOG TIED TO A PARKING METER TRANSFORMED THIS ONETIME MOB ENFORCER INTO AN ANIMAL ACTIVIST

BY ALICE FORSTEAD

It was May of 2006, and Brooklyn mobster and all-around tough guy James “Head” Guiliani was on his way to grab a cup of coffee, when he spotted something on the sidewalk.

“At first I thought it was a rug, but then I could see it was a dog, a sick dog. A thick rope like the ones used to tie boats to docks was wrapped around his neck. The other end was tied to the parking meter. When I bent down for a closer look, I could see the dog’s hair was tangled, flat, and knotted. His eyes looked dead, and his jaw seemed crooked… As a junkie and alcoholic, I’d left myself in similar situations more than a few times. I’d used cocaine to stay up for days on end, finally drinking myself into a stupor. Sometimes I woke up on the sidewalk outside a strange bar, my face beat to a pulp. The difference, of course, was I put myself into those situations. Nobody had abandoned me the way somebody had obviously left this dog to die.”

So began an experience that was to transform Guiliani’s life, and ultimately to direct it to championing the cause of animals.

Raised in a religious family in a blue-collar section of Queens, Giuliani became involved in gang activity early, and by his mid-20s had become an enforcer for the Gambino family during the monarchy of John Gotti. For a number of years, crime, drugs, and alcohol dominated his life, until he met his wife Lena Perrelli, and found Bruno tied to that parking meter. As he describes it in his memoir Dogfella (Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2015, from which the quote above comes), she taught him how to love, and Bruno taught him pathways of applying it he could never have previously imagined.

The newfound passion for saving pets brought him to found and join in rescue missions with Keno’s Animal Rescue—with highlights including saving pit bulls from a dog fighting ring, taking in homeless ducks from Staten Island, and driving through six-foot snow drifts to save 200 cats stranded in a blizzard.

“I didn’t want to hurt people anymore. I didn’t want to live a selfish lifestyle anymore,” Giuliani explained to Huffington Post Live. “When I got Bruno, I finally gave something to something else, and it felt so good. All the cocaine highs and the robberies and the sex…you can ball that all together and it doesn’t equal the feeling of taking something from the street and giving it love. It can’t even come close.”

Keno’s Animal Rescue is a no-kill, non-profit organization that provides animal rescue and adoption services as well as housing and care for special needs animals that could not otherwise be placed in a “forever” home. It is currently raising funds to open an animal sanctuary. Giuliani and his wife also operate an associated business in Diamond Collar Doggie Salon in Dyker Heights, and a new reality show of the same name detailing the salon and rescue operation debuted on Oprah’s OWN network on January 17.

Dr. Salvatore Pernice, DVM, o f B r o o k l y n Veterinary y Group, met Giuliani in 2006, just as the latter was opening his grooming salon.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with groups and souls who have felt their life’s mission was to look out for God’s creatures,” Pernice said. “But James has taken a vow to do this 24/7 and 365 days a year. His rescue, currently with 30 cats and seven dogs, is self-funded, and he also works at his grooming shop and cares for another six dogs and 25 cats at his home with his beloved Lena. Most will never have a forever home because of the abuses they’ve sustained. He will never change his rough style and political incorrectness, but having someone offer truth and sincere passion for a cause as great as this is needed. In the past, he was passionate for meaningless endings, but he now looks for the ultimate storybook endings.”

Keno’s Animal Rescue
facebook.com/kenosanimalrescue
Diamond Collar Doggie Salon
7101 13th Avenue / 718.232.7387 / thediamondcollar.com
Brooklyn Veterinary Group
Locations in New Utrecht and Dyker Heights
718.331.7775, 718.680.8387 / brooklynvetgroup.com