Man who threatened Pelosi sent hate mail to Guardian

Pub date April 7, 2010
WriterRebecca Bowe
SectionPolitics Blog

Remember when we told you about that very special piece of fan mail from the guy who didn’t like our cover story about undercover cops targeting San Francisco nightlife?

Well, he appears to be the same person who just got picked up by the FBI for making threatening and harrassing phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“[Federal officials] said he recited her home address and said if she wanted to see it again, she would not support the health care overhaul bill that since has been enacted,” according to the Chron piece about his arrest.

We didn’t publish his name with the post, because we weren’t able to verify his identity. But the name signed at the end of the email sent to the Guardian was Greg Giusti, and the Chronicle names Gregory Lee Giusti, 48, as the man who was arrested in San Francisco this afternoon after threatening Pelosi.

In his email to us, Giusti included the phrase “that ugly witch Nancy Pelosi.”

Some of our readers commenting on his over-the-top letter, which contained racist and homophobic language, wondered if it was some kind of joke. We wondered about that, too.

But as we wrote in our post, “Receiving a letter crammed with hate-filled speech while witnessing pockets of far-right extremists grab headlines, we thought it best not to ignore it, but to call attention to it.”