Voice’s Barrett dead at 71
Investigative reporter Wayne Barrett, who exposed New York City public corruption and wrote hard-hitting biographies of Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani, died Tuesday of lung cancer.
Barrett, 71, uncovered the misdeeds of politicians, developers and crooked judges during a four-decade career at The Village Voice.
During the mid- to late 1980s, Barrett reported on Trump, then an up-and-coming real-estate developer.
A quarter-century before Trump’s successful run for the presidency, Barrett wrote a critical biography on the mogul, “Trump: The Deals and the Downfall.”
Tributes flowed Thursday night, even from those who felt the wrath of Barrett’s pen.
Gov. Cuomo called him “a truth finder” and “truth teller” and “the conscience of New York.”
Ex-Mayor Mike Bloomberg said Barrett was a “tenacious reporter in the tradition of the old muckrakers who could sniff out corruption and special-interest politics a mile away.”