James Comey spent his career telling juries that criminals speak in code.
Federal agents tracked down the mobster who worked alongside him and asked him one question about their old prosecutor.
What "Sammy the Bull" Gravano told the FBI about James Comey is now sitting in a court filing.
Sammy the Bull Told the FBI James Comey Had To Know What "86" Meant
Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano spent decades inside the Gambino crime family before he flipped and helped put John Gotti behind bars.
James Comey was the lead prosecutor on the case that used Gravano's cooperation, United States v. John Gambino et al., back in the 1990s. That history is exactly why the FBI picked up the phone and called him in May.
According to a sworn affidavit filed by Comey's attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald, an FBI case agent spoke with Gravano on May 8, 2026, to arrange a formal interview.
During that call, Gravano stated his belief that Comey "had to know" what the term "86" meant "as it related to killing someone."
Gravano knows the term from the inside. He confessed to involvement in 19 murders before he became a government witness.
When the FBI sat him down for a recorded, 25-minute interview, he told them "86" generally means to "get rid of," and to him, as he put it, "as a gangster," it means "to kill." Gravano didn’t look up the word. He used it.
Comey has spent over a year insisting he had no idea "86 47" carried any violent meaning when he posted a photo of seashells arranged to spell it out on a North Carolina beach in May 2025.
deleted the post hours later and told MSNBC he never thought of it as a threat, calling it "a clever way to express a political view."
FBI Searched Gambino Case Files for Evidence Comey Knew the "86 47" Meaning
Comey's defense team is using the affidavit to argue Gravano never personally discussed the term with their client – as if a man who prosecuted the Gambino family needed a private tutorial from a hitman to understand mob slang.
Gravano went on the record about his old prosecutor and reached his own conclusion. Comey did not need a personal conversation about slang. He needed a career spent inside the world where that slang gets used to kill people.
Comey has leaned on this defense since the Justice Department indicted him for threatening President Trump. Prosecutors say a reasonable person seeing "86 47" would interpret it as a serious expression of intent to harm the 47th president. Comey's lawyers say it is common political opposition.
FBI Director Kash Patel said Comey "disgracefully encouraged a threat on President Trump's life and posted it on Instagram for the world to see," and that as a former FBI director he "knew full well the attention and consequences of making such a post."
Trump Said It First and Comey's Own Family Agreed on the "86 47" Seashell Post
President Trump reached the same conclusion Gravano did.
Within a day of the post going up, Trump told Fox News that Comey "knew exactly what that meant," adding, "A child knows what that meant. If you're the FBI director and you don't know what that meant, that meant assassination."
Comey's own family is not behind his explanation either. Court records show a Comey relative texted his wife, Patrice, calling the seashell photo a "call for violence" and accusing the couple of having "gone off the deep end" over their opposition to Trump.
Comey is set for trial in October before U.S. District Judge Louise Flanagan, assuming his pending motions to dismiss do not end the case first.
His lawyers are arguing the prosecution amounts to a vindictive campaign driven by the president's years of animosity toward Comey. The Justice Department is standing by its case, telling the court there is "no serious dispute" that Comey's post could reasonably be read as a threat.
The Gambino underboss the FBI trusted enough to convict Gotti has now gone on the record about the man who prosecuted the mob. Sammy the Bull says James Comey knew.
Sources:
- Robert McGreevy, "FBI asked 'Sammy the Bull' if ex-Gambino mob prosecutor Comey knew meaning of '86': court filing," Fox News, August 22, 2026.
- Rusty Weiss, "Court Records: Here's What James Comey's Own Relative Thought of the '86 47' Post," RedState, August 20, 2026.
- Mariane Angela, "Tulsi Gabbard Says Comey Spent Career 'Prosecuting Mobsters' And Understood 'Dangerous' 'Lingo' He Posted On Instagram," The Daily Caller.
- "Office of Public Affairs: Federal Grand Jury Indicts Former FBI Director James Comey for Threats to Harm President Trump," U.S. Department of Justice, April 28, 2026.
