The question is often asked, but there are few conclusive answers: Does Donald Trump have ties to organized crime? The guy has made money in real estate, and many of the construction trades in New York and New Jersey have deep connections to the Mafia, as has been proven time and time again by various law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. But does Trump do business with these shady characters? Considering that Trump is seeking to become President, this is a legitimate query.
Trump himself, when asked if he’s had any business dealings with mob figures or organizations, maintains that he’s “clean as a whistle.” But the evidence suggests otherwise.
When Trump as in the process of constructing Trump Tower and Trump Plaza he hired firms that had ties to organized crime figures. Specifically, he purchased highly overpriced concrete from a company controlled by Mafia leaders Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno and Paul Castellano. A federal investigation into that connection concluded that in a construction industry that is filled with mob influence, the Trump Plaza apartment building must have benefited from its numerous connections to racketeering and organized crime.
But Trump didn’t just do business with such shady characters. He also personally met with Salerno at the townhouse of notorious New York fixer Roy Cohn, who also had mob connections and served as an attorney to numerous Mafia figures. This occurred at a time when other developers in New York were begging the FBI to investigate mob control of the concrete business.
In 1980, the FBI subpoenaed Trump to inquire about his dealings with John Cody, a Teamsters official described by law enforcement as a close associate of the Gambino crime family. The FBI believed that Cody had obtained free apartments from other developers. The FBI also suspected that Cody, who controlled the flow of concrete trucks, might get a free Trump Tower apartment. Trump denied it. But a female friend of Cody’s bought three Trump Tower apartments right beneath the triplex where Donald lived with his then-wife Ivana. Cody stayed there on occasion and invested $500,000 in the units.
Other connections to organized crime have also been revealed over the years:
- In 1979, Trump hired a demolition contractor to take down the Bonwit Teller department store in order make way for Trump Tower. Trump hired as many as 200 non-union men to work alongside about 15 members of the House Wreckers Union Local 95. Hiring non-union workers should have brought a strike against Trump, but none materialized, due largely to the fact the that Genovese crime family controlled the union in question.
No doubt this issue will come up frequently as Trump continues his run for the White House. And it should. Do we want a man with such close connections to organized crime appointing the next Attorney General and dozens of federal judges? Who exactly does Donald Trump owe a debt to that he must repay if he should happen to reach the Oval Office?
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