I was most amused to hear the splendid BBC documentary on Donald Trump and his alleged ties to organised crime in the US. These allegations have been common knowledge in New York (and New Jersey) for many years. We were in the cement importation business to New York in the 1980s and had more than a passing interest in New York's concrete industry. Nothing got built in concrete in the City without approval of both the Genovese and Gambino families who maintained an orderly market in the City. Philly Castellano of the Gambino Family was only marginally involved at first but, when Gotti whacked Castellano, the Gambinos played a major role, as did their ports and labor associate Tony Scotto when he returned from his holiday in 1984. This included the Westies Irish Mob (under Jimmy 'Blue Eyes' Coonan) who handled the manpower in NY construction. Fat Tony Salerno of the Genovese Family was one of the most important men in concrete and a man who had the support of the Teamsters Union (which did the trucking for the cement and concrete to the building sites) because of his role in arranging for the late Jimmy Hoffa to "hold up traffic in New Jersey". That is, Jimmy was cut up into small pieces and interred in several traffic bridges on the New Jersey Turnpike. Salerno was said to be a partner with Trump in several of his hotel building projects in the City and in mob-controlled Atlantic City (in association with Little Nicky Scarfo of Philadelphia).

The control of the two families of the concrete business was aided by the conviction of Biff Halloran of Transit-Mix, a major NY concrete supplier and hotelier who went to jail in 1987 for racketeering. He was accused of working with the Mafia to fix concrete prices on multimillion-dollar projects in Manhattan. Unfortunately for Biff, when he got out of jail he decided to visit NY in 1998 and disappeared without a trace. His concrete batching plants were taken over in a joint venture of the two families when he went inside and, unbeknownst to me, formed a company which contacted us for the supply of cement to NY.It was an enlightening endeavor; one which involved having a contract against me and forcing me to hide out in different locations so that I could appear in court in the morning to prevent them from taking over my boat and cement. I refused to allow them to muscle me and take over my business and they were not happy. It was finally settled after months of unpleasantness; and the contract on me was lifted.

I did get to meet a regular Rogue's Gallery of NY's finest afficionados of concrete and building companies. On several occasions the name of Trump came up in their discussions. They said that it was Trump's father who was in hock to the Mob and, when his son joined him, he was initiated into the relationship. I have no way of knowing if this was true, but it was certainly discussed by them as if it were true. A couple of years later when my Nigerian colleagues and I were running a company providing stretch limos from NY hotels to the gambling casinos in Atlantic City we were taken aside by some of the people I had met in the Familys and told to buy our insurance for the limos from Bonnano's insurance company and to put a sticker to that effect on the bumpers to assure the concierges that our punters had a high priority. They assured me that NY controlled Atlantic City after the Mob war in Philly which took place after the untimely death of Angie Bruno and the rise of Little Nicky Scarfo.

I have no way to know if any of the things they were saying are true or correct but the stories about Donald Trump and the Mob have been around for a long time and the recent revelations by journalists have not come as a great surprise. We abandoned our cement business in NY in the late 1980s and went back to supplying cement to Nigeria where the corruption was nickels and dimes compared to NY.

The attached piece adds further evidence to the theory.