Hillary Clinton Held Fundraiser at Castellano's "White House"

Paul Castellano's White House, on Todt Hill.

Buzzfeed, among other newspapers and websites, reported that Hillary Clinton made an unannounced visit yesterday to Staten Island -- specifically to the White House, "a sprawling estate that earned the name during its time as a legendary mob palace in the 1980s."

Clinton was at Gambino boss Paul Castellano's old home to collect checks from supporters.




As Buzzfeed noted:

Sal Lusi, whose family business maintains the facades of Manhattan skyscrapers and who has no ties to the home’s former inhabitant, is a Republican who said he’s hosting the event at the insistence of his own father, who he said “worships” the Clintons for their support of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. 

“The Clintons have been the best friend Albania ever had,” he added, pointing out that there is a statue of Bill Clinton in Kosovo. President Bill Clinton ordered a bombing campaign against Serbia in 1999, and Hillary Clinton addressed the Albanian Parliament in 2012 on its 100th anniversary as a free nation. She’s expected at Lusi’s home after taping an interview with Jimmy Fallon Wednesday.

Lusi bought the 10-bathroom home in 2009 for $3.1 million.

Castellano was shot to death on 46th Street in December 1985 in a brazen coup pulled off by John Gotti and inner circle members.

The house was called “The White House” by law enforcement officials and mobsters because Castellano built it to resemble the real White House. 

Huge columns stand in front.

Castellano once told one of his capos: “This is how we should live. Like presidents.”

One hundred guests were expected at Lusi's first political fundraiser.

"We should all live like Presidents."

A Clinton spokesman declined to comment on the house’s history, or any aspect of the fundraiser, which is closed to the press. But the house has seen its share of intruders through the years. In 2011, Lusi’s family was the victim of a burglar who was found in a bedroom closet. Lusi ran for his gun- he has a New York City license for it- and chased the burglar out of his house, shooting at him as he left.

Back in 1983, federal agents planted several bugs in the house, which recorded 600 hours of Castellano talking freely.