The Life We Chose by Matt Birkbeck

Author:Matt Birkbeck
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-04-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

The Fixer

Roy Cohn had, for years, been among the most powerful behind-the-scenes dealmakers in New York.

No one was more ruthless or conniving, or even hated, and he enjoyed a national profile that allowed him to threaten, cajole, or terrorize most anyone.

He represented some of the most well-known people in New York, including real estate mogul Donald Trump, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, and Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, the owners of the swanky and popular celebrity disco Studio 54. He had also counted organized crime figures as clients, men Russell called friends, such as Carmine Galante and Anthony Salerno.

The famed—many believed infamous—attorney gained renown in his twenties during his untiring hunt for communists. As the chief counsel for Senator Joseph McCarthy and his House Un-American Activities Committee, Cohn destroyed the lives of hundreds of people, many of them artists and entertainers, with just the slightest accusation of sharing communist sympathies. Cohn reveled in his ruthlessness, and he even sent Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to their grisly deaths in the electric chair in 1953 after successfully prosecuting them as spies for the Soviet Union.

Now, years later, Cohn was at the height of his power and influence. He was the preeminent fixer in New York, using threats, intimidation, and the courts to bulldoze people for his clients. He also guarded his privacy zealously, refuting for years rumors that he was gay and threatening anyone who thought of saying so publicly. There was no one more powerful, and for the right price he held out hope for most anyone, even those who had already been convicted.

“We needed help, and it was Tommy Gambino’s idea, Carlo’s nephew, for Charlie Gelso to draft Russell’s appeals and then have Cohn sign them,” said Billy. “Having Cohn’s signature was supposed to mean something. We didn’t know him, but we knew two dentists in Wilkes-Barre who did know Cohn. They were very, very close to him and we asked them to set up a meeting for us.”

The dentists were both gay and had attended the bacchanalian orgies Cohn hosted at his estate in the Poconos. At Billy’s request and on behalf of Russell, they reached out to Cohn and a meeting was scheduled at the Woodlands.

“Cohn had a house in the Poconos—I think it was in Cresco—and he was whitewater rafting, so he comes up to visit and told us to bring our paperwork,” said Billy. “We meet, we talk, we all get along. He knows who Russell is and he plays the role as if he can help him. So he agreed with our plan to have Charlie Gelso write up the paperwork for the appeal and Cohn would sign it. He knew everybody and had the clout. The plan is for me to go meet him at his office the next week in New York with ten thousand in cash. So I go to his office, which may also have been his home, and went upstairs. He’s a thin, little guy with an ugly face and a gravelly voice and he goes like this: ‘Promise me one thing.

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