'Literally no support for the central allegation': Ex-mob prosecutor turned thorn in Trump's side picks apart DOJ's '8647' case against Comey

A longtime mob prosecutor and former federal judge who reached out to James Comey's daughter to offer his expertise has filed a sworn affidavit backing the ex-FBI director, writing that "86" is "definitely not" mafia terminology "in any way, shape, or form, let alone to refer to killing or murder."

Comey's lawyers, headlined by Patrick Fitzgerald, have already laid the groundwork for showing that an Instagram photo post of seashells in an "8647" formation cannot be a "true threat." Now the defense has added John Gleeson.

If Gleeson's name seems familiar, that may be because he was one of the amici curiae not long ago appointed by a federal judge in Florida to argue whether the court had jurisdiction over President Donald Trump's lawsuit against the IRS. Formerly a Joe Biden-appointed member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission, Gleeson also served as a court-appointed amicus during Trump's first term, when he ripped the DOJ for dropping Michael Flynn's prosecution despite the defendant "knowingly and voluntarily" pleading guilty twice.

According to the former Brooklyn judge's affidavit, Gleeson has "never" been friends with James Comey, but he reached out to the defendant's daughter when he heard about the seashells indictment, to "offer [his] assistance in the event expert testimony regarding mafia jargon relating to murder might be useful."

Maurene Comey railed against "abuses of power" after she was fired by Trump last summer from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York, and her lawsuit against the administration over her "illegal termination" is ongoing.

"I submit this affidavit in support of Defendant James Comey's motion to dismiss the indictment," Gleeson's statement began. "The term '86' in any form—numerals, letters, written, spoken—is not part of the mafia lexicon at all, let alone used as a reference to killing someone."

"I directly supervised the investigations and prosecutions of more than 100 members of the mafia. I was lead counsel in the prosecution of John Gotti in 1992, in which he was convicted of, among many other crimes, five murders and a conspiracy to commit murder. I was also lead counsel in the trial that same year of Victor Orena, the Acting Boss of the Colombo Family, in which he was convicted of, among other crimes, murder and conspiracy to murder," said Gleeson, suggesting that makes him as well-positioned as anyone to testify about how mobsters talk.

On a related point, Comey's team on Tuesday also filed a motion to dismiss the prosecution as vindictive and selective, arguing the president has been crystal clear about his hopes for the defendant, having "shared an image of several political enemies, including Mr. Comey, in artificial mugshots and prison jumpsuits" and having already "direct[ed]" another failed prosecution, the filing added.

"This is the second indictment that the DOJ has obtained against Mr. Comey in less than a year—both at President Trump's direction," the memorandum said, referring to the DOJ's failed Eastern District of Virginia false statements case. "A White House aide improperly installed as U.S. Attorney swiftly executed that directive, securing an indictment in the Eastern District of Virginia. Yet because that indictment was fatally defective, a district court quickly dismissed it. The President thereafter fired the Attorney General."

Having asserted that Trump is directing a baseless prosecution, Comey's lawyers note the president and allies have contemporaneously boosted a meaning of "86" that defies dictionary definitions, "context, precedent, and common sense."

The FBI, in search warrant applications, relied on the "slanted" say-so of Person-1 — someone "who knew Patrice Comey," the defendant's wife, and believed "86" meant to "kill" because Trump's twice-disbarred former attorney Rudy Giuliani said as much online. That's according to court documents seeking to "suppress the evidence derived from the warrants."

"[T]hat person had zero insight into Mr. Comey's mental state and, in fact, had initially interpreted the term '86' to be restaurant lingo for running out of a food item," the defense said. "Moreover, Person-1 had been exposed to a false claim that '86' had been used to connote violence in specific cases Mr. Comey prosecuted."

Although the president has said "probably, I don't know" when asked if Comey's post put his life in "danger," Trump has also claimed "movies" prove that "86 'em'" is a "mob term" that "means kill 'em."

Gleeson has answered that the seashells case is built on sand, as "there is literally no support for the central allegation on which the case rests."

"I understand that a central allegation in this case is that '86 47′ is, according to the government, something 'a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm'  to a person. And I further understand that that accusation is based on the assertion that '86' is a mob term for 'kill him,' and that when a mob boss orders a murder he says '86 'em' or 'Six 'em,'" the filing said.

That's "preposterous" and "would be laughable" if Comey's freedom wasn't at stake, he said.

"I have never come into contact with a single recorded conversation where a mafia member uses '86' in any way, shape, or form, let alone to refer to killing or murder," Gleeson concluded. "Nor have I come into contact with any such reference to '86' in my thousands of hours of debriefings and conversations with cooperating witnesses in mafia cases."

Notably, Gleeson's prosecutorial days at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York overlapped with Giuliani's time as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.