I am not changing the subject. This current abuse of power by New York Crony Capitalists with powerful connections to the government is exactly the same subject.
You just haven't figured it out yet.
Sorry, but it's you who are totally confused here.
For 72 years before 1860 those corrupt New York Democrat politicians were the political allies of Southern slave-holding Democrat politicians.
Such Northerners were known at the time as "doughfaced" because they were utterly subservient to Southern slave-masters, and willing to do anything demanded.
So, those "powerful connections to the government" you mention were to the Southern Democrats who ruled in Washington, DC.
How can such a basic fact utterly escape you?