When the Trump Mob was Democrat
October 4, 2025
by William P. Meyers

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Greed is bipartisan

There are a variety of types of organized criminal gangs. The classic type comes from the reality of men like Al Capone, or the Hollywood representations of Edward G. Robinson. That type of gang continues to exist today, selling drugs, loan sharking, perhaps shaking down businesses. Other gangs operate in grayer areas of law and business, for instance using political power to reward cronies with lucrative government contracts or preference in licensing and zoning.

Fred Trump, the father of Donald Trump, started off small, building a single (one-car) garage. As he graduated to building single-family homes in the outskirts of Queens and then small apartment houses in Brooklyn, he learned the game of "working with" local officials, including donating to campaigns, which in those days were often used as personal slush funds.

During the Depression, in the 1930s, Trump was big enough to be able to get loans to rapidly build much needed housing. By the time World War II created housing shortages near military bases, he was a favored government contractor who had expanded outside of New York City, but also kept building in Brooklyn.

Fred Trump became closely associated with the Brooklyn Democratic Party, particularly with Abraham Beame and Abraham Lindenbaum. Of course since Franklin Roosevelt was President and the Democrats held both houses of Congress, that helped with the federal funding (Federal Housing Authority) too. Fred explained to the Abraham's "how the FHA mortgage program enabled him to build without investing a penny of his own money." [Lucky Loser, p. 25]

Donald Trump, our current President, was born June 14, 1946, when his father Fred had already become one of the richest real estate developers in the world. Fred worked with corrupt politicians and played fast-and-loose with regulations, accounting, and tax rules. Fred, however, did have limits. As far as we know, he did not work directly with New York's organized crime families. But given their roll in labor unions in the 1950s, I have to wonder.

Exactly what incident caused Donald to be sent to a military school (unlike his siblings) is not known. In any case he seems to have straightened out by the time he graduated. He worked for Fred's business while he was in college, generally doing menial construction work, then took on a full time job. At age 22 Donald started being given impressive titles within the complex his father controlled, typically vice-president or director (seat on the Board of Directors). He was paid about $100,000 per year, about $1.5 million in 2026 dollars. He was introduced to the Abrahams and other members of the Trump circle. Donald hoped to move into the more glamorous theater business, but his $70,000 investment in a Broadway Play, Paris Is Out!, quickly turned to dust, a complete flop. In 1970 Donald moved out of his father's mansion, over to a small apartment in the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Cheating was a way of life within the Trump organized crime family, I mean, construction and real estate business. For instance, a company was set up that Donald owned. Fred bought a government-financed project in New Jersey, agreeing to limit profits to win the low-interest loan. But he snuck in $48,000 in costs, per year, to go to Trump's company. For Fred it was a wash, for Donald it was pure profit. The government and renters were the losers.

Abraham Beame became Mayor of New York City in 1974. Donald was not yet 30, but he benefited from his family's long connection with the mayor. This was the year following the Arab Oil Embargo that overnight doubled the price of oil and gasoline. It was the start of the Stagflation Era, an end to the prosperity that had lifted so many Americans upward (at least economically) since the end of World War II. Real estate slumped. Penn Central, one of the biggest real estate holders in the nation and in New York City, had to dump assets on the market to cut expenses and generate cash.

Donald dreamed big. He wanted to buy a big chunk of real estate, the West Side Yards, off of Penn Central. To develop the Yards he would need zoning changes. Penn checked with Mayor Beame. Who said: "Whatever the Trumps want in this city, they get." [Ibid, p. 122]

The Trump crime family, under the emerging leadership of Donald, would got onto many development projects. Most would fail financially. Doing the classic mob boss routine, Trump opened three casinos in Atlantic City, all of which lost money. He proved himself incompetent at business and organized crime.

Then he got a break. He tried acting. In The Apprentice he would act the role of a successful business man. Americans who watched the show were impressed by Donald, not realizing the whole idea was fake. But it earned Trump solid cash and enabled him to sell his name, his brand.

Eventually Donald realized he could make more money working with the Republican Party. Despite his business failures, which his rivals were quiet about for some reason, his long apprenticeship in a mob family finally paid off. He conned the Republican voters, including particularly Christian voters.

Donald Trump aspired to gain the kind of power only a mob boss turned dictator could exercise. As President of the United States he began to monetize the granting of favors, something he had learned from Beame and others. He monetized crypto coins, which should be an obvious scam, but people, particularly financially ignorant young people, bought in.

Criminal regimes usually undermine economies, though sometimes not at first. If Trump stays in power the U.S. economy will fail. That I would be on.