Politico published a lengthy report yesterday that claims presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump has “a pattern of business dealings with mob figures.”
The story is written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, who has been investigating ties between Trump and the Mafia for “years.” The former Atlantic City reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer has also published a book, “Temples of Chance: How America Inc. Bought Out Murder Inc. to Win Control of the Casino Business.” Johnston claims that over the years he has “encountered multiple threads linking Trump to organized crime.”
Here are the five most damning items contained in the report.
1. Trump reportedly used “mobbed-up” concrete
Trump allegedly bought “ostensibly overpriced” concrete from a company controlled by mafia leaders Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno and Paul Castellano,” according to Politico.
The concrete used to build Trump Tower was allegedly made from materials that Trump purchased for inflated prices from “Fat Tony” and Castellano, in exchange for union cooperation.
2. After 27 years covering Trump, Johnston is convinced he has mob ties
“I’ve encountered multiple threads linking Trump to organized crime,” Johnston wrote. “Some of Trump’s unsavory connections have been followed by investigators and substantiated in court; some haven’t. And some of those links have continued until recent years, though when confronted with evidence of such associations, Trump has often claimed a faulty memory.”
3. Trump allegedly had links to Gambino Family associate John Cody
A friend of Cody supposedly purchased three Trump Tower apartments using a Trump-assisted $3 million mortgage without filling out a loan application or showing financials. Cody, who controlled the flow of concrete trucks during the building’s construction, reportedly stayed at the apartments and even invested $500,000. Eventually, Cody was convicted of racketeering, imprisoned and lost control of the union.
4. Trump reportedly underpaid non-union workers
According to the report, in 1979 Trump hired a demolition contractor to take down a department store to make way for Trump Tower. For the job, he reportedly hired as many as 200 non-union laborers, mostly illegal Polish immigrants paid $4 to $6 per hour with no benefits. They reportedly worked long days, wore improper gear and slept on the construction site.
5. Johnston thinks Trump is the shadiest candidate ever
“No other candidate for the White House this year has anything close to Trump’s record of repeated social and business dealings with mobsters, swindlers and other crooks,” he writes. “Professor Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian, said the closest historical example would be President Warren G. Harding and Teapot Dome, a bribery and bid-rigging scandal for which the interior secretary went to prison. But even that has a key difference: Harding’s associates were corrupt but otherwise legitimate businessmen, not mobsters and drug dealers.”