Trump's Casino Was Fined $650,000 for Catering to a Racist Mobster
Despite repeated denials, a new report suggests Donald Trump had a long-standing relationship with a racist mobster who ultimately cost the Trump casino $650,000 in fines because he didn’t like black croupiers.
According to a new report by Michael Isikoff for Yahoo, Trump and his casino for years catered to Robert LiButti, a gambling-addicted, John Gotti-affiliated mobster who didn’t like “women, blacks or other minorities.”
He also made it clear that “he did not want women, blacks or other minorities dealing or supervising his games,” according to one filing by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement. He referred to one Trump Plaza floor person as a “dumb c***” and “dumb bitch,” another as a “Jew broad” and an African-American dealer as a “black bastard.” Finding himself playing with an African-American at his craps table, LiButti shouted, “Shoot the f***ing dice. Shoot the f***ing dice like you’re f***ing some n*****,” according to testimony in the case.
And according to the Casino Control Commission, the Trump Plaza—as it was called before Trump filed for bankruptcy—was happy to accommodate LiButti, prompting nine employees to file complaints that ultimately resulted in a $200,000 fine.
(According to Isikoff, the casino did more than that, buying LiButti—a high-roller who spent “millions”—at least nine luxury vehicles worth $1.6 million, five European vacations worth $104,338, $279,978 worth of event tickets, $121,712 worth of jewelry, and $40,020 in champagne. For these favors, the casino was also fined $450,000.)
Even so, Trump to this day claims he doesn’t know LiButti.
“During the years I very successfully ran the casino business, I knew many high rollers. I assume Mr. LiButti was one of them, but I don’t recognize the name,” Trump said, via a spokesperson, in an email to Yahoo.
But LiButti, in a 1991 conversation with someone secretly working with New Jersey police, indicated otherwise.
“I’m very close with him,” LiButti said, adding later, “I told him this right in the helicopter with, ah, Ivana and my daughter one night.”
LiButti’s daughter also recalls spending quality time with Trump and his family.
“Of course he knew him. I flew in the [Trump] helicopter with [Trump’s then wife] Ivana and the kids. My dad flew it up and down [to Atlantic City],” she told Yahoo. “My 35th birthday party was at the Plaza and Donald was there. After the party, we went on his boat, his big yacht. I like Trump, but it pisses me off that he denies knowing my father. That hurts me.”
Those accounts are also corroborated by John R. O’Donnell, the former president of the Trump Plaza casino who wrote an anecdote in the 1991 book, “Trumped!: The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump — His Cunning Rise and Spectacular Fall,” about LiButti selling Trump a lame $500,000 horse
“Bob [LiButti] was selling him the horse, for sure,” O’Donnell confirmed to Yahoo. “Everything in the book is true.”
