I'm sure he's pretty well connected. Any idea?

I don't know about Donald Trump...but I'm curious to see how many other celebrity or political figures have strong ties with the mob.

Good Thought, you should post a whole new topic with just that question, I'm curious to know also!

Pretty intense reading there Vito Andolini! I feel that Donald Trump does have conections one way or another. Whether through friendship or business association. His business is construction one of the mob's shady business practices.

Thanks for the website very informative.

Like every other big-time real estate and construction tycoon in NYC, Trump probably had to pay off Mob-dominated unions and contractors. In "Underboss," Sammy Da Bull uses Trump's name in an example of how he used his union connections to extort real estate and construction moguls. He didn't exactly say he really did extort Trump, but Trump probably paid off the Mob one way or another.
Two other points BTW:
1. During the 1984 Presidential campaign, the media uncovered that real estate agent and developer John Zaccaro, husband of Democratic VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro, owned NYC buildings that housed Mob-dominated businesses. One pal noted that it was a measure of Democratic Presidential nominee Walter Mondale's naivete that he didn't figure that his VP candidate's husband would have skeletons in his closet simply by being in the real estate business in NYC. Had nothing to do with being Italian, though the bigots and sexists had a field-day with the revelation.
2. Trump, the all-time publicity hound and egotist, probably enjoyed being mentioned in Da Bull's book. When former Soviet Premier Gorbachev visited NYC in the late '80's, Spy Magazine (a satire magazine) scammed Trump by hiring an actor who looked like Gorby to pose outside Trump's office building. The magazine called Trump and told him that the "Soviet Premier" was a great admirer of his and was waiting outside to shake his hand. Trump appeared instantly, posing for still and TV cameras with "Gorbachev." Spy immediately told the media about the scam, and all of them ran satirical pieces on it.

Back in the 1970's in NYC an unknown guy challenged Mayor Koch and said he could repair the Wollman skating rink with his own money in one week (or two...it's been awhile). This rink was in Central Park and was where the everyday, average kind of guy could take his girl for a skate,and where kids could afford to go, as opposed to Rockefeller Center which cost an arm and a leg. The rink had been unusable for a few years already and NYC was always offering lame excuses for not having it fixed. Koch grudgingly allowed him to try to fix it and to Koch's chagrin the rink was fixed in a week. Koch was embarrassed, the people were elated and the unknown man became an instnt hero. His face was splashed on all the front pages and his name was in all the headlines. His name of course--Donald Trump. Immediately the word on the street was that he had to have some mob connections to pull that off. He soon became famous and Mayor Koch had to "eat crow" and always pretend he liked Trump, even though political insiders stated that Koch secretly (and publicly) resented the publicity Trump got and some say he even hated Trump. :p :p

Don't forget Trump also runs casino business in Vegas and Atlantic City.

Yeah I rember that story faintly, I was only 15/16 when it broke. But I do remember paying attention to it closely.

I think alot of people in New York pay the mob off in some way or another. But it doesn't mean that they're necessarily connected.

Name someone that Koch didn't hate!
Great story, BK! I remember it well.

The face in his mirror?