Trying to volunteer for this organization is quite difficult and impossible. Is this entire 501(3)c nonprofit a front corporation that is really a private piggy bank for Curtis Sliwa and friends? Curtis Sliwa confessed to being a fraud in 1992 according to a NYT's article which detailed his exploitation of the fears of NYC residents and staging fake crime events for PR purposes. During the 80's and 90's the Guardian Angels served as a private security group for Restaurant Row in Manhattan which patrolled a few blocks keeping prostitutes and drunks and drug addicts away from store front businesses. They did not do any real safety patrols for the public good in reality. So it was paid to patrol a small area while claiming to help secure NYC- which was a scam. Sliwa is continuing to conduct this scam on a grander scale by using this non-profit to enrich himself and family members.
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/27/opinion/curtis-sliwa-s-confession.html
A nice slick website makes this organization look like it is active in the community and carrying out their mission statement. But go to the site and click on "safety patrol chapters" and you get listings of cities but they have no links to any active groups- they are dead links.
I called the telephone number and left my name three times and after a week someone (who refused to give his name) told me that if I wanted to join that they would pass my name to someone who dealt with the patrols. I asked about times of patrols and he said that it depends upon members time availability and it varies by day. No one got back to me ever again. I called many times only to recieve voice messages asking me to leave contact information. No calls were returned. So I went to the "International headquarters of the Guardian Angles" in Brooklyn at 982 East 89th Street in Canarsie. It is a old residential house and is owned by Sliwa's parents Chester and Frances Sliwa. I found no activity of any kind there and no one answered the doorbell. See ACRIS website block 08025 lot 0001.
Incorporated in 1980, is this organization a fraud? Well the mission statement says that it exists to "Promote community betterment by means of subway, street and park patrols, and elderly citizen escort service at a program expense of $616,669 according to their latest 2012 990. It also claims to "Promote Internet security and safety" for a program expense cost of $12,190. It lists six employees but only reveals one employee on the payroll earning $47,000- David Nides. Curtis Sliwa is listed as working 60 hours a week for no pay at all. I wonder how he is able to be a radio/media personality plus a father to two sons and a husband and make no money from his 501(3)c at all.
But this organization claims to have 3,000 volunteers? Really? Are these thousands of volunteers part of the same on going hoax that Sliwa perpetrated in the 80's and 90's? Look at the total expenses of $886,000. With a total revenue of $705,492 it has a deficit of -$180,830! The interesting part of the 990 is the expenses part IX and part VIII with $207,566 occupancy expenses, $40,667 travel expenses, and $44,060 insurance expenses, chapter transport $45,000, uniforms $37,069, funds sent to chapters $32,000, telephone- $14,046, and OTHER EXPENSES of $96,958! But the headquarters is owned by Chester and Francis Sliwa and I don't see the connection between this private residence of the his mom and pop having anything to do with the Guardian Angels. Insurance $44,060? So Sliwa is paying $17,300 a month for an office rent at this residence? Is that legal? UNIFORM EXPENSE is listed at $37,069! Do 3,000 t-shirts and caps even cost $37,069? and in one year alone.
Currently Sliwa's second wife is suing Curtis for fraud in Manhattan Supreme court. Based on the allegations in his past and over the years I find his organization quite suspicious. Could the Alliance of Guardian Angels simply be another of Sliwa's poorly concocted frauds funded by Fat cats and friends? How is Curtis able to dedicate 60 hours a week to this non-profit with zero pay? Is the public gaining anything in real terms by the IRS granting it a tax free status in order to move funds around?
Non-profits are supposed to serve the interests of the public at large and NOT the organizers, family, founders or employees of the non-profit. A sweet deal for Curtis Sliwa and his parents. And the plot thickens since according to ACRIS his parents got three huge mortgages since they bought the house in 1976. Two of them recently from the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development one for $795,000 and one for $239,250 as well as $900,000. Not a bad deal when you are getting over $200,000 a year for being the supposed international headquarters for a non-profit organization that has how many members? 5, 10, or 3,000- all who do not get paid? The house is assessed at only $470,000.
So this nonprofit is paying $17,297 a month for having an office? That is high rent even for Canarsie Brooklyn. Curtis Sliwa lives in Forest Hills Queens with Melinda Katz, is a father and caretaker of his two young boys, has radio and TV jobs in Manhattan, has a headquarters in Carnarsie Brooklyn and donates 60 hours for this organization for free? That "chapter transport" at $45,000 and travel expense of $46,667 must come in handy. I have lived in NYC for over 40 years and I have never seen any guardian angels since 1984.
According to their 990 Section C 18 it says that the public may inspect the books on request yet I called the telephone listed on the 990 and left messages to arrange a time to inspect the financials and I got no return call. Just curious about the listing of "other revenue" at $321,513. Where did they get that $321,513 ? Did they earn it or was it donated? They also list a fundraiser at $57,000 yet they had no fundraising expenses? Their main mission of the safety patrol program is listed as having expenses of $616,669. I wanted to see the patrol logs and schedules.
Review from Guidestar