'Sammy the Bull" tells FBI that James Comey 'had to know' what '86' means

Key Points:

• The FBI interviewed Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, former Gambino crime family underboss, regarding whether ex-FBI Director James Comey understood the mob slang term "86," which means to kill someone, in relation to Comey's 2025 Instagram post "8647."
• Gravano told an FBI agent that Comey "had to know" the meaning of "86" from his prosecution of the Gambino family in the 1990s, but Gravano did not recall discussing the term directly with Comey.
• Comey faces federal charges of threatening President Donald Trump through his Instagram post, which prosecutors allege was a coded call for violence with "86" meaning kill and "47" referring to Trump as the 47th president.
• Gravano believed the post was a call for violence but did not interpret it as Comey personally threatening to kill Trump; Comey has denied any violent intent and said he removed the post after realizing some interpreted it as a threat.
• Comey's defense used Gravano's interview to argue that Comey's prosecution of the Gambino family did not necessarily mean he understood "86" as a killing reference, noting no mention of "86" was found in the Gambino case materials.