5 Trump Properties He Doesn't Like To Talk About

5

He Almost Built an Honest-To-God Castle In The Middle Of NYC

I don't mean to be hyperbolic, but it seems like Donald Trump might have an ego. As a possible example, consider the time he tried to build an actual fucking castle, like a deranged king of old, in the middle of Manhattan.

Anthony van DyckHopefully, this king.

Christened "Trump Castle" (natch), the development would have comprised "six cylinders of varying heights with gold-leafed, coned and crenelated tops," built to a height of 60 stories, complete with a drawbridge and moat. In an interview, the chief architect for this project described Trump as "mad and wonderful," and while I can't vouch for the latter, he's far from the only one to vouch for the former. Despite initially teaming up with the Trump Organization, the owners of the site, Prudential Insurance, backed out of the project after they realized that the estimated $200 million cost would leave them with the most expensive square footage in the city. As one executive explained, "We didn't want to do a deal that depended on selling apartments for $1.5 million each to break even."

It's not all bad news, however. He eventually managed to make Trump Castle a reality ... in New Jersey. And it was truly a property fit for a king:

4

Donald J. Trump State Park Is A Poisonous Hellhole

When you imagine Trump properties, you probably don't picture beautiful rolling vistas, glorious sunsets, and lush greenery -- just hideous gold-plated carbuncles with zero redeeming features, much like their owner. And then there's Donald J. Trump State Park, a 400-acre park outside of Westchester, New York, which has all of these beautiful features and much, much more!

Or it did once, before the garbage people moved in.

3

An Extremely Suspicious Random Piece Of Florida Forest

Trump's business interests tend to stick to the cities -- not just because that's where the money and fast food restaurants are, but also because that's where he's liable to get the most attention, a commodity he values more than oxygen. So you're probably wondering why he owns, for no apparent particular reason, a random quarter-acre lot of woodland in Florida. The lot isn't anywhere near Mar-a-Lago, and contains nothing of any value, like roads, pavement, buildings, or even utilities. It is completely inaccessible without, as one local put it, "a Jeep, a helicopter or a parachute."

He clearly has a reason for owning the property. Via the Trump Organization, he pays the $69.82 taxes for the lot every year without fail -- something that he can't even be bothered to do for his other properties. And besides, do you know how much this guy doesn't like paying taxes? If he didn't want to pay taxes on this lot, he wouldn't.

Highlands County Property ApraiserSure, that checks out as a neighborhood where Donald Trump would spend time.

2

The Beverly Hills Mansion Donated To Trump By A Scammer For $0

Now how 'bout that time a notorious scam artist gifted Trump a mansion for the sweet price of absolutely nothing?

In 2008, The Apprentice moved to the West Coast, and Trump needed some cool digs he could use to grab some (relative) beauty sleep. At the same time, quite coincidentally, an Egyptian man by the name of Mokless Girgis bought a 10,000 square foot mansion on Rodeo Drive for a cool $10.3 million. Six weeks later, he transferred the property to a shell company run by one Donald "Julio" Trump.

According to filing made by Mr. Girgis, there was a perfectly innocent explanation for all of this: His name was put on the deeds to the property by mistake, when in actuality it was Trump who bought it all along. He was but an innocent bystander in all of this, a situation that happens all the time, or so we've heard. Of the five real estate lawyers who reviewed the deal on behalf of Reveal and the Center for Investigative Reporting, none of them had ever witnessed anything like this. Misspellings of names, yes. Improper punctuation, yes. Deeding the house to some rando like the rejected plot of an '80s comedy? Hell no.

1

The Atlantic City Nightclub Owned By The Actual Mafia

Judging by the way Trump eagerly cuddles up to despots, it's not a huge leap to suggest that his love of burly gun-toting men possibly drove him into the arms of the mob in his pre-presidential years. There's a surprising amount of evidence for that conclusion, but here's one that few talk about. He bought a nightclub for $1.1 million from a dangerous Philadelphia mafioso.

In 1982, Trump wanted more land (specifically, more room to expand the parking facilities of the Trump Plaza casino hotel in Atlantic City, NJ), so he decided to buy up a neighboring property, a dilapidated nightclub known as "The Bistro." The thing was, that club was owned by two local mafiosi, Frank Narducci Jr., and Salvatore Testa -- the latter known as the "Crowned Prince of the Philadelphia Mob." On account him on being a hitman. In the years following the sale, Narducci would be sent to prison, while Testa was shot to death.

Philadelphia Police Dept., F.B.I.All pretty standard real estate procedure so far ...