The FBI interviewed Salvatore Gravano, former underboss of the Gambino crime family known as "Sammy the Bull," to determine if former FBI Director James Comey understood the mob slang term "86" to mean killing, according to court documents.
Gravano, who had prior familiarity with Comey from Comey's role as lead prosecutor in a 1990s Gambino case, stated in a May 2026 phone call with an FBI case agent that Comey "had to know" what "86" meant, according to a sworn affidavit filed by Comey's lawyer. The affidavit supports Comey's motions to dismiss a case that accuses him of threatening President Donald Trump through a May 2025 Instagram post containing the phrase "8647."
"On May 8, 2026, the case agent had a telephone conversation with Salvatore 'Sammy the Bull' Gravano, the former Gambino crime family underboss who was one of the cooperating witnesses at the United States v. John Gambino trial," the affidavit states.
During the conversation about interview logistics, Gravano reportedly said that "'86' generally means to 'get rid of' and to him, as a 'gangster,' it means 'to kill.'" He added that he believed Comey's post was a call for violence against Trump, but not an admission that Comey himself would carry out such violence.
The U.S. Department of Justice brought two federal charges against Comey in April: threatening the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce. Prosecutors allege that Comey's social media post, which displayed a photo of seashells arranged to spell "8647," was a coded reference to killing Trump, with "86" signifying the slang term for killing and "47" referring to Trump as the 47th U.S. president.
Comey's defense team cited the FBI's interview with Gravano to challenge the prosecution's claim that Comey's prior involvement with the Gambino prosecution meant he understood "86" as a reference to killing. Although Gravano expressed his belief that Comey "had to know" the term's mob meaning, he stated he did not recall ever discussing it with Comey. FBI searches of materials from the Gambino case reportedly found no references to "86."
Comey has maintained that he found the seashell display on a beach and did not arrange it. He also stated that he did not realize some people would interpret "86 47" as a violent message. In a May 2025 interview, Comey said he took down the post shortly after publishing it because he did not want to be associated with violence. He described the arrangement as a "clever way to express a political view" and expressed difficulty believing it had dark intentions, either on his part or his spouse's.