Former President Trump posed for picture with Philly mob boss Joey Merlino

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Trump posed for the photo with Merlino earlier this month at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach. The two, along with an unidentified third man, flash Trump’s customary “thumbs-up” hand signs and smiles while wearing golfing attire.



The photo, obtained by The Inquirer, is likely to renew concerns among Trump loyalists eager to help him retake the White House next year that he still lacks the sort of protective political infrastructure that would prevent a candidate for president from taking a picture with a convicted mobster whose last stint in federal prison ended in mid-2020.



https://www.inquirer.com/politics/p...phia-mob-photo-golf-club-20230123.html#loaded
 
Merlino and Trump, the Inquirer said, “share an affinity for golf and an aversion to cooperating witnesses who ‘flip’ to help federal investigators”.

Trump made his view clear in 2018, when his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who went to jail on campaign finance charges and for lying to Congress, began to cooperate with investigators looking into Trump’s links to Russia.

“It’s called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal,” Trump said then. “It’s not a fair thing, but that’s why he did it. He made a very good deal.”

The same year, after being sentenced, Merlino said: “President Trump was right. They need to outlaw the flippers.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/23/trump-philadelphia-mobster-photo
 
Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 13, 1962) is an Italian-American mobster and reputed boss of the Philadelphia crime family. He rose to power in the mid-nineties after he allegedly fought a war for control of the criminal organization. He has led the crime family in gambling, loan sharking, drug trafficking, and extortion. In comparison to other traditional mob bosses who shunned the limelight, Merlino has interacted regularly with the media and the public, often openly providing charity and hosting events to benefit indigent people in Philadelphia, drawing comparisons to the similarly outgoing, conspicuous, and ostensibly charitable late New York crime boss John Gotti. He is the son of deceased Philadelphia crime family underboss Chuckie Merlino.

With the help of boss-turned-informant Ralph Natale, Merlino was convicted of several RICO charges including racketeering, illegal gambling and extortion, in 2001, and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Since his release from prison in 2011, the FBI and organized crime reporters believe he continues to run the Philadelphia–South Jersey Mafia.
 
guno said:
Joseph Salvatore "Skinny Joey" Merlino (born March 13, 1962) is an Italian-American mobster and reputed boss of the Philadelphia crime family. He rose to power in the mid-nineties after he allegedly fought a war for control of the criminal organization. He has led the crime family in gambling, loan sharking, drug trafficking, and extortion. In comparison to other traditional mob bosses who shunned the limelight, Merlino has interacted regularly with the media and the public, often openly providing charity and hosting events to benefit indigent people in Philadelphia, drawing comparisons to the similarly outgoing, conspicuous, and ostensibly charitable late New York crime boss John Gotti. He is the son of deceased Philadelphia crime family underboss Chuckie Merlino.

With the help of boss-turned-informant Ralph Natale, Merlino was convicted of several RICO charges including racketeering, illegal gambling and extortion, in 2001, and sentenced to 14 years in prison. Since his release from prison in 2011, the FBI and organized crime reporters believe he continues to run the Philadelphia–South Jersey Mafia.
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How soon will the Inquirer get death threats.
 
Lots of people do now however look at the shirts of people they stand in pictures with to see if maybe someone is setting them up.
 
trump has had long time connections to organized crime. he was a real throwback among people involved with major construction projects. Most of them would never cozy up with mobsters.

The obvious difference was that trump likes falsifying expense reports, whereas most other people involved with major construction projects consider that a crime.
 
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