What Von Hoffman calls the "Roy Cohn Barter and Swap Exchange" began before Cohn left junior high school. Already writing a gossip column for the neighborhood newspaper, Cohn was also trading favors, reciprocities, even jobs. His joint skills of manipulating the press through carefully leaked gossip and parlaying power served him endlessly throughout his life, though perhaps most notably in his relationship with FBI Director Hoover. As Hoover's ideological soulmate, Cohn became the FBI chief's conduit to the press. Anything Hoover wanted to plant about someone, friend or foe, he directed to Cohn. So reliable was this gossip network that Walter Winchell's secretary dutifully awaited Cohn's reputation-destroying phone calls.
"When they wanted to stick it to somebody," former Rep. Neil Gallagher told Von Hoffman, "that was Roy's job."
In return, Hoover became Cohn's legal protector, essentially elevating him to beyond-prosecution status as Cohn calmly took bribes, dodged enormous debts, thumbed his nose at the Internal Revenue Service and, Von Hoffman said, stole from the city government of New York.
[source : A Thirst for Power : Life and Times of Roy Cohn, the Flamboyant Lawyer Who Put Stamp on U.S. History, LA Times, http://articles.latimes.com/1988-03-18/news/vw-1638_1_von-hoffman/2, 18th MArch 1988]
And this guy groomed Trump?
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