How Close Was Donald Trump To The Mob?

The Federalist ^ | JULY 28, 2015 | David Marcus

[TBP]

Trump was building his eponymous empire of hotels, casinos, and high rises in the early 1980s in New York City and Atlantic City. In both places, the construction industry was firmly under the thumb of the mafia. And in both places there are literally concrete connections between La Cosa Nostra and Trump’s lavish projects. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, who has covered Trump for decades, has written a very useful list of questions for Trump. Many focus on his ties to the mob. In addition in his 1992 book, “Trump, The Deals and the Downfall,” author Wayne Barrett lays out a slew of suspicious dealings and associations.

The Atlantic City story starts with Trump’s purchase of a bar, at twice its market value, from Salvatore Testa, a made man in the Philadelphia mafia and son of Philip “Chicken Man” Testa, who was briefly head of the Philly mob after Angelo Bruno’s 1980 killing. Harrah’s casino, half owned by Trump, would be built on that land, and Trump would quickly buy out his partner, Harrah’s Entertainment, and rename the casino Trump Plaza.

Trump Plaza’s connection to the mob didn’t end with the land purchase from Testa. Nicademo “Little Nicky” Scarfo (who became boss after the elder Testa was blown up) and his nephew Phillip “crazy Phil” Leonetti controlled two of the major construction and concrete companies in Atlantic City. Both companies, Scarf, Inc. and Nat Nat, did work on the construction of Harrah’s, according the State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation’s 1986 report on organized crime. In addition, Scarfo, whose reign as head of the Philly mob was one of the bloodiest in history, controlled the bartenders union, which represented Trump’s workers in Atlantic City, according to George Anastasia’s book, “Blood and Honor.”

One more link to organized crime lurks in Trump’s past Atlantic City dealings. He had a close association with Kenny Shapiro, an investment banker for Scarfo. According to secret recordings of then Scarfo attorney Robert F. Simone, Shapiro was intimately involved with bribing Atlantic City Mayor Michael J. Matthews, whose term would end in 1984 with a conviction on extortion charges. On the tapes, in 1983, Simone, talking about Leonetti, states: “He’s a nice-looking boy…Nicky’s nephew, he can sit with the…mayor. Ah, and Kenny’s (Shapiro) got the mayor through this kid Phillip.”

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Pretzel logic? I friggen code for a living. If anyone lacks logic it is someone who can not see my argument destroyed the supposition that Trump is mobbed up.

Simple If, Then, Else logic. Second day of learning how to construct software.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Damn, now I want some smokey links. (Hot dog puppies)

[Jamestown1630]

God Bless, LTGM!

-JT

[FreedomForce]

You expressed a hope.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Well I hope you wake up with a bad case of hemorrhoids.

Now quit bothering me kid. You are definitively annoying with your complete and utter lack of common sense and complete lack of understanding of logical arguments.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

Thank you and God bless you as well.

[FreedomForce]

LOL

All right. I’ll bother you no more.

[Pelham]

So if you pretend it didn’t happen then it doesn’t count?

[altura]

‘scuse me, what are we talking about?

[Pelham]

The zealots are nasty and tiresome and they do their heroes no favor. Like you, I could vote for Cruz but some of this crowd are enough to make you do it with less enthusiasm.

[Pelham]

We are talking about Ben Carson’s charge that Cruz’s campaign spread the rumor that Carson was quitting.

[altura]

So ... how does that relate to the Mob?

I’ve been here too long. Donald and I both need a nap.

[The Iceman Cometh]

Haven't done the research but here is how this probably fell out.

For a construction project, Trump either hired a general contractor or had his own. The general contractor then hires the subcontractors. If there was malfeasance, I would guess the general is the bad guy here with Trump being held responsible in the upline.

It would be ludicrous to believe that Trump would be involved in the hiring and daily oversight of day laborers.

[Leto]

Haven’t done the research but here is how this probably fell out.
For a construction project, Trump either hired a general contractor or had his own. The general contractor then hires the subcontractors. If there was malfeasance, I would guess the general is the bad guy here with Trump being held responsible in the upline.

It would be ludicrous to believe that Trump would be involved in the hiring and daily oversight of day laborers.
_________________________________________________________\

So you don’t know anything but assume that Trump is pure as a virgin. Kool story.

He bought a piece of property from the Philly Mafia Don over market value (note no move to have the gov to use eminent domain) to start one of his early gambling projects. Yeah I am sure he didn’t know this was one of Gotti’s cohorts.

You trumpettes are really amazing world class in your naiviety. Clearly never been near the big city.

[The Iceman Cometh]

So you don't know anything but assume that Trump is pure as a virgin. Kool story.

I'm too busy working to look at the details from something that happened in 1991.

If you want to do the research, go for it.

Did I say that Trump was virgin pure? Nope.

You Cruzbots jump to so many conclusions. It must be the judgmental arrogance from the religious right.

By the way, I'm voting for Cruz if he's the guy. Gotta problem with that?

[TexasTransplant]

**** “I’m a cruz voter but how can you infer this because the concrete and garbage business in both places have been mob for decades” *****

In real everyday life we deal with folks far worse than the Mob for example...
IRS
City Cops
School Boards
DPS
BLM
EPA
Any Housing Authority (includes HOA if you are that dumb)
Local Tax Collector
Main Stream Media
Etc Etc Etc
The Mob just WACKs you ... the folks above will bleed you dry.

[wardaddy]

Ain’t that the truth

So sanctimonious

[TexasTransplant]

**** “You can’t build a Gazebo in NYC with some Mob contact, just reality” *****

True ... they have already paid off the City Council, Zoning etc etc etc so now it’s One Stop instead of having to grease dozens of hands.

I built in New Orleans after Katrina ... what a nightmare, shut down, payoff, shut down, payoff, shut down, pay off.

I could not get out of that cesspool soon enough...
The recovery wasn’t slow because Govt didn’t get involved, it was because Govt was TOO INVOLVED and any Clown in a Uniform would come in a Shut you down and they knew what you paid the others, if you complain or fight them, they just roll right back around for pay off #2

1 connected Coonass could shoo them away (I only wish I would have had one)

[Hugin]

You can’t do any building in NY or NJ without coming into contact with somebody alleged to be hooked up with the mob. There’s not even any allegations that Trump did anything wrong. There’s nothing to defend.

[Califreak]

Our government is the mob under color of law.