he would not campaign nor run. He sought to be removed from the ballot, but a New York court held that there was no legal means to effect his removal. Biaggi did not campaign, and lost the Democratic primary to then-State Assemblyman Eliot Engel. At the time, the 19th District was one of the more conservative districts in New York City. He was nominated by the Republican Party. In the general election, Engel won with 56% of the vote to Biaggi's 44%. To date, this is the last time that a candidate running on the Republican line has crossed the 40% mark in the district. In Robert Friedman's biography of Meir Kahane, the leader of the terrorist organization the Jewish Defense League, Kahane states that Biaggi marched with both himself and New York City mafia boss Joseph Colombo in 1971. Friedman also states that Biaggi received a "medal of honor" from Kahane at a Kach dinner that took place at the Lincoln Square Synagogue in February of 1988. Biaggi was released in 1991 when he was 73 years old, after 26 months in prison, by the sentencing judge on the grounds of ill health (heart problems, arthritis, nerve damage in his legs, and broken bones from four falls in prison). He would have been eligible for parole six months later. In 1992, at 74 years of age, Biaggi attempted a political comeback. He sought his old seat in Congress, challenging his successor, Engel, in the Democratic primary. The last Congressman to be re-elected after serving time for a felony was Matthew Lyon of Vermont, who ran from jail on 1798 and won. Biaggi was endorsed by the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and eight other police and firefighter unions. He said that many of his former constituents asked him to run, and that Engel had a poor record on constituent service. Despite the enthusiasm of some of his supporters, Biaggi raised little money. Engel, who raised more money and cited Biaggi's criminal convictions, won easily. After the election, the Bronx News reported that some of Biaggi's former constituents wanted to vote for him but could not. In the redistricting after the 1990 census, parts of Biaggi's old district that had been his strongholds, Throggs Neck and Morris Park, had been shifted to other districts. As the presidency of Bill Clinton closed, Biaggi requested a pardon for his federal convictions. When asked for