This story was published in partnership with the podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out.
IT WAS THE SPRING of 2014, and Chuck Sonntag just had his left leg amputated.
They worked out a scam where Sonntag would use his disability to help the other Boys sneak into games.
Photo illustration by Matthew Cooley. Images in illustration by John Moore/Getty Images; Skip O’Donnell/Getty Images
The break-ins continued, even during the off-season.
Sometimes theyd let themselves in to see the Grateful Dead.
At others, theyd do a bit of shopping.
They had a lot of equipment over there.
And so the first thing we hoisted was some bolt cutters, Sonntag says.
And then we emptied out their tool supply, you know, the nice electric drills.
We filled up the garage and sold them.
So yeah, we did pretty good.
Caputo had already come by the rehab facility once to check on his friend and reminisce about old capers.
But on this day, Caputo wasnt calling with more well wishes.
He was on a mission for his client, Donald J. Trump.
It seemed Trump wanted to buy the Boys beloved Bills.
That rival: the superstar hair-rockerJon Bon Jovi.
Trumps gonna buy the Buffalo Bills.
And he wants to know if the Bills fans still want them here.
What do you want me to do?
Had Trumps play for the Bills actually worked out, he might never have been in this position.
In fact, he might not have run for president in the first place.
THESE DAYS, TRUMP is more associated with sports like MMA and pro wrestling.
Becoming an NFL owner meant joining one of the most exclusive clubs, the Trump associate says.
Its like being a U.S. senator, being an NFL owner.
Theres a very small number of people in those clubs.
And obviously as a business, it couldnt be more lucrative, right?
Not long afterward, he passed on buying the Dallas Cowboys for $50 million.
In my opinion, only a loser can buy the Dallas Cowboys,he said.
Taylor never played for Trump (though he later backed him as a political candidate).
Meanwhile, Trump was engineering a far bigger and far more damaging con.
Somehow, Trump managed to convince those owners to go along.
It was an instant disaster.
The TV networks already had their Sundays filled.
Is this action akin to a drowning man grabbing at razor-sharp knives to stay afloat?
aCNN reporter wonderedat the time.
Well, yes, even though the USFL actually wound upwinning.
Without that money, the league closed shop.
(Trump allegedly had a net worth of $1 billion by then.)
Krafts star playerTom Bradywas an even more intense object of fascination.
Both in private and in public, Trump would float the idea of the comically-handsome quarterback dating Ivanka Trump.
(Tom Brady would make any father-in-law proud, he toldPlayboy.)
But Trumps thirst for an NFL connection couldnt be slaked through chit chat and a little light innuendo.
TRUMP FACED TWO hurdles.
One was convincing NFL executives that he actually had the money to buy the team.
It is our assessment that Mr. Donald J. Trump would have the financial wherewithal to fund his bid.
That August, Trump met with the Morgan Stanley executives in Detroit.
Do you recall whether Mr. Trump provided any documents to you at the presentation?
The banker answered, He gave us handouts of theForbeslist of the top-paid entertainers.
Unlike their Manhattan-based rival, the Canada-Jersey crew seemed to have the balance sheet for a credible bid.
That gave Trump an opening, and he knew who to call to crack it wide.
He was going to make Michael Caputo the general manager of the Bills, Sonntag recalls.
(Caputo, for his part, tells me thats just a Big Tree rumor.
Otherwise, he wouldnt comment for this story.
All of them were civic-minded Buffalonians, raising money for local charities.
All of them were Bills fanatics.
And all of them loved a good dust-up.
I mean literally, Big Tree Boys were a street gang.
We would get in fights with other gangs in the street.
It was likeWest Side Storywithout tunes, one Boy tells me.
Trump knew he couldnt outbid the Canadians, Caputo toldGQin 2017.
But, with a little help, he could make them completely unpalatable to Buffalo.
So the Big Tree Boys and 12th Man Thunder did.
We went to every restaurant and bar and told them they couldnt play Bon Jovi, Sonntag recalls.
One radio station, then another, agreed to take the band out of their rotation.
Jack FM 92.9 even re-recorded Living on a Prayer with new anti-Jovi lyrics.
Businesses all over town hung up signs declaring Buffalo a Bon Jovi Free Zone.
Pellian claimed local cover band playing Bon Jovi at a bar were booed and pelted with anti-Bon Jovi posters.
Jon Bon Jovi wrote an open letter to the city, assuring fans hed never move the Bills.
The Big Tree Boys werent having it.
Hes saying what he needs to say to get his hands on our team.
But he seemed to keep tabs on the campaign.
[Caputo] said, Im taking my friend to AM Buffalo about banning Bon Jovi, Sonntag recalls.
And Trump said, Hey, hows your friend doing?
…That was pretty cool.
In the end, neither Bon Jovi nor Trump got the Bills.
The Pegula family, who own the Buffalo Sabres hockey franchise, purchased the team.
What wouldve happened if Trump had somehow won this fight in 2014?
Would he still have run for president the next year?
Nunberg, the former aide, says yes.
The reality TV boardroom helped propel him to the presidency.
Can you imagine [the effect of] being an NFL owner?
Donald Trump called yours truly, that would be me.
And Ill never forget what he said to me.
He said, If they screw me over, Im gonna show them.
Im gonna get them all back.
Im going to run for President of the United States.
Thats what he said to me back in 2014.
THE AFFAIR HAD all kinds of after-effects.
Jon Bon Jovisaidit took years of therapy to deal with the boycott campaign.
You will never see my face in Buffalo ever.
I have knocked it off the map.
Texas A&M threatened to sue Sonntag and Caputo and friends for violating the schools 12th Man copyright.
(Keith Olbermann declared the university president the Worst Person in the Sports World.)
A week goes by.
The lawyer calls me, and he says, Hey, Chuck, what do you want?
I said, What do you mean?
They want to pay you.
Just call off the dogs.
And so I said, quickly, How about twenty-five grand?
Sonntag and the old Big Tree Boys still go to Dead & Company shows together.
Pellien continues to help initiate the fan group, but his opponents have moved well beyond hair rockers.
At least one of the groups demonstrations devolved into a brawl with antifascist counter-protesters.
My flashlight was dented, Pellien wrote on Facebook, according toTheWashington Post.
Not sure if it was from head #1 or head #2.
(Pellien wouldnt comment for this story.)
Caputo worked on Trumps first presidential campaign for a while.
Today, hes a policy adviser on Trumps 2024 campaign.
I have so many friends that are owners.
Theyre in a box, he told Fox News.
In a subsequent interview, he said of player-protesters, Shouldnt be playing, shouldnt be there.
Maybe you shouldnt be in the country.
The controversy and Trumps attitude toward football came up again in a 2019 interview with CBS.
He was asked whether hed let his son Barron play the game.
I would have a hard time with it, Trump answered.
I mean, its a dangerous sport.
