A new report details Donald Trump's relationships with the FBI and with a labor executive who had ties to organized crime.
A lengthy Washington Post article examines documents and other records dating back to the 1960s and finds that Trump forged close bonds with Daniel Sullivan, who worked for the real estate mogul as a consultant, and the now retired FBI agent Walt Stowe.
With New York City's construction and labor markets flooded with organized crime in the 1980s, it seems that Trump — now the Republican presidential nominee — used his powerful friends as a way to navigate the sometimes murky waters. Sullivan often spoke of his friends in the mob and union leaders.
The Post reports that Trump, who at first was skeptical of Sullivan being a "big storyteller," was visited by the labor boss and two FBI agents at his office in 1981 — which revealed that Sullivan was an FBI informant. One of the agents that day was Stowe.
"It tells people he's a tough, tough, tough businessman," Stowe told the Post regarding Trump's relationship building. "New York was so totally corrupt and so controlled by the mob in the '80s, that in order to be a successful businessman, you had to have some way to work that world."
Sullivan, however, had a criminal record involving weapons charges, assault, and larceny. He once drove a milkman's delivery truck into the river because he wasn't following union rules, and he was apparently the last person to see a labor lawyer alive who went missing in New York City in 1966. Sullivan, who died of a heart attack in 1993, also boasted about knowing where Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa was buried.
Other revelations from the Post story:
- Trump bought into a land deal with Sullivan and someone in the organized crime world, who was later targeted to be killed.
- Trump financed Sullivan's purchase of a drywall company called Circle Industries, a deal Trump later backed out of. The FBI was investigating the company for racketeering with the Genovese crime family.
- Trump's plans to enter the gaming world, which was rife with organized crime, were hampered by his ties to Circle Industries.
- Sullivan accused Trump of using illegal Polish workers for a demolition project and also paying them poorly. Trump claimed he didn't know about the illegal workers, saying, "The only thing I did was sign checks when they were sent to me."
Trump claims he grew apart from Sullivan in the mid-'80s and said he was a "high-quality guy … not a pal."
Trump did say, however, that knowing Sullivan opened doors for him — and he was grateful for the FBI vouching for the labor executive, although the bureau said in a 1981 report the agents were not "references" for Sullivan.
Trump has been accused of corruption around his now-defunct Trump University. Critics say a $25,000 payment made to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi during her 2013 re-election campaign was a bribe that would force Bondi not to open a case against Trump regarding the real estate school.
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