'Mob context': Why Trump is the only president to use 'mafia connections' as part of his 'branding'

16 January

President-elect Donald Trump is known for his fascination with crime dramas. According to CBS News, his favorite movies include Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" and Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas."

Interactions between U.S. presidents and organization crime figures is the focus of author Eric Dezenhall's book "Wiseguys and the White House: Gangsters, Presidents and the Deals They Made."

Dezenhall discusses a range of presidents, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Joe Biden.

But The Guardian's Martin Pengelly quotes Dezenhall as saying that “the thing that makes Trump different from all of the other presidents is he's the only one who has been shockingly open about talking about" crossing paths with mob figures along the way.

The author said of Trump, "To him, it's a branding thing. Everybody else is running from the mob context. Trump, he's on Letterman, telling you he knows them. And not only does the public not punish him for it, they elected him twice. They're fine with it. And yet, the idea that somebody would run for office using mafia connections as part of their branding is really something to behold."

Pengelly notes that in 2023, photos of Trump talking to major mob figures "surfaced" —including Philadelphia mob boss Joey Merlino and John Alite, an infamous hit man for the Gambino crime family of New York City.

During a 2013 appearance on "The Late Show," Pengelly recalls, Trump told host David Letterman that he "really tried to stay away from" organized crime "as much as possible” but added, "Growing up in New York and doing business in New York, I would say there might have been one of those characters along the way…. I have met, on occasion, a few of those people. They happen to be very nice people."

Read The Guardian's full article at this link.

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