Trump and the Mob

If you have to use mob-run businesses to get any service for your legit business, are you actually "related" to the mob? Politifact and Cruz say "yes".

Yes, Donald Trump has been linked to the mob

It’s important to note that Trump hasn’t been charged with any illegal activity, and it’s reasonable to argue that he was unaware or even a victim in some cases. But Cruz has a point that the mogul has been linked to the mob for decades.

Mob control a ‘fact of life’

Before we detail Trump’s alleged ties, none of this proves that Trump was happy doing business with the mafia or even in cahoots with them at all.

La Cosa Nostra had a virtual monopoly on concrete in New York at the time Trump was adding his name to its skyline in the 1980s. And the mafia’s control over building supplies and labor unions meant that the crime families had a hand in most construction projects in Manhattan.

Trump and other major developers "had to adapt to that situation" or build elsewhere, said James B. Jacobs, a mafia expert who was part of a state task force on organized crime.

"That was the fact of life, that was the way it was," he told PolitiFact. "The contractors and developers weren’t pure victims. You could bribe the mob-controlled union leaders and get relief from the more arduous conflicts. But we had no information that Trump was any different."

And exactly NO information that Trump actually did that. Apparently every building that went up in NYC was linked in that fashion to the mob. So what if you buy a plate of lasagne in a restaurant that is "linked" to the mob? Are you also "linked" to the mob? This is headline-smear targeting low-information voters who won't READ THE WHOLE THING.