Comey's Lawyers Say Prosecutors Turned to a Mob Informant to Build Their Case
Defense filing claims DOJ sought Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano's input after the former FBI director's indictment
By Nathaniel "Beltway" Steele
Sammy "The Bull" Gravano spent his career building cases from the inside — as an underboss who turned government witness against the Gambino crime family. Now, according to a court filing from lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey, federal prosecutors sought his input on a case of their own: the criminal charges against Comey himself.
Comey's defense team says that after his April indictment, prosecutors consulted Gravano to help shape their prosecution, according to ABC News. The filing does not spell out precisely what role prosecutors wanted Gravano to play, and ABC News' report does not include a Justice Department response to the specific claim. That gap matters — this is a defense allegation made in an adversarial filing, not a confirmed account from prosecutors or an independent investigation.
The claim surfaces as Comey separately asks a judge to throw out the case entirely. According to NPR, Comey argues he is being singled out as a prominent critic of President Trump, a claim that goes to the heart of whether his prosecution reflects ordinary law enforcement or something else.
The Gravano detail, if borne out, would raise obvious questions about the caliber of cooperation federal prosecutors leaned on to build a case against one of the country's former top law enforcement officials. It would not, on its own, prove misconduct. But it would deepen the unusual optics already surrounding a prosecution that has drawn scrutiny for its target as much as its substance.
Neither the underlying indictment's evidentiary basis nor the Justice Department's response to the Gravano allegation has been independently verified beyond the court filing itself. The dismissal motion, and any further disclosures about who advised the prosecution, are now before the judge.
— Compiled from reporting by ABC News and NPR.
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