{"slug":"trump-pre-presidency-mob-connections-roy-cohn","title":"Roy Cohn, Mob Connections, and the Formation of Trump's Operating Style","date":"1973-11-01","lastUpdated":"1986-08-02","description":"Donald Trump's business mentor and personal attorney for over a decade was Roy Cohn — the chief counsel for Joseph McCarthy's communist investigations, who later represented the Gambino, Genovese, and Salerno organized crime families in New York. Trump met Cohn in 1973 during the DOJ housing discrimination lawsuit; Cohn taught him a specific approach: never acknowledge wrongdoing, always counter-attack, turn any accusation into an assault on the accuser. Trump also had documented business relationships with figures connected to organized crime families, particularly through his Atlantic City casino ventures and New York construction.","summary":"Trump met Roy Cohn at Studio 54 in 1973 during the housing discrimination lawsuit. Cohn became his attorney, fixer, and strategic advisor for over a decade. Cohn represented Trump in multiple legal matters and taught him a specific political and legal style: never settle (except when you do), never apologize, and reframe every defense as an attack. Cohn's other clients during this period included mob boss Fat Tony Salerno, Gambino crime family figures, and New York tabloid figures. Trump's Atlantic City casino construction involved documented relationships with contractors controlled by the Genovese crime family; the concrete supplier for Trump Tower and other Trump projects was S&A Concrete, co-owned by Salerno and Paul Castellano.","category":"corruption","severity":"major","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/us/politics/trump-cohn.html","title":"To Understand Donald Trump, Look at His Mentor Roy Cohn","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-and-the-mob/2016/05/22/trump-and-the-mob/story.html","title":"Trump's businesses and the mob","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/trump-roy-cohn-mob-connections","title":"Trump's mentor Roy Cohn and the mob","publisher":"The Associated Press"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/04/obituaries/roy-m-cohn-tough-prominent-lawyer-who-aided-mccarthy-and-fought-the-mob.html","title":"Roy M. Cohn, Tough Prominent Lawyer","publisher":"The New York Times"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["Roy-Cohn","organized-crime","corruption","pre-presidency","mob","New-York","construction"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"1973-11-01","title":"Trump meets Roy Cohn during housing discrimination lawsuit","summary":"Trump meets Roy Cohn at Studio 54. Cohn agrees to represent Trump and Fred Trump in the DOJ housing discrimination lawsuit. He will be Trump's personal attorney and mentor for over a decade."},{"date":"1976-01-01","title":"S&A Concrete supplies Trump Tower and New York projects","summary":"S&A Concrete, co-owned by mob bosses Salerno and Castellano, provides concrete for Trump Tower and other Trump New York construction projects. The mob's control of concrete supply in New York was documented by law enforcement and journalists."},{"date":"1986-06-23","title":"Roy Cohn disbarred for unethical conduct","summary":"The New York Appellate Division disbarrs Roy Cohn for misappropriating funds, lying, and pressuring a dying client to change his will. Trump does not acknowledge the disbarment publicly."},{"date":"1986-08-02","title":"Roy Cohn dies of AIDS — Trump stops taking his calls","summary":"Roy Cohn dies of AIDS at age 59, having publicly denied his diagnosis throughout. Multiple accounts document that Trump stopped returning Cohn's calls when Cohn became seriously ill."}],"location":{"name":"New York, NY","lat":40.7128,"lng":-74.006},"custom":{"era":"pre-presidency","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"U.S. legal and political norms through normalization of organized crime-adjacent business practices and an explicitly counter-attack legal strategy applied to legitimate legal proceedings","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"Client of Roy Cohn for over a decade; business relationships with contractors connected to organized crime families; adopted Cohn's counter-attack legal style as his permanent approach","institution":"Trump Organization"},{"name":"Roy Cohn","role":"Trump's personal attorney 1973–1986; simultaneously represented multiple New York organized crime families; formative influence on Trump's legal and political style","institution":"Saxe, Bacon and Bolan law firm"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"1986-08-02","summary":"Documented from historical reporting on Trump's relationship with Cohn."}]}}