Pres. Trump's Ties to the Mafia

Caption: 1. On left, Jim Conzemius on the April FOOLS' Ride in 2017; on the right, Maria Houser Conzemius.

President Donald J. Trump has worked with the Mafia for decades. In New York City, the Mafia owns concrete, controls some of the unions needed to do construction work, and controls some of the government officials who issue permits for construction work to begin. According to Rolling Stone magazine (12/14-28, 2017 issue), when Trump was constructing buildings and not just slapping his name on them, he needed mobsters to smooth the way for him. Rolling Stone credits the work of investigative reporters David Cay Johnston and the late Wayne Barrett for digging up the dirt on Trump's associations with the Mob.

In particular, Trump associated with Anthony ("Fat Tony") Salerno and Paul Castellano. Salerno, Castellano, and other mob families controlled both the concrete business and the unions involved in delivering and pouring it. As long as Trump paid inflated prices for the concrete, all was well. He built Trump Tower with S & A Concrete, which was owned by Tony Salerno of the Genovese crime family, and Paul Castellano, head of the Gambino crime family.

Trump paid inflated prices for Mafia-owned concrete, but he hired illegal Polish workers on the cheap, paying them less than minimum wage. Of course, he's known for ripping off private contractors and their workers, complaining about the quality of their work, refusing to pay them, and then hiring them back again.

Trump is an oligarch without a conscience. The fact that so many desperate people believed he would look out for their interests is just sad. He posed as a populist. He fooled a lot of people in 2016. Iowa preferred Trump to Hillary by 9.8%. It doesn't look like Trump is fooling Iowans in early 2018. His approval in Iowa now is at 35%. Approval of Republicans in general in Iowa is at 34%.