FBI Questioned Mobster Gravano on Whether Comey Understood ’86’ Slang in Threat Case

Federal prosecutors questioned organized crime figure Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano about whether former FBI Director James Comey likely understood mob terminology during an investigation into a controversial social media post. The May 2026 phone interview was documented in court filings related to charges against Comey in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Gravano, the former underboss of the Gambino crime family, had prior contact with Comey during the 1990s when Comey served as lead prosecutor in United States v. John Gambino et al. According to an affidavit filed by Comey’s attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, Gravano stated that Comey “had to know” what the term “86” meant in a criminal context, though Gravano said he never discussed the slang directly with Comey.

The FBI charged Comey in April with threatening President Donald Trump through a May 2025 Instagram post displaying seashells arranged on a beach with the caption “8647.” Federal prosecutors alleged the image referenced killing Trump, with “86” representing slang for assassination and “47” denoting Trump’s presidential number.

During the 25-minute recorded interview, Gravano explained that “86” generally means to “get rid of” someone and, from his perspective as a mobster, specifically means “to kill.” He acknowledged believing the post constituted a call for violence against Trump but stated he did not interpret it as Comey personally threatening to commit violence.

Comey’s defense team used Gravano’s testimony to undermine prosecutors’ assertion that Comey’s history prosecuting Gambino cases meant he would understand “86” as a murder reference. The filing noted that FBI searches of case materials from the Gambino prosecution uncovered no references to the term.

Comey has maintained he discovered the seashell arrangement on a beach without arranging it himself and did not realize observers would interpret the caption as threatening. During a May 2025 interview with MSNBC, Comey stated he removed the post after learning of violent interpretations but denied any dark intention behind the original posting.