Media Never Vetted Trump Mobside as He Announced for Presidency
[NOTE: Virtually everything described below was known about Donald Trump before he announced for president.]
Trump announced for the presidency on June 16, 2015. Main media failed to report on Trump’s mob ties when he announced. Why were media eyes blind to the fact that Trump’s closest political-business mentor, lawyer Roy Cohn, had clientele like the Genovese and Gambino crime families — John Gotti, Tony Salerno and Carmine Galante, among them — and what were their relationships with Trump’s business empire?
In April and May 2016, Vice and Politico published stories on Trump’s mob connections. But this was nearly a year later and too late to make a difference given that Trump already had become the GOP frontrunner and had become a darling politician to NASCAR, Wrestlemania and NRA fans nationwide.
Overall, the NYT, Washington Post and tv outlets ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FoxNews and MSNBC entirely skipped over vetting Trump’s mob connections, preferring instead his celebrity status before, during and shortly after his presidential announcement. Trump essentially entered the race with a clean bill of health from main media, despite controversy on multiple fronts and his unwillingness to release tax returns.
Many theorize — I agree with ‘em — the Clinton Campaign wanted to face Trump because it initially believed Hillary could easily defeat him. Internal polling at the time had showed she was not matching well with more established GOP candidates. Marching orders went out to promote the ‘pied pipers,’ Trump among them.
Powerful and extensive Clinton main media connections — combined with the media’s want for increased revenue ratings — helped pave the way for Trump to break from the crowded GOPwinger pack of candidates (see Wikileaks). Throughout his campaign, Trump got several billion dollars of free publicity from the main media, thus helping him to gain the presidency.
When it became clear Trump would be Clinton’s opponent some of the mob ties then began appearing in the media. But it was too late. America’s media had already manufactured Trump into becoming the ‘Teflon Don!’
This reminds me of the indicted 1919 Chicago Black Sox who, mid-World Series and not yet paid by the gamblers, decided to play their hearts out to try to win … but it was too late, and mob ties had threatened the families of some of the players!
So America Has a President In Tune With Mobsters
Will the Wednesday night murder of Gambino Crime Boss Francesco ‘Franky Boy’ Cali bring renewed attention to Trump’s mob connections?
Cali had only one previous run-in with the law. That was in 2008 when he was sentenced to 16 months in jail for a federal extortion charge involving a “shake down” of a wealthy mob-associated trucking contractor, Joseph Vollaro (who turned government informant), this during the bid to build an 80,000-seat NASCAR race track on Staten Island. Vollaro’s father had been a New Jersey Gambino bookmaker.
“Vollaro was responsible for getting the Gambino family involved in a NASCAR speedway that was planned for Staten Island; Andrews Trucking received a lucrative hauling contract at the site. Vollaro and the Gambinos soon came to dominate the construction business in Staten Island. At one point, the wealthy Vollaro owned three 40-foot yachts named No Limits, Cat in the Act, and All Fired Up.”
More from The New York Daily News:
“Much of the 170-page indictment deals with organized crime’s bread-and-butter staples like imposing mob “taxes” on construction work at the proposed NASCAR race track in Staten Island and a cement plant in Jersey City, illegal gambling, and narcotics trafficking.”
As an important point of interest, Trump filed a New York trademark for Trump Super Speedway in 2004. Is it ironic that Trump’s “Super Speedway” trademark application was finally abandoned in 2008, when there were 62 NYC crime family mob indictments, including Cali?
The Internet Wayback Machine shows how contentious were the city council hearings on the race track, as a rukus is described during the first city council meeting — the mob pressure was on!
Trump, long associated with NASCAR, was clearly a principle ally to bring the International Speedway to New York:
Here is a news report regarding some of the arrests concerning the “shake down” involving the Staten Island NASCAR speedway:
Trump’s Gambino connections seem extensive. It’s long been common that to do real estate development business in New York City one ‘must’ deal with ‘the mob,’ especially when it comes to cement and trucking businesses. But Trump appears to have gone further by providing homes, sweetheart condo deals and special comp services for gambling sites as well as barter for helicopter services.
Regarding the helicopter services:
“The builder [Trump]had few reservations as well about his dealings with another allegedly mob-tied businessman with a problematic background who ran a helicopter service ferrying high-rollers to Trump’s casinos. The businessman, Joseph Weichselbaum, was living in an apartment in Trump Plaza, another of the tycoon’s East Side high-rises, when he pleaded guilty to federal charges of cocaine smuggling in 1986. The men were close enough that Trump agreed to accept part of the rent as helicopter service in barter. Weichselbaum also maintained Trump’s own private helicopter. And when Weichselbaum faced sentencing, Trump provided a letter to the court endorsing his friend as “conscientious, forthright and diligent.” Weichselbaum received a three-year sentence and came home to reside in an even posher pad at Trump Tower, where his girlfriend had managed to buy two combined apartments. When Trump was asked in 1990 by casino officials about his letter to the judge on Weichselbaum’s behalf, the casino mogul could not recall having written it.
“Casino regulators raised another problem with Trump that year as well. They charged that his casinos had given free rein at the gambling tables to a wealthy horse breeder named Robert LiButti, who had insisted that no blacks or women serve as dealers while he was playing the craps tables. Trump’s casino executives complied. They had good reason to want to humor LiButti who lost more than $20 million in gambling wagers at the casinos between 1984 and 1990. To keep LiButti as a loyal customer, the regulars charged, Trump’s casinos had comped the gambler with gifts of luxury autos, including Rolls Royces and Ferraris, as well as trips to Europe and the Super Bowl.”
LiButti also was an associate of the Gambino family. Below, is yet another example:
“Links to Gambinos. A Gambino family connection, John Cody, supposedly bought three Trump Tower units with a $3 million mortgage made available by Trump. The billionaire did not require Cody to complete a mortgage application or detail the standard financials. Cody, who managed the concrete trucks while Trump Tower was being erected, stayed at the condos and invested half-a-million. When Cody was ultimately sentenced for racketeering and went to prison, he was stripped of union control.”
Like Father, Like Son, Like Son
Trump’s father, Fred Trump, became a millionaire by developing middle class housing for America’s rising American Dreamers. Like Donald, he too has a terrible history in the relationship of money and people, prompting the famous folksinger Woody Guthrie to condemn him for greed and racism. Below, is the story of Fred Trump and how his inheritance became hidden to the benefit of his children:
Donald Trump, Jr. — he and his brother big game trophy hunters — seems also to have a predilection for the mob, as discovered by the mob lawyer he has chosen to represent him:
Conclusion
When you put one and one and two and two together and keep coming up with the wrong number, it’s time for a change! Let’s, finally, put an honest man into the White House. One who has a history of wisdom and action on behalf of people … Vote for Bernie Sanders in 2020!
