Joe Arpaio. Joseph Michael Joe Arpaio (/ÉËrËpaÉª.oÊ/; born June 14, 1932) is a former American law enforcement officer and was the elected Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona for 24 years from 1993 through 2016. Arpaio styled himself as America's Toughest Sheriff.
This phrase alludes to Julius Caesar's crossing the Rubicon River (between Italy and Gaul) in 49 b.c., thereby starting a war against Pompey and the Roman Senate. Recounted in Plutarch's Lives: Julius Caesar (c. a.d. 110), the crossing gave rise to the figurative English usage by the early 1600s. See also: cross, the.
During the Roman republic, the river Rubicon marked the boundary between the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul to the north-east and Italy proper (controlled directly by Rome and its socii (allies)) to the south.