Free The Making of Donald Trump by David Cay Johnston

anything else. As a state casino lawyer told me shortly after I arrived in Atlantic City in 1988, “We regulate what goes on involving gaming, not what people do in the privacy of hotel rooms.”
    Another glaring question is whether Trump financed any of Weichselbaum’s activities. Trump was known to be an avid investor seeking big returns, whether through greenmailing competing casino companies—buying controlling shares in rival casino companies and selling back those shares at a higher price—or using Roy Cohn’s influence with mob-owned companies and mob-controlled unions.
    Joey Weichselbaum’s pay and perks were unusual.Even though he had officially left the twice-failed helicopter company, Weichselbaum continued to receive his $100,000 annual salary. He also retained his company car and driver. All the while, he was deeply involved in drug trafficking in Florida,Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, according to his 1985 indictment by a federal grand jury in Cincinnati. One shipment alone involved three-quarters of a ton of marijuana.
    In addition to his helicopter business, Joey Weichselbaum was an officer at a used-car dealership north of Miami—Bradford Motors, which he also owned in partnership with his brother. Couriers from Colombia delivered drugs there, which were sometimes sold on the spot. According to the indictment, Weichselbaum put cocaine in vehicles himself or handed it over to couriers who delivered it to buyers. The dealership, essentially a front for drug trafficking, paid phony commissions for the sale of cars in an effort to hide the real business, as court records show.
    As a casino owner in Atlantic City, Trump had every reason to avoid business dealings with known criminals, which Weichselbaum was even before the drug trafficking and tax evasion charges in Cincinnati. Under the New Jersey Casino Control Act, Trump and all casino owners were “required to establish by clear and convincing evidence” his or her “good character, honesty and integrity. Such information shall include, without limitation, information pertaining to family, habits, character, reputation, criminal and arrest record, business activities, financial affairs, and business, professional and personal associates.”
    Yet, instead of dropping the helicopter service, Trump retained American Business Aviation for his casino shuttles and to service his personal helicopter. Trump later acquired three helicopters when he divvied up the old Resorts International casino company in a deal with entertainer Merv Griffin. Trump got the unfinished Taj Mahal casino hotel, Merv the aging Resorts hotel (the original Atlantic City casino). Despite having these three choppers, Trump kept paying more than $2 million per year for Weichselbaum copters.
    Two months after Weichselbaum was indicted, the Weichselbaum brothers rented apartment 32-C at the Trump Plaza condominiums on East 61st Street in Manhattan. Trump personally owned apartment 32-C. The rental terms were unusual. Rent was $7,000 per month, which was at the low end of a reasonable rate. The brothers paid $3,000 a month in cash—using checks made out to Donald J. Trump personally—and paid the rest in helicopter services. Short of a costly forensic audit, it would be impossible for any law enforcement agency, including New Jersey casino regulators, to ascertain whether the brothers actually paid any more than the cash rent. What motivated Trump to agree to this arrangement has never been explained.
    When Weichselbaum made a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to one of the eighteen counts in the Cincinnati case, something very suspicious happened. His case was transferred out of Ohio for the guilty plea and the sentencing. Logically, the case might have gone to South Florida, where Bradford Motors was located, or to New York, where Weichselbaum lived. Indeed, that is exactly whatWeichselbaum’s Ohio lawyer, Arnold Morelli, sought in a January 30, 1986, motion requesting his case