Posted on 02/10/2016 3:12:00 PM PST by 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.â€
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.â€
There were plenty of allegations.
So what’s the worst “allegation”? Pick one.
A federal appeals court and a US District Court determined that Trump knew or should have known illegal Polish immigrant laborers who only paid $5/hour, if and when they got paid, were used for demolition work.
Someone using an alias that Trump admitted to using on occasion, along with one of his associates, threatened the lawyer representing the laborers. That’s a fact.
For starters, see post #163.
Hillary came to his wedding.. it doesn't get any closer than that!
Got it... as long as Il Duce keeps the trains running on time, all else is immaterial.
...along with building the wall and sending them back home.
After that we can go back to politics as usual.
Oh, right.. the wall and deportations. ;-)
Yep, you get it now. Just sit back and be AWED!
LOL... sure.
Whoa, there. I haven’t defended “street language” or womanizing — I find those aspects of Trump to be repugnant.
And I don’t defend and excuse mob connections. But I wouldn’t characterize any developer who contracts with mafia-owned construction companies as being “mob connected” himself. It’s worth looking into—some of the stories in the article are a bit suspicious at first glance—but, to paraphrase a famous criminal and likely Democrat nominee (redundant, I know), there may not be any there, there.
And the Supreme Court made up law on Obamacare. Why should I give a crap what a court says.
Rand Paul was right: He’s almost as orange as Boner.
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