
David Bogatin (1946-) was a Russian Mafia mobster who was most notable for his partnership with the Colombo crime family in its gasoline bootlegging business during the 1980s and for his $6 million purchase of condominiums at Trump Tower in 1984, leading to Bogatin's alleged ties to Donald Trump being investigated during special counsel Robert Mueller's 2017-2019 investigation into Trump's illicit dealings.
Biography[]
David Bogatin was born in the Soviet Union in 1946, and he served as a pilot in the Soviet Army and fought in the Vietnam War, shooting down American planes over North Vietnam. In 1977, he emigrated to the United States with just $3 in his pocket, and he became involved with the Russian Mafia in New York City, becoming a major gasoline bootlegger. Bogatin's brother ran a $150 million stock scam with Semion Mogilevich, the boss of bosses of the Russian Mafia, He partnered with Colombo crime family mobster Michael Franzese during the 1980s, and, in 1984, he and Franzese bought condominiums at Trump Tower for $6 million to launder their money. In 1987, he pled guilty to being "one of the biggest gasoline bootleggers in the nation", only to flee two months later and turn up in Poland running the first private bank there. During Robert Mueller's investigation into Donald Trump's Russian ties, the investigators attempted to establish a "mob connection" by linking Trump to Bogatin, who was said by Franzese to have had a cousin in the KGB.