The FBI turned to one of the country’s most infamous former mobsters as investigators sought evidence that former bureau director James Comey intended to threaten President Donald Trump with an Instagram photograph reading “86 47,” newly filed court records show.Agents interviewed former Gambino crime family underboss Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano in May, according to motions filed Tuesday evening by Comey’s attorneys. The unusual investigative step was part of an attempt to establish that Comey would have learned a supposedly violent meaning of “86” while prosecuting organized crime cases early in his legal career.Comey was indicted in April on charges stemming from a May 2025 photograph of seashells arranged as “86 47,” a reference to Trump as the 47th president. The Justice Department maintains that the post constituted a threat against Trump. Comey removed it after controversy erupted and said he understood “86” to mean removing or getting rid of something, not killing anyone.
According to the defense’s latest filing, Gravano told investigators that law enforcement officers might recognize a violent definition of “86,” but that mobsters themselves would be unlikely to use the expression because it was too obvious. He also did not recall discussing the term with Comey or hearing it used during a mob prosecution on which Comey worked, the defense said.Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, former underboss in the Gambino crime family, is sworn in at a hearing of the Senate Permanent Investigation subcommittee on Capitol Hill in April 1993. (AP Photo/John Dunn)
