1. Roy Marcus Cohn was an American lawyer and prosecutor.
50 Facts About Roy Cohn
1. 2.
Roy Cohn represented and mentored Donald Trump during Trump's early business career.
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Roy Cohn rose to prominence as a US Department of Justice prosecutor at the espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, where he successfully prosecuted the Rosenbergs, which led to their conviction and execution in 1953.
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In 1986, Roy Cohn was disbarred by the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court for unethical conduct after attempting to defraud a dying client by forcing him to sign a will amendment leaving him his fortune.
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Roy Cohn died five weeks later from AIDS-related complications, having vehemently denied that he was HIV-positive.
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Roy Cohn has been the subject of many media portrayals before and since his death.
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When Roy Cohn's father insisted that his son be sent to a summer camp, his mother rented a house near the camp and her presence cast a pall over his experience.
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In personal interactions, Roy Cohn showed tenderness which was absent from his public persona, but he was vain and deeply insecure.
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The bank failed in 1931 during the Great Depression, and its then-president Bernie Marcus, Roy Cohn's uncle, was convicted of fraud.
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Bernie Marcus was imprisoned at Sing Sing, and the young Roy Cohn frequently visited him there.
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Roy Cohn became an assistant US attorney later that month.
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That same year, Roy Cohn became a board member of the American Jewish League Against Communism.
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Roy Cohn played a prominent role in the 1951 espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
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Roy Cohn said in his autobiography that his own influence had led to both Chief Prosecutor Saypol and Judge Irving Kaufman being appointed to the case.
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Roy Cohn further said that Kaufman imposed the death penalty based on his personal recommendation.
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Roy Cohn assisted McCarthy with his work for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, becoming known for his aggressive questioning of suspected Communists.
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Roy Cohn preferred not to hold hearings in open forums, which went well with McCarthy's preference for holding "executive sessions" and "off-the-record" sessions away from the Capitol to minimize public scrutiny and to question witnesses with relative impunity.
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Roy Cohn was given free rein in pursuit of many investigations, with McCarthy joining in only for the more publicized sessions.
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McCarthy and Roy Cohn were responsible for the firing of many gay men from government employment, and strong-armed opponents into silence using rumors of their homosexuality.
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When Schine was drafted into the US Army in 1953, Roy Cohn made extensive efforts to procure special treatment for him, even threatening to "wreck the Army" if his demands were not met.
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Roy Cohn's clients included Donald Trump; New York Yankees baseball club owner George Steinbrenner; Aristotle Onassis; Mafia figures Tony Salerno, Carmine Galante, John Gotti and Mario Gigante; Studio 54 owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager; the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York; Texas financier and philanthropist Shearn Moody Jr.
22.
In 1979, Roy Cohn became a member of the Western Goals Foundation; he served on the board of directors with Edward Teller.
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Roy Cohn maintained close ties in conservative political circles, serving as an informal advisor to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
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Roy Cohn worked on the 1980 Reagan campaign, where he befriended Roger Stone.
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Stone said Roy Cohn gave him a suitcase that Stone avoided opening and, as instructed by Roy Cohn, he dropped it off at the office of a lawyer influential in Liberal Party circles.
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Rupert Murdoch was a client, and Roy Cohn repeatedly pressured President Ronald Reagan to further Murdoch's interests.
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Roy Cohn is credited with introducing Trump and Murdoch, in the mid-1970s, marking the beginning of what was to be a long association between the two.
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Roy Cohn is alleged to have introduced Salerno to Trump which later led to Salerno aiding Trump in the construction of Trump Tower by providing concrete at inflated prices.
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Roy Cohn was the grand-nephew of Joshua Lionel Cowen, founder of the Lionel model train company.
30.
In 1963, Roy Cohn was forced to resign from the company after losing a proxy fight.
31.
The last charge arose from an incident in 1975, when Roy Cohn entered the hospital room of the dying and unconscious Lewis Rosenstiel, forced a pen into his hand, and lifted it to a document appointing himself and Cathy Frank, Rosenstiel's granddaughter, executors.
32.
In 1984, Roy Cohn was diagnosed with AIDS and attempted to keep his condition secret while receiving experimental drug treatment.
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Roy Cohn participated in clinical trials of AZT, a drug initially synthesized to treat cancer but later developed as the first anti-HIV agent for AIDS patients.
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Roy Cohn insisted until his dying day that his disease was liver cancer.
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Roy Cohn died on August 2,1986, in Bethesda, Maryland, of complications from AIDS, at the age of 59.
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Roy Cohn was buried in Union Field Cemetery in Queens, New York.
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Roy Cohn's tombstone describes him as a lawyer and a patriot.
38.
Roy Cohn dated Barbara Walters in college and remained friends with her.
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Roy Cohn told journalists that Trump phoned him 15 to 20 times a day and according to Christine Seymour, his long-time switchboard operator, Trump was the last person to speak to Roy Cohn on the phone before he died in 1986.
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Roy Cohn met Alan Dershowitz when they worked together on the Claus von Bulow case and praised Dershowitz's support for Israel.
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The young Roy Cohn attached himself to several older powerful men who, in return, provided Roy Cohn with assistance.
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Roy Cohn always seemed to have these young blond boys around.
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Roy Cohn knew how to manipulate the press and dictate stories to the New York tabloids.
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Roy Cohn was like a caged animal who would go after you the minute the cage door was opened.
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Several people have asserted that Roy Cohn had considerable influence on the presidency of Donald Trump.
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Roy Cohn's eyes were the palest blue, all the more startling because they appeared to protrude from the sides of his head.
47.
Roy Cohn had been played numerous times on both film and television.
48.
Roy Cohn is name checked in the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start the Fire".
49.
The Apprentice is a 2024 independent biographical drama film that examines Trump's career as a real estate businessman in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s, including his relationship with Roy Cohn portraying himself as Trump's attorney and mentor; the film was nominated for two Academy Awards, including for Jeremy Strong's portrayal of Cohn.
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The film explores their friendship while Roy Cohn is shown leading an actively gay lifestyle in New York City while forming a closer business relationship with Trump.