Before coming to Arizona as a defendant, Rudy Giuliani visited as a prosecutor

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who more recently worked as a lawyer for former President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty in a Maricopa County court on May 21 to nine felony counts, including conspiracy, forgery and fraud, in connection with his part in a plan to undermine President Joe Biden's win of Arizona in 2020.

Giuliani's recent visit to the Valley, on June 10, was for his booking by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, making it a somewhat full-circle moment. Nearly two decades ago, Giuliani visited Arizona not as a criminal defendant but as a federal prosecutor.

In 1985, Giuliani, who was then the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, flew to Arizona to persuade Italian American crime boss Joseph Bonanno to testify at an upcoming trial.

Bonanno, who led the Bonanno crime family from 1931 to 1968, had been served with a subpoena in November 1984 to testify before a grand jury in New York, author and organized crime expert Selwyn Raab reported in his book "Five Families."

But Bonanno suffered from high blood pressure and coronary artery disease and checked into St. Mary's Hospital in his hometown of Tucson, claiming a weak heart prevented him from traveling. He said his personal physicians advised him against answering questions, saying the stress could be fatal.

Government doctors, though, diagnosed Bonanno as being fit to answer questions, according to Raab's book. Offering Bonanno immunity from prosecution in exchange for answers, Giuliani began questioning him in a lecture room at St. Mary's, The New York Times reported Sept. 6, 1985. Bonanno was cordial to Giuliani but dodged his questions.

"Retired Mobster Joe Bonanno had no qualms about discussing his life as 'a man of honor' in his 1983 autobiography of that name," Time magazine reported Sept. 16, 1985. "But when U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani wanted Bonanno to talk about eleven alleged mobsters who rule New York City's crime families, the self-confessed capo clammed up."

In a September 1985 hearing, Giuliani attempted to pressure Bonanno's daughter-in-law, Rosalie Bonanno, to admit Joseph Bonanno had a history of feigning illness when called to give testimony, the Arizona Daily Star reported Jan. 6, 2008. Rosalie Bonanno denied that, prompting Giuliani to respond by reciting a list of instances in which Joseph Bonanno had claimed illness, including his 1969 arrest by the FBI. In that instance, Joseph Bonanno said he had to be arraigned in bed because he was too ill for court.

Giuliani, one of 18 people indicted in April in Arizona's fake electors case, has not been cooperative with the Arizona Attorney General's Office, according to prosecutors.

He was the last defendant to receive his summons, on May 18, after authorities struggled to track him down for more than three weeks. A doorman in New York City confirmed Giuliani's residence but would not contact him, and agents for the Attorney General's Office attempted to call multiple numbers and sent the summons by certified mail, all without luck.

Giuliani taunted prosecutors on social media shortly before agents finally found him leaving his 80th birthday celebration in Florida.

Giuliani was required to hand over a $10,000 bail bond to stay out of jail while the fake electors case proceeds. He was the only defendant in the case required to post bail.

"He has shown no intent to comply with the legal process in Arizona," said Nick Klingerman, the criminal division chief in the Arizona Attorney General's Office, during Giuliani's arraignment.

Arraigned: Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani booked, posts $10K bail in AZ fake electors case

Reach the reporter at christina.avery@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Now a defendant, Rudy Giuliani once visited Arizona as a prosecutor