GIULIANI HINTS DARKLY AT MAFIA CONNECTIONS

For the first time since parting company with "business associate" Bernard Kerik, presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani slipped up in public and alluded to Mafia ties.

In a New Hampshire town hall meeting, Giuliani repeatedly warned that his real allegiance is to "family" – perhaps one of the Five Families in control of organized crime in New York City.

After an audience member questioned the fidelity of his "family" (his daughter said she supported Barack Obama), Giulini warned, "The best thing I can say is kind of, 'Leave my family alone just like I'll leave your family alone'."

Paolo Pezzino, a University of Pisa History professor and author of a book on the Mafia, writes that mob members "exercise sovereignty functions – normally belonging to public authorities." Former mayor and public prosecutor Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani also shares with "Cosa Nostra" an Italian-American descent, Roman Catholicism, and a fondness for nicknames.

Giuliani threatened the stunned audience: 'I love my family very, very much and will do anything for them.'

By "my family,” it was uncertain whether he meant Bonanno, Genovese, Lucchese, Colombo, or Gambino, but one thing was for certain: Giuliani appeared to be visiting New Hampshire solely in a bid to extend his control, territory and influence.