The Man Who Taught Trump the Dark Art of Politics

A legal executioner, he was the toughest, meanest, vilest, and one of the most brilliant lawyers in America. [ view in [browser](. add esquire@newsletter.esquire.com to your address book ] [Esquire]( [Sunday Reads] FOLLOW US [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Pinterest]( [Instagram]( [You Tube]( [Google Plus]( [The Man Who Taught Trump the Dark Art of Politics]( Don't mess with Roy Cohn. The "21" once did. The restaurant spa of the rich and powerful used to seat Roy in Siberia, upstairs in a corner with the tourists. One day Roy called and made a reservation for four at 8:00 P.M. Purposely arriving ten minutes early, he was brusquely led to his usual far nook. Promptly at 8:00 p.m., the Duke and Duchess of Windsor entered the room. "Ten captains stood up," as Roy remembers it, and tried to steer the Duke and Duchess to a choice table. From the corner of the room, Roy waved to his dinner guests. They waved back, pulling away from the captains to join their friend. "Please, Mr. Cohn," the captains beseeched him. "Allow us to give you a more comfortable table." He wouldn't hear of it. "Roy loved it," recalls his boyhood friend William Fugazy. "He fixed them. That was his way of showing them. Now he gets the good tables." [READ MORE]( [MORE FROM ESQUIRE] [Esquire]( [What Chris Hayes Learned About Police on the Bronx Streets Where He Grew Up]( "Law and order" means one thing. [Read On]( [Esquire]( [Five Award-Winning American Artists on How Federal Funds Launched Their Careers]( One NEA grant can change the cultural fabric of a nation—but Trump wants to end that. [Read On]( [Esquire]( [Here We Go Again. Another Airline Confrontation.]( No one is safe on an airplane. [Read On]( [Esquire]( [Supporting Science is as American as the Constitution and the Founding Fathers]( Scientific progress and American democracy are inextricably bound for their mutual survival. [Read On]( [Esquire]( [Bill Maher Wants Everyone to Stop Talking About Colonizing Mars]( "We hear a lot about putting America first. Let's put Earth first." [Read On]( [Unsubscribe]( • [Privacy Policy]( [esquire.com]( ©2017 Hearst Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Email Privacy, 300 W 57th St., Fl. 19 (sta 1-1), New York, NY 10019