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€
He buried Jimmy Hoffa. I know. Trust me. If I told ya anymore id have to....well you know the rest. ðŸ˜
Go Trump
Lol.... A capitalist guilty of avoiding socialism. Damn New York values... /sarc
Also from the article:
“Being a loudmouth bigot, the Archie Bunker of 2016 who says what people are too afraid to say, is working well for Donald Trump. But it’s time to hold his feet to the fire. This is a man who did a significant amount of business with mass murderers whose plunder of public and private funds added up to billions. What did he know about them? Maybe more importantly, what do they know about him?”
Libelous? It will be interesting if Trump files a suit.
Well after all, his name is Don.
Closer than Cruz is to GS?
As close as he is to Killary?
Twenty years ago an article like this might have served a purpose. Not any more. Why? Take a look at all of politics. It’s ALL a ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’, good ole boy’s club. ALL of it. You can’t pass laws without it, or form treaties, or even national alliances with other countries.
Look at how the GOPe treats what they call outsiders. They make effort to crucify them in order to maintain control and power for whomever is part of that mob...I mean...good ole boy’s club..
Look at courts, attorneys, prosecutions and defences. One attorney agrees to go easy on a case to let the other guy win if the other guy will give up this other case.
Government itself passes one illegal law after another in order to gain control, power, prestige (second amendment controls anyone? PC assaults on speech? Preference of Islam over xianity anybody?). Small towns and counties are notorious for this corruption. Movies and songs exist extolling the pain and sorrows of some corrupt sheriff, or hanging, disappearing people (Good-bye Earl!..The night the lights went out in Georgia).
I’m not saying it’s right. Only that our entire nation exists today as a result of these types of business relationships, and is maintained accordingly.
Maybe 20 years ago isn’t far enough back. We all fumed about “Arkancide’’ and the cocain connection, Vince Foster etal, and yet, their chief queen runs for office, today.
The point is, this author doen’t even really know what the ‘mob’ is or why it should matter whether or not a person who isn’t accused or convicted of crimes should be counted as guilty due to association with people...guilt by association.
What a POS.
You missed the “found guilty” part.
Ya remember that time Trump laundered all that money into his foundation? Or, that time Trump failed to declare loans? /sarc
Well, that’s pretty cool. I liked “The Godfather.” I’m more for Trump now than I was before. Thanks.
I can attest to that.
I'll still gladly vote for Cruz should he get the no, but yes, but the incessant posters here do make him more unlikable.
My goal is to defeat the traitors in DC, Cruz or Trump fit that bill IMO, Trump seems to fit it more for me though.
I am under no illusion Trump is the ultimate conservative, but I also realize the damage done to this country has occurred over the last 100 years and is not going to be turned around in one election.
Trump is right on the first turns of the ship though, and ships don't turn 180 degrees without first changing the rudder.
Gee I don’t know. Can you swing a dead cat in NYC and not hit someone connected/associated with the mob? They probably pick up your trash.
Planning commissions, politicians, cops here and there. They’ve been a boil on the butt of NYC for a very long time. Cockroaches and bedbugs probably take lessons from them.
And then there’s the UN. A global crime syndicate if there ever was one.
It possible that there is a company, either directly, or indirectly, that you’ve done business with that had some kind of a tie to some mob. We all probably have, even though we didn’t know it.
What’s your point?
They were all made by Trumps’s consigliore, Gim “MuppetMaster” Hensonini.
Michael Franzese said that the mob got a piece from every single window built in NYC in the ‘80’s. I think probably anybody who had to employ a union to do anything in that area had a tangential connection.
Right. And it doesn't mean that the mob (if there even is such a thing) would be interested in pursuing their relationship with Trump if he moves into the White House. There is no reason to believe the mob would be interested in political power, influencing FBI investigations, or getting access to billions of dollars in federal contracts.
And even if there is a mob, and even if the mob had a relationship with Trump, there is no reason to believe the mob kept records or would be willing to blackmail Trump once he is the nation's chief executive.
You Cruzer Losers are sounding desperate. Your fantasy of Iowa momentum changing the political landscape nationally didn’t come true, so you have to resort to recycling nonsense innuendos. Pathetic.
So what you are really saying is that Trump can even take on the mob and come out ahead.....hmmmm, pretty good!
Really getting desperate. LOL
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