Spanish-speaking detectives to infiltrate the FALN, a Puerto Rican terrorist group. Some joined the agency, says the official. But, he added, their trail has gone cold. Now, department sources say the NYPD and the CIA have initialed a formal memorandum of understanding.

But in the super-duper-secret, terrorism-related world, this reporter could find no one in the NYPD, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security or the CIA who could confirm this or explain what this memorandum refers to.

Theories abound. One holds that the memorandum applies to informants, both overseas or domestic, and is a way of protecting the CIA, which is prohibited by law from spying domestically. Another is that the memorandum delineates information shared with the agency that the NYPD gathers as its Arabic-speaking recruits troll Internet sites, searching out jihadists.

A third holds that the CIA relationship allows Kelly to bypass the NYPD's current information-sharing mechanism - the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force. Still, others note that relations between Kelly and the bureau have recently improved under Mark Mershon, the new head of the FBI's New York office.

The thing all law enforcement officials contacted by Newsday agree on is Kelly's motivation: control - absolute control.

Winners. If Mayor Mike Bloomberg is the big winner in this week's election, Kelly is close behind.

Already, Bloomberg is again urging that Kelly take over the subway and the Port Authority police in another terrorist attack. Under the city protocol Bloomberg established, Kelly will also run the fire department in such an emergency.

But the talk now is also of Kelly running for mayor in 2009, and no less than the city's most eminent ex-Democratic mayor, Ed Koch, says such talk is not premature.

"He's extremely able. He'd be a formidable candidate," Koch said, while adding that he himself is committed to city Comptroller William Thompson.

"Kelly doesn't have to be a politician to be a formidable candidate," Koch says. "He just has to keep doing what he is doing, to keep crime falling and to protect the city as best as he can from terrorism. Nobody can hold him responsible for acts of terror so long as he has done everything he can to prevent it."

Another strength, Koch says, is that Kelly "looks like a poster boy for the police commissioner. He has that special look that evokes confidence."

Koch says he's lunched with Kelly several times. "The subject has never come up."

The fighting McCarthys (continued). A flier on the 13th floor of One Police Plaza invites everyone - or nearly everyone - to the deputy commissioner of operations' Christmas party on Dec. 2.

No mention of the deputy commissioner's other date - Dec. 15. That's when the deputy commissioner - whose name is Gary McCarthy - is to stand trial in New Jersey over his dispute with two Palisades Parkway Police officers who ticketed his daughter for illegally parking in a handicapped space.

As for the deputy commissioner's Christmas party, a sergeant in McCarthy's office informed this reporter: "You're not invited."

Farewell. This is Your Humble Servant's last column for Newsday. It has been an honor and privilege to write about the men and women of the NYPD.

Leonard Levitt can be reached at levitt@nypdconfidential.com or through his Web site, www.nypdconfidential.com
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