There have always been rumours around the plans for building a Sydney casino which Donald Trump had in the 80s. The fact that they have never resulted in such a project was always found somehow mysterious, especially considering that the reason for that has never been revealed so far.
A report of The Australian has now lifted the curtain, saying that the New South Wales (NSW) Government suspended the casino in Sydney due to alleged “mafia connections”. According to the report, the Darling Harbour casino project that would result in opening the first casino in Sydney was scraped after the NSW Police Board had presented a high-level report describing the project as dangerous in case that the local Government had decided to give it the green light.
Back in 1987, the joint venture of Trump with the Kern Corporation based in Queensland was one of the four competitors for the casino project. At that time, two casinos in Atlantic City – Trump’s Castle and Trump Plaza – were owned by the now-president of the US, who was also about to open the Trump Taj Mahal.
According to documents, the Unsworth Labour cabinet held a meeting at the beginning of May 1987 in order to discuss the proposals of the four bidders for the project. There was also a financial report according to which the Trump-led consortium had exaggerated the expected revenues that the casino would have brought. As mentioned above, there were three other companies that made a bid for the casino apart from from the Trump-Kern joint venture – Hong Kong Macau Sydney consortium, Australian Federal Hotels and Sabemo, as well as the Genting Berhad with Civil and Civic.
All but one bidders – Genting Berhand – were investigated by New South West Police Board, with them then being eliminated from the project that was later abandoned. At the time when the Cabinet met in May 1987, it summarised the position of the police board finding the Trump-Kern consortium’s bid as unacceptable.
As mentioned above, the reason which resulted in the joint venture’s casino bid to be killed off were Trump’s dealings with mob-related personalities. The associations of the now-president of the US with the mafia started after he purchased a nightclub once owned by two mafia members – Salvie Testa and Frank Narducci Jr – who have reportedly had been working for Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo known as an Atlantic City’s mob boss, in order to enlarge his Trump Plaza at the beginning of the 80s.
The acquisition of the nightclub only fuelled rumours of Donald Trump’s dealings with mobsters, despite the fact that Trump has immediately denied being related to them in any way other than simply purchasing the property for $1.1 million. Still, he confessed that it was a common practice in the 80s to use mob-linked companies to purchase properties where casinos had been built.
And while the local Police was against the Trump-Kern bid for the casino project, the regulatory authority responsible for the approval – the Casino Control Division of the New South Wales Treasury – greenlighted the US-Australia consortium for the casino. Despite the allegations for his associations with the mafia, Trump has never been officially charged for any mob relations.
- Author
Daniel Williams
