After a dubious police shooting of Patrick Dorismond late in his second term as mayor, Rudy Giuliani defended releasing the victim’s sealed juvenile record by saying the dead couldn’t be libeled. It wasn’t the first time he used sleazy tactics to tamp down controversy. In the spring of 1994, a few months after he was sworn in, Giuliani faced a minor headache when his youth services commissioner, John Brandon, was revealed to have IRS tax troubles. Brandon was one of the few people of color who got top positions in his administration, and the mayor decided damage control was essential....