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.
Over time, however, the triumvirate broke down. Crassus was killed in battle, and Pompey began entertaining ideas of ruling without the dangerously popular Caesar. While Caesar was fighting in Gaul (modern-day France), Pompey and the Senate ordered Caesar to return to Rome without his army. But when Caesar crossed the Rubicon River in northern Italy, he brought his army with him in defiance of the senate's order. This fateful decision led to a civil war.