r ce-t# gry speckil report: 1?70 THE HOFFA WARS an investigation of the violence and corruption surrounding the missing teamster leader whose influence extended to nearly every corner qf american public life including HOW BECAME INVOLVED WITH HOW MOB MONEY WAS FUNNELED TO HOFFA'S SECRET ROLE AS THE CIA'S LINK TO THE MOB THE HATRED BETWEEN HOFFA AND THE KENNEDY BROTHERS WHY HOFFA WAS KILLED AND WHO DID IT

a rticle By DAN E. MOLDEA

At presstime, the U. S. House Assassi- of the Hoffa murder. Hoffa's son, attor- the cargo I was hauling exploded and I nations Committee was about to reveal ney James P. Hoffer, Jr., who was the ad- was nearly killed. Eight truckers pulled come surprising details regarding t he assas- ministrator of the fund, simply told me over and probably sewed my life. "The sination of President John F. Kennedy. to do whatever I had to do, no matter Haifa Wars" is part payment on my debt Many of the same names that were to be how embarrassing to him, his family or to those eight men and to the dissident rank-and-file Teamsters who kept me I discussed by the committee are also major Iris father's memory, in order to help un- alive during my four-year investigation. diameters in my book "The Hoffa Wars." cover the truth about Hoffa's execution. In October 1974, as a free-lance writer, Meanwhile, I was hired part time by valuable contribu- The Free Press. We worked for JSMMY HOFFA'S most began investigating Jimmy Hoffa and tion to the American labor movement the next eight months on the extortion the Teamsters. Ten months later, I was came at the moment he stopped breath- plots I had uncovered, during which concentrating exclusively on the union's ing on , 1975. The involuntary extortion schemes against trucking corn- time I severed my financial relationship act occurred in the midst of his dramatic :43watt and terrorist activities against with young Hoffa. Soon after, I began bid to recapture the general presidency Internal rank-and-file reform groups. In- receiving a series of grants from the of the International Brotherhood of vestigations of the Hoffa-Frank Fitzsint- Fund for Investigative Journalism in Teamsters, which he had lost during five nons power struggle and of Hoffa's Washington, D.0 which continued after years in prison. Still popular among re- disappearance were of only peripheral my story was published. Simultaneously, porters with short memories who insisted concern to me; and I had absolutely no 1 was doing some work on the same sub- upon portraying him as a working-class te, !.:Iclirtation to investigate the alleged ject for columnist Jack Anderson. With hero, and among rank-and-file admir- assination plots against either Fidel the help of money and contacts supplied ers who had forgiven him for stealing astro or John Kennedy. Ironically, how- by the F.I.J. and Anderson, my investi- from them, Hoffa nevertheless had a slim gations snowballed, forcing me into ver, my conclusions on labor terrorism, chance of a comeback. His release from bet movements and shakedowns led me those areas that I had thought to be unrelated to my work. prison in late 1971 led to a futile four- usto these areas, which I lied, at one year struggle for power; his execution time, considered distant and unrelated. I was not completely new to the Team- sters union and its problems when I opened the floodgates for investigations After a brief stint as a Teamsters into the Teamsters and the underworld, researcher with NBC, I continued my started my work on "The Hoffa Wars": 1 had worked on a loading platform and their illicit enterprises, their influence on :nelependent investigations. Then, in the Nixon White House and their role '`cute 1975 and early 1976, I received had even driven a small truck while in in /97/, in assassination plots against a foreign -$2100 from the Hoffa Reward Fund, college. On a hot summer day which had beers established in the wake while I was en route to Columbus, , leader—as well as a possible involvement 141

ILLUSTRATION BY KINUKO Y. CRAFT in the assassination of an American well documented by the McClellan com- later. he was unwilling and unable to President. mittee hearings of 1957-1960, its roots battle the underworld. So, instead; he Convicted in two separate trials of jury have been unclear until now. Haifa, I promptly decentralized the union autoc- tampering and of defrauding the union's found, was introduced to Detroit mob- racy Hoffa had used to build his empire, pension fund, Haifa had become an out- sters Frank Coppola and Santo Perrone hoping to insulate himself from direct sider to the Teamsters' high command in or about 1934 by his lover, Sylvia Pa- contact with organized crime. Among the when he entered Lewisburg Penitentiary gano. He asked for and received Mob immediate benefactors of Fitzsimmons' in Mardi 1967. His problems began less muscle seven years later, when the local policies were local and regional Team- than a month later, when he and his Teamsters in Detroit were being strongly ster leaders around the country, who ac- successor, , disagreed challenged by a rival union. After the quired a considerable amount of new over a union appointment. The increas- Teamsters-underworld alliance had driv- power in the 2,000,000-member I.B.T. ingly bitter war between the two old en the opposing labor organization out Instead of clamoring for the attention friends lasted until Haifa died and was to of the city, Hoffa reciprocated the Mob's of one man, such as Haifa, mobsters be carried on by Hoffa's supporters even strong-arm work by giving it access to merely had to call their area Teamster after he was gone. Many would think union funds. With a new facade of le- representatives for favors. Teamster that this split with Fitzsimmons was the gitimacy, the Detroit underworld became bosses who cooperated became wealthy. .• key factor in his death. But there is evi- the center of the international narcotics Without the daily burden of defending dence that could lead to the possible con- traffic from 1947 to 1952, after Coppola his professional relationship with organ- clusion that he was murdered for other was deported to Italy and became a lieu- ized-crime figures to the press and the reasons: specifically, his alleged role in tenant to Charles Luciano, the New York rank and file—as Haifa had spent much the plots to murder Fidel Castro—plots mobster who had been released from jail of his career doing—Fitzsimmons uset54 that involve figures linked (or the first and deported. Because of his importance his free time to back up his union 61/)71','2''' time to events surrounding the assassina- in that drug connection, Hoffa was intro- ordinates and to make new friends in tion of President Kennedy. duced to other dope peddlers in , politics and big labor. , Louisiana and New York. Those ROOTS oe rows/. THE NIXON CONNECTION associations were a major reason for his In 1967, Emit:curio& suddenly in- rise from a and business Things were going well for the I.B.T. herited the uncontrollable monster Hoffa agent to president of the Detroit local in under Fitzsimmons. Its first- and second- had created over the previous 25 years: an 1946 to I.B.T. vice-president in 1952 and level officials were happy, and so was the alliance between the union and organ- to I.B.T. general president in 1957. national crime syndicate. Then, in No- ized crime. While this alliance has been When Fitzsimmons took over ten years vember 1968, Richard Nixon was elected President of the United States. Becaus A HOFFA the Teamsters had gone with the rest of SCRAPBOOK organized labor and supported Hubert

Jimmy Hoffa (left) and Frank Fitzsimmons (right) rose Attorney General Robert By 1961, the CIA was re- Chicago mobster Sam through union ranks together, starting in Detroit in Kennedy led the Govern- cruiting powerful crime- Gioncona was recruited the Thirties. Years later. Fitzsimmons succeeded Hoffa ment investigation of the syndicate figures to try to to help kill Castro. Before as Teamster president. Their power struggle began a Teamsters. Hoffa hated kill Castro. Hotta may he could talk to the month alter Haffa went to jail in 1967, when Fitzsim- Kennedy and their enmity have been an early Senate in 1975, he was mons began to undercut Hoffo's authority and support, made headlines for years. CIA-mobster go-between. murdered in his home.

Cortes Marcello (left), Santos Tralficante (center) and Joseph Bononno farmed a Hoffa had supported Richard Nixon In 1960 and ex- powerful crime alliance in the Southern states. Bonanno underbass Carmine Ga- pected an early release from jail once Nixon was in lante (right) befriended Haifa in prison in 1967. Those four became Haifa's chief the White House. Attorney General John Mitchell had supporters when crime bosses In Northeastern slates backed the newly appointed pledged law and order for the country, but Investi- Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons' allies used the possibility of that spilt's erupting Into gations of Teamster officials and underworld figures nationwide Mob war to persuade the Nixon Administration to keep Hoffa in jail. were inexplicably dropped while he was in office.

192 -:.*Ttk.f:..

.Humphrey that year, Nixon's election money was half of a $1,000,000 contribu- murder two other New York crime-family was had news. tion being given to the Nixon campaign. bosses. Because Bonanno's elder son wa s Nixon had formed a quid pro quo The other half was coming from other implicated in the plot, a majority of the relationship with Hoffa during his Mob sources on the East Coast and in members of the national crime syndicate 1960 Presidential campaign against John Miami. There is no proof that the money ordered to respond to Kennedy, brother of If offa's archenemy. ever reached its destination, but on Janu- the charge. When he refused to cooperate Until he resigned to manage his brother's ary 6, 1961, columnist Drew Pearson and began raiding other underworld campaign, Robert Kennedy was the chief wrote that by the end of the previous jurisdictions, Bonanno was expelled from counsel to the Senate Rackets Committee, September, Vice-President Nixon had the ruling council, which quietly began which investigated the Teamsters in gen- successfully intervened with Attorney supporting the rebels in the Bonanno eral and Hoffa in particular. Those wars General William Rogers, convincing him clan. Fearful of Mob reprisals and Gov- between Hoffa and Robert Kennedy not to indict Hoffa for a land- ernment prosecution. Bonanno arranged were headline news for three years. That, scheme in Florida_ for his awn disappearance, which lasted combined with rumors that Robert Ken- Knowing of that transaction, it was no from 1964 to 1966. . nedy would become Attorney General if surprise to Fitzsimmons and the rest of Although it was staged to appear , his brother were elected, led Hoffa to put the Teamster leadership that Nixon, as though Bonanno had been kidnaped, his union at Nixon's disposal. upon being elected in 1968, was consider- former New York police detective super- According to new information, just ing an early release for Hoffa. Unlike visor and organized-crime expert Ralph • before the first of the Nixon-Kennedy Fitzsimmons. Hoffa had supported Nixon Salerno told me that Bonanno had been debates that began on September 26, in 1968 through his influence with re- spotted after he had vanished and "was 1960, Haifa quietly made a trip to New maining friends in the union. obviously moving independently. There Orleans to meet with Carlos Marcella, a For Hoffa, however, problems re- didn't appear to be any restriction on his Louisiana Mob figure whom he had met mained, and they would prove to be his movements." While underground, Bo- through Coppola. Hoffa associate Ed- undoing. In Lewisburg, he had mad,e an nanno made a coalition with two other ward Partin, who was present at the alliance with dope trafficker Carmine powerful organized-crime figures, Marcel- meeting (anti later providedtthe Govern- Galante, the underbosa of the Joseph lo of Louisiana and Florida's Santos Traf- ment with the damning testimony that Bonanno of New York, ficante. Moving his New York operations led to Hoffa's jury-tampering conviction), which was in internal conflict over the to Arizona—where he already had con- told me that hfarcello passed Hoffa a family's line of succession. Although siderable clout—Bonanno, with his new suitcase stuffed with $500,000 in cash. other Mob families had at first been neu- friends, formed a triumvirate that rivaled (Partin was considered by the Kennedy tral in these "Banana Wars," which lasted the New York underworld forces. Justice Department an impeccable source from 1963 to 1969, their attitude quickly By making his prison pact with of information in this matter.) The changed when they uncovered a plot to Galante, Hoffa was also allying himself

John Roselli did tell the President Kennedy's mur- "Bobby Kennedy is lust another lawyer now," Hoffa told a reporter after the Senate about the Castro der sparked President was murdered. (center) had much closer ties to Hoffa asso- Ferrie plots. Four months later. rumors. Mobsters linked ciates and the underworld than the Warren Commission claimed. David to Cuban his body was found in a to the CIA Castro plots (right) worked for New Orleans mobster Carlos Marcella and went time, 55-gallon drum floating (and to Haifa) are known Revolutionary Council meetings In the same building where, at that committee. in Miami's Biscayne Boy. to have threatened him. Lee Harvey Oswald (left) headed the local Fair Play for Cuba

During Nixon's final William Bufalino (below left) was Hoffa's attorney. Government investigators believe that Russell BuFa- days, General Alexander He shared on office with Chuck O'Brien (below right), lino (left) and (right) are key Haig, White House Chief Hoffa's "foster son," who was questioned about the figures in the Hoffa disappearance. Bufalino, who is the of Staff, conducted a murder. David Johnson (bottom, for left) and Rolland William Bufalino's cousin, has also been linked to life sentence secret investigation into McMaster (bottom, for right), old Friends, became key Castro plots, Provenzano is serving a leader. Nixon s ties with the Mob. figures in Hoffa's war to regain Teamster leadership. For killing a rival Teamster 10-• n. 44. INF L

143 with Bonanno. It can be surmised that during the planning of the Cuban inva- The key man in helping McMaster. O Hoffa became a key figure in this brewing sion, the mobsters were approached by a start Local 320 was an assassin for Gian- North-South Mob power struggle. As middleman—his identity is still uncon- cana named David Yaras, once a pinball/ president of the Teamsters, Hoffa con- firmed—who suggested that in return for slot-machine concessionaire under Al D. trolled the multimillion-dollar Teamster their cooperation. the CIA might be able Capone. Yaras was among the first mem- pension funds and the loans that were to help recover their money. bers of the Chicago underworld to "dis- coming out of them. The Mob, there- Although Maheu freely admitted to me cover" Florida after Capone went to jail rt fore. relied on him to help finance their that he was responsible for bringing Ro- in 1931. He was second only to Traffi- 11. illicit activities. Before going to prison, selli, Giancana and Trafficante into the cante with his number of Cuban contacts he had had a close working relationship intelligence agency's strategy to over- and was heavily involved in the gambling with the New York crime families, as well throw the Cuban government, he denies operations of the island before the fall as with Marcello and Trafficante, but his having had any role in or any knowledge of Batista. tits to the latter two mobsters were ex- Of the covert activities of Bufalino, A year after McMaster and Yaras set ceptionally close and personal. Granello and Plumed. up Miami Local 320, McMaster, with "Things were happening before I be- Hoffa's approval, named a convicted THE CIA-MOBSTER LINK came involved," Maheu says. "Therefore, New York extortionist, Harold Gross, After the Cuban Revolution in 1959, I might not know about them." to head it. Gross was a close friend of Fidel Castro began throwing the Amer- If Maheu did not contact Bufalino and McMaster's and, according to the Mc- ican Mob off the island. Marcello and his associates, who did? Charles Crimaldi, Clellan committee, a former associate of Trafficante were among the big losers a Chicago underworld hit man and the Syndicate hit team Murder, Inc. His who were exiled by the new government. Giancana associate turned Government duties included passing out sweetheart Both had lost their best gambling and , says the "original liaison" be- contracts and shaking down taxicab narcotics connections and were interest- tween the CIA and the Mob was Jimmy companies, service stations and parking- ed in ways to recoup their losses. At the Hoffa. (Crimaldi, who is considered "ab- lot attendants. McMaster also set up sev- same time that they were trying to recap- solutely reliable" by several officials of eral other locals in the Miami area and ture their lost territory, dill CIA, which the Bureau of Narcotics, was the subject packed each one with talent almost equal was in the process of planning the Bay of a biography titled Conlrael Killer.) to that of Local 320. Eventually, many of of Pigs invasion, got wind of the losses Given knowledge of how the CIA oper- the gangsters helping out with organizing suffered by Marcello and Trafficante and ated at the time and of how deeply Hoffa activities in Miami would become in- other underworld figures and tried to was connected to the men the CIA was volved with in the CIA capitalize on them. Trafficante was soliciting for its activities against Castro plots against Castro that began with the among those mobsters solicited for the and the Cuban government, Crimaldi's planning of the Bay of Pigs invasion. now-famous CIA plots to assassinate information strongly implies that it was Castro. The offer came to him via a series Hoffa who pursuaded Bufalino, Granello PLOTS AND TIIREATS of contacts that included Robert Maheu and Plumed to cooperate with the agen- The fact of America's most secret Gov- (an advisor to Howard Hughes with a cy. During my investigation, I learned ernment agency teaming up with its most complex background in the intelligence that Hoffa not only had been a direct powerful criminals is sinister enough. community), gangster John Roselli and participant in the gunrunning traffic to Even more troubling, however, was my 1e- Chicago Mob boss Sam Giancana. Batista before the revolution but also had realization that ties between the plots to But before those connections were tried to obtain loans from the Central kill Castro and the murder of President established by the CIA, others were so- States Pension Fund, prior to the Mob's Kennedy keep showing up once certain licited to help subvert the Cuban gov- expulsion from the island, for a fleet of other relationships are fitted into the ernment who had been approached airplanes to be delivered to the new Cas- puzzle. before Maheu, Roselli and Giancana be- tro government. In February 1961, the CIA passed a set came active participants in the plots. When the murder of Castro became the of poison pills, earmarked for Castro, to Hoffa's attorney, William Bufalino, secret trump card that would precede the Maheu's liaison with Trafficante, John a Detroit Teamster official, had a cousin, invasion, the CIA would have decided to Roselli. The pills were then passed to a Russell Bufalino, who had had an inter- replace Hoffa with Maheu because of the mystery man who until now was known est in a large gambling casino and a race mounting legal pressure being placed only as a leader of Cuban exiles. track near Havana during the Batista upon the Teamster leader by the Ken- That man, whose identity was con- it regime. Russell, a powerful Mob figure in nedy brothers, who were unaware of the firmed to me by three sources, was the Northeast U.S., had been the cohost Castro murder plots and of the fact that Antonio de Varona, the former president of the Famous 1957 Apalachin mobster the CIA was cooperating with the Mob of the Cuban senate, who had been train- conference. Among his partners in New at the time. ing the invasion forces in Guatemala. York were underworld figures Salvatore • However, like the invasion, De Varona's Granello and James Plumed, two cap- Hoffa's relationship with those dose attempts to murder Castro failed. tains of the Thomas Lucchese crime fam- to the American-Cuban crime community De Varona was a cofounder of ily. Granello and Plumed were also in can be documented back to 1957. Hoffa Cuban Revolutionary Council, the gov- business with Haifa at the time, splitting had sent his number-one organizer, Rol- ernment in exile that had hoped to re- kickbacks on loans from the Teamsters' land McMaster of Detroit, to Miami to turn to power hacl the assassination o Central States Pension Fund to enter- establish Local 320, which, according to Castro and the invasion succeeded. One prises in Florida, New Jersey and New the McClellan committee, ultimately member of the C.R.C. in New Orleans York. According to Senate investigators, served as a front for many of the Mob's was anti-Castro activist David Ferrie, who when Castro purged Batista and dosed gambling and narcotics activities. Traf- was employed as an investigator-pilot for down the business interests of Bufalino ficante—who, according to union officials, . Four days after the Ken- and his associates, these organized-crime was also instrumental in setting up the nedy assassination, Ferrie had been ques- leaders left $750,000 in cash behind in local—occupied a small office in the tioned by the FBI about his alleged`' 144 Cuba. When the CIA learned of that union hall. (continued on page 256, 7.1 Win this Toyota Model SR-5 Liftback, HOFFA WARS 0 Super Grand Prize in Playboy's (continued from page 144)

November, December and January association with the President's assassin. Ad Game! Ir WIN A Located in New Orleans in the same eC building as the C.R.C. was the Fair Play for Cuba committee, which was headed

locally by Lee Harvey Oswald. TOYOTA. In September 1962, .Marcello met with his top aides in a cottage near Ncw Super Grand Prize! A 1979

Toyota Corolla SR-5 Lift- Orleans. During the meeting, according back—the sporty. to author Ed Reid in The. Grim Reapers, thrifty, Marcella was in a frenzy about Robert versatite Kennedy, and especially about Marcella's

top-ol-Ihe- own "kidnaping." which had been en-

line Corolla 14 gineered by the Attorney General near

The SR-5 the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Lifiback's a Both Marcell° and Russell Bufalino

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go for it! both were battling the Government.

Federal agents sent by the Attorney

General arrested anti handcuffed Marcel-

l° as he walked down a New Orleans 40 Monthly Prizes! ITT '110 Magref lash street. They drove him to a nearby Cameras_ BuilLin elec. Ironic flash, electronic airport, loaded him onto a private plane . 'expo.sure control. and flew him out of the country. Since PL he carried a Guatemalan birth certificate, A i-rt! Shoo!! A tiny cfrat matieS operaiing fully autorndlic. 7 functions, including aperture and shutter it was assumed that he was a native. feel pictures- every lin Tr sped, bre computer eons-off ed, After two months in Latin America,

Marcell° illegally flew back into the I United States aboard a private plane, piloted by Ferrie. Back in America, Mar-

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or Headlines_ Advertiser Company. fa searpar ("Take the stone out of my • Leaves You Breathless - shod "). Ile then announced that John • r.D.J. Dingo Kennedy was going to be assassinated • Etrilfsh TastwArnerican Price and that a "nut" was going to be hired • Gel More Now You GOt II to handle the job. * Alive with Pleasure! That same month, Marcello's friend • ti ashbored2 Trailicante, still involved with the CIA murder plots, was talking with Jose • The Brill iant Taste exile financier, who • We Want You to Have the Right Corers Aleman, a Cuban- was a respected FBI informant, about his • Taste So Good You Won't Befteve' They're Lower in Tar Than All These Brands.. hatred of die President. Airman told George Crile III, who • Feel the VelVet, Baby was writing for The Washington Past, • You P.aid a Lot for Gocri-Speds that Trallicante said, "Have you seen • Fine Champagne Cognac how his [the Presiclent 's1 brother is hit- • Quality in Motion ting Huila, a man who is a worker, who • The French Idea of aCock tail. • is not a millionaire, a friend of the blue Official Rules. No Purchasc. Required. Heres all you do: collars? He doesn 't know that this kind ■ ■ all Clrir.,(11 1 rb, 717 of encounter is very delicate. Mark my '0. l - r t 01=0 1 .:0, ■ and pozu, :04.31,4,1' 6n , words, this man Kennedy is in trouble, ▪ VE.VE4 5,1./17 E P?;TAY.FI,i,1,0 Flo. 13rd iloi,■ .5on.N.J OW or WI, a eTirty I,IarO -and en117 rerwr, • and he will get what is coming to him." sand a 5017aadtcs.r.t..ud. 110,11500 141,1,1,11,,ll,i ;54,1o.: r-vEv. 1.1C-r/EMLIER-iE5ILJESS'YEEP$T4KE:= 101 5,5,0 nt 5,11o, Is Gal • f Alernan, who was talking with the No!. Y.rh, ii Y Wee Onan: 166. ■+,66 sc rssrrci.ris • til r .ri ll.. I V.', EriviEv-rriiisl 6.6 poAlmitr4d t.,; ;.,,r6111i3.11,1g underworld leader about a 51,500,090 2: fe ■ 0.116 1,01,15y.r 17660,614.1. I5 05.. 1-3 !ir ',LAS 0i,•,-.1-0.11 be 10617.1mi ■ 5 1,:plyr{,d by lily. All fetferat,:t.a10.nrtIcc:ii' ir Central States Pension Fund loan that 0,1111111, I er.aave,.. 10,101 g0PlY. vial I iFIA ASSOCiAT ES. INC..L-alif 11166134,M6eil 1 59 re,h5well 1.30',,,aar,LI.P1,171{,ao f.nra: Hoffa had personally cleared for TI7kffi.- r.ht/NE ■In6,c.or,,,, 6,1;11. -1,,, , M,Or. Si,po< amt ar,amdeamobia TO, 60}. (.1 .)1501 came. responded that President Kennedy

Name would probably be re-elected. 1616a6e pnra} No, Jose," Trafficante said firmly. Address " "tie is going to be hit."

ZIP When asked during the research for 256 City Stare .1 tsr*1 fiery

my book who was making the arrange- ments for the President's assassination, Aleman replied that Trafficante had "made it clear" that it was Rolla. Only good music Music without distortion. If your turntable is a BSR Also in September 1962, Ed Partin, Quantal turntable " e, with the introduction of the Quanta models deciding to turn on Hoffa, told inves- 600. 700 and 800. EiSR has created a turntable base with virtually no tigators in Baton Rouge about a fright- NO MORE resonance ening conversation he had had with „,eriurntabies reduce resonance. BSR virtually Hoffa the previous month in the Team- -iiminates resonance with concrete and foam. ster leader's Washington office. BAD Low-frequenCy absorbing Partin says that Hoffa was discussing foamed concrete inside high- • frequency absorbing foam two possible ways of murdering the At- VIBRATIONS Not one little vibration thanks to the isolation of the resonance-tuned torney General: fire-bombing his Hick- suspension feet. ory Hill home or shooting him with a No acoustical feedback. Just beautiful sound, And that's only the rifle while he was driving in his con- beginning. vertible. Opting for the former plan, On.every BSR Quanta turntable is an S-shaped statically balanced Hoffa asked Partin to obtain some plastic tonearm. Viscous damped cueing for perfectly smooth arm movement explosives that could do the job. Skep- And on the Quanta 800 is the most at-curate Quartz Phase-Locked Loop direct drive motor in existence The quartz tical at first of Partin's story, the inves- generated pulsed LED strobe display provides visual tigators subjected him to a lie-detector monitoring of the speed. B test—which he passed—and then asked BSR Quanta turntables. Non-resonating. Not bad. him in telephone Hoffa to continue the QUACITIV discussion, which would be taped by the 1NE NONHRESONATING Government. about the plastic explo- 111JRNrIABLEA sives. Calling Hoffa, Partin, told him that lie had received the explosives and asked what lie should do. Hoffa replied . f:. without hesitation, ordering him to take them to Nashville, where he was on trial for extortion. Partin adds that the man Hoffa had in mind for killing the Attor- ney General was Frank Chavez, head of the Teamsters local in Puerto Rico, who • was credited with the fire-bombing of a rival union's offices earlier in 1962.

TUE RUBY CONNECTION The question remains: Did one as- sassination plot against the Attorney General evolve into another against his brother, the President? Countless conspiracy theories have been proposed since November 22, 1963, but few of them have sought to link Haifa and the Teamsters to Kennedy's murder. Having already seen how the CIA and organized crime worked togeth- er in the attempts to kill Castro, we might do well to examine the activities of one man who had ties to these groups: Jack Ruby. Ruby had known many Chicago gang- sters during the Thirties and Forties and by 1947, lie was being questioned by Federal narcotics agents investigating his possible role with mobster Paul Roland Jones in drug trafficking into that city. Ruby also knew Paul Dorfman. a dose Hoffa associate, head of the Chicago Waste Material Handlers' Union and a man described by the McClellan com- mittee as a "major figure in the Chicago underworld." Ruby had helped organize the union with Leon Cook, whose mur- der left the vacancy that Paul Dorfman filled. It is also known that in 1939, Ruby IP Clued. requord11.1Mft asst tow LW 257 made two trips to Cuba, the second of NIECOnusINI POdu,i1C■oup. s, ns caliwrwl WU. Ontnturd Cas...1.1 m51,11 le.rae at if Utile OM • Iss which, according to FBI reports, involved Those two sets of records provided at Disconcertingly enough, however, the • Isis offering $25.090 to one of Castro's least two useful facts: First, Ruby had Warren Report referred to labor rack- arms suppliers in return for the release of actually spoken with Baker twice, with eteer Paul Dorfman and Mob killers • three unnamed prisoners. A CIA report Baker having received a second lengthy Patrick, Jones and Yaras as character iss dated November 26, 1965, states that call from Ruby on November 1I. 1963. witnesses for Ruby. The commission Ruby had gone to a Cuban prison where Second, Baker had been in touch with used Patrick's statement that his old a certain "Santos" was being held and another old friend of both Hoffa's and friend was an honest man to corrob- ri that the two "visited frequently." Santos Ruby's on the day before the assassina- orate its central conclusion about Ruby's ▪ Trafficante was being detained in Cuba tion, an acquaintance who happened to "underworld ties"—that they weren't during that period. be a leading Mob executioner, David "significant": "Based on its evaluation FBI records also disclose that in the Maras. of the record . . the commission be- month before Kennedy was shot, Ruby Although the FBI had access to that lieves that the evidence does not estab- had phone conversations with Teamster.. information and the references to Cha- lish a significant link between Ruby bondsman Irwin S. Weiner, who con- vez and Provenzano, the Warren Com- and organized crime." firmed to me that he and Ruby were mission never followed up on those One suggestion of a relationship be- "good friends"; longtime Hoffa hench- investigations. tween Hoffa and Ruby came in a conver- man Barney Baker, who helped IvfciSlas- Ruby's longest testimony before the sation I had with Hoffa's son, James P. ter and Yams establish the Miami locals; commission was given during a session Hoffa, Jr., in Detroit on December 27, and Nofio Pecora, a close business associ- in which attendance was substantially 1977. His law partner was also present. "I ate of Marcello's in New Orleans. In reduced. Of the seven commissioners, think my dad knew Jack Ruby, but from addition, FBI reports—written within only Chief Justice Earl Warren and what I understand, he [Ruby] was the two weeks after the assassination—uncov- Congressman Gerald R. Ford were pres- kind of guy everybody knew. So what?" ered during the research for my book ent, in addition to staff attorneys J. Lee Young Hoffa could not recall any specific indicate that Ruby, prior to the assassina- Rankin, Joseph Ball and Arlen Specter, information on which he based his opin- tion, had allegedly met with at least two plus Leon Jaworski, who was there rep- ion. In briefly discussing the possibility powerful Teamster leaders: fire-bomb ex- resenting the state of Texas. that his father might have been involved pert Chavez and LB.t'. vice-president During a long day of testimony before in President Kennedy's assassination, (and mobster) Anthony Provenzano of the commission on June 7, 1964, Ruby Hoffa said, "It doesn't make any sense.... New Jersey. discussed his numerous telephone calls If my dad had decided to kill Kennedy, By late February 1964, the Warren in general terms. He did not mention he would have gotten a gun, walked Commission had compiled a long confi- names nor provide any specific informa- right up to him and blew his brains dential memorandum on "Jack Ruby— tion about what was discussed, though out." Background, Friends and Other Perti- he rather defensively conceded that he Regardless of Ruby's bizarre tele- nent Information." The memorandum had been in touch with a number of phone calls, and regardless of this-guy- noted—amid lengthy sections dealing rather questionable individuals. And he knows-that-guy-therefore theories, the with many Ruby associates—that "Ruby subject of a possible connection of Hoffa told the commission that the calls were called Barney Baker, a Chicago hoodlum and the underworld to President Ken- made ''a long time prior to what has who was reputedly a muscle man for nedy's assassination is, of course, highly Jimmy Hoffa . . to ask Baker to give happened." Ruby maintained that the speculative. Ruby, after all, did not kill him assistance" in a labor dispute. The only purpose of the various phone calls Kennedy. He killed Oswald. Many more memo also listed the Teamsters union was to get assistance with the labor prob- links in the chain of conspiracy would as the first entry in a list of six groups lems he was having with his night-club need to he joined before such a claim that might have been interested in the competitors. could be proved. But it is a fact that the assassination of President Kennedy. Why did Ruby think that Hoffa's men research into those links has so far been A copy of the memorandum was sent could help him with his smalltime night as poor in methodical investigative work to CIA director Richard Helms with a club? What was the purpose of the con- as it has been rids in conspiracy-theory formal request for CIA assistance on the versation with Marcella associate Nofio melodrama. While the new evidence various areas outlined in the memo. The Pecora? Why did the calls occur at the being disclosed here does not prove that CIA never responded to the request times they did? a conspiracy existed, it does prove that for help in probing the backgrounds of During the commission's investigation, important facts were overlooked, ignored Ruby and his associates. (More than six Luis Kutner, a Chicago attorney and a or hidden. months later, Helms sent back a five- former staff lawyer for the Kefauver One aspect of the theories linking sentence note.) More important, the committee, testified that Ruby had ap- Hoffa and Kennedy, however, goes far CIA never informed the commission of peared before the Kefauver staff in 1950 beyond speculation: the cold statistics the agency's plans to assassinate Castro and that it was thought that Ruby was that represent the flaming heat that the and subvert his government—in cooper- "a Syndicate lieutenant who had been Kennedy Administration brought to ation with Trafficante, Giancana, Bufa- sent to Dallas to serve as a liaison for bear on Hoffa's criminal empire and on lino, Roselli and, perhaps, Hoffa. Chicago mobsters." Other commission organized crime in general. In March, a few more interesting con- witnesses stated that Ruby was known as Robert Kennedy early established nections came to light, and they brought "the payoff man for the Dallas Police what became known as a hit list of Baker and his dose relationship to Department." underworld figures and their associates Haifa into investigative focus. In the If Ruby was a payoff contact for police for investigation and prosecution. The second week of March, thc Dallas office officers in Dallas, fronting for the under- list—whith included Hotta, Marcello, of the FBI obtained a complete com- world, then, according to Kutner, that Russell Bufalino, Giancana and Traffi- pilation of Ruby's recent long-distance relationship had begun in the late cante—grew from 40 in early 1961 to telephone records. During the same week. Forties, the same period when two of more than 2300 by the time he left the Chicago FBI office was busy, too. Ruby's friends were reputed Chicago office in 1964. The number of racketeer with Baker's telephone records—a list of Mob executioners Leonard Patrick (Da- totaled 24 during the first all long-distance telephone calls made on vid Yaras' partner) and Paul Roland six months of the last year of the Eisen- his home phone during the two months Jones—both of whom Ruby had seen not hower Administration, 1960; during the 258 before the President's murder. long before the assassination. first six months of 1963, the number _climbed more than 600 percent, to 171. Ralph Salerno sums it up when he Similarly, the number of actual convic- Cimini, a Detroit mobster. Law-enforce- says, "There is no -solid evidence yet ment officials claim that when Hoffa tions had risen more than 350 percent, that Carlos Marcello, Santos Trafficante, from a total of 35 in 1960 to 160 in 1963. discovered that his wife and Cimini Jimmy Hoffa or any other criminal or had been double-dating with Zerilli en- Hoffa's own indictments were a tiny criminal associate had been involved in forcer and Hoffa's fraction of the sweeping Federal effort a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy. former lover Sylvia Pagano, he went di- against 1.B.T. corruption: 201 Teamster But regardless of whether they knew or officials and coconspirators were indicted not, they should have built the largest rectly to Zerilli, pleading for help to during the Kennedy period and more statue in the world to Lee Harvey Os- resolve his personal problem. Although titan 125 were convicted by the end of wald. No man has ever done as much Cimini was warned to stay away from 1964. damage to this country's war on the Hoffa's wife, he continued to see her One victim of Kennedy's wrath, Bar- underworld as he did. Because the bullet and so he was allegedly set up, holding ney Baker, convicted of extortion and that killed John Kennedy killed Bobby several thousand dollars' worth of stolen sent to prison, relaxes now in his office 'Kennedy's dream to destroy the organ- securities. Cimini went to jail and Mrs. suite, provided by his latest employer, ized-crime society." Hoffa went home. , Paul's stepson, and talks Hoffa seemed to agree when he told With his loss of prestige for crawling about the past investigations. a Nashville reporter on the day Ruby to Zerilli to resolve his wife's affair with "It does something to you." Baker Cimini, Holla, according to one of his says. "It gets you sort of nerved up and murdered Oswald, "Bobby Kennedy is just another lawyer now." closest aides, was then expected to re- sick. And you say, 'For what?' Am I as- spond in kind to a wish of the Detroit sociated with somebody they don't like? NOFFA LOSES SUPPORT underworld. That wish was to name Am I a fat man that looks like a tough Fitzsimmons his successor when he went man? You know what I mean? They After Hoffa's two convictions for jury to jail. Although Floffa had two other made me a bad man. You know what tampering and for pension fraud in 1964, I mean?" his two biggest supporters remained union leaders in mind for the job, he Chavez wrote Robert Kennedy the fol- Marcello and Trafficante; both are agreed and named Fitasimmons, who had lowing letter: reported to have offered Partin $1,000,000 been a loyal Hoffa supporter for 30 in return for a signed affidavit recanting years. Hoffa went to jail and Fitzsim- Sir: his testimony against Hoffa. mons took over. The new acting presi- This is for your information. The dent promptly began to display his undersigned is going to solicit from Meanwhile, in Detroit, the local un- derworld was staying neutral on Hoffa's independence from Hoffa, appointing the membership of our union that Rolland McMaster, Hoffa's former link each one donate whatever they can legal problems, just as it had been neu- to Trafficante, the chief executive officer afford to maintain, clean, beautify tral during the Mob wars in New York. of the Detroit local. That upset Hoffa, and supply with flowers the grave Detroit Joseph Zerilli was of Lee Harvey Oswald. You can rewarded with a scat on the nine-mem- who had selected David Johnson to run rest assured contributions will be ber commission of the national crime things in Detroit while he was gone. For unanimous. syndicate for the restraint he displayed the next three years, McMaster and Sincerely, Over the problems on the East Coast. Johnson battled for control, ostensibly Frank Chavez, However, Hoffa's undoing with the for Fitzsimmons and Hoffa. McMaster Secretary-Treasurer Detroit Mob resulted from an affair his was among the first Teamster leaders to Teamsters Local 901 wife had been having with Anthony split with Hoffa; others would follow. In 1967, Joseph Bonanno was perma- nently established in Arizona. He had

ai made alliances with both Marcello and Trafficante. Murders, illnesses and a con- D .,_ centrated investigation by Government agents had forced some leadership changes among the top five crime fami- ily tfi eres lies in New York, including the Bonaro no clan, which was hard pressed to find a permanent leader in the East as the Banana Wars continued. The most qual- the rub ified man for that job was sitting in G Block at Lewisburg Penitentiary: Car- MASSAGE PARLOR mine Galante, who was still fiercely loyal to Bonanno and who enjoyed the prison friendship of Haifa. Another in- mate was the same Anthony Provenzano linked earlier by FBI reports to Ruby. A powerful New Jersey Teamster leader and a captain in the ' crime family, Provenzano was a Bonanno enemy and had fistfights with both Ga- lante and Hoffa while in prison. Ac- cording to Ed Edwards, a prisoner who helped break up the Hoffa-Provenzano fight, Provenzano was shouting and pointing at Hoffa while guards con- verged on the pair in the prison dining hall: "Old man! Yours is coming! You 260 "Well, at least they seem to be literate." know it's coming one of these clays.... • You're going to belong to mel" in the Teamsters union, and the South- In September 1967, a month after ern crime leaders, whose armies wete The closest Hotta and Provenzano had their brawl. bigger and stronger, were bound to re- William Bufalino, Hoffa's longtime ally taliate, trying to claim portions of the and lawyer, also broke off his relation- union's funds for themselves. thing to ship with Hoffa and became a supporter At the center of this tense but quiet of Fitzsimmons. drama were Jimmy Hoffa and Richard "I went to see Hoffa every week until Nixon. wearing we came to the point that every time he was dissatisfied with something, he NIXON STEPS IN nothing had to have somebody to blame." Bufa- According to one of Hoffa's closest lino says today. "Whatever he had in confidants, the Teamster leadership was his mind, if he wanted to squawk about well aware of the fact that in 1960, Vice- at all. something, he'd always pick on Bill President Nixon had intervened on Bufalino." Hoffa's behalf to quash the land-fraud Hoffa's friendship with Galante and ; thus, it naturally suspect- his changing attitude toward his old ed that if Nixon became President, he allies, especially Provenzano and William would arrange for Hoffa's release: "If Bufalino, helped erode his support with- Fitzsimmons and the other high Team- in the Teamsters union. Provenzano's Fel Pick ster officials had seriously wanted Jimmy brother Salvatore was an acting I.B.T. out of jail in 1969, then their best bet vice-president under Fitzsimmons, in his was to elect Nixon President." brother's absence, and thus Hoffa's un- Instead, the I.13.T, general executive diplomatic move jeopardized much of board—which by then was in almost his East Coast support. especially in total opposition to a Hotta comeback— New Jersey, New York and , voted overwhelmingly to support Hum- where the Provenzanos wielded enormous phrey. The cozy relationship between 74FIEG •• NON.SLIF XXxa power. LutlaiCaTED PROPHYLALTir., Nixon and the Teamsters that had Word of Hoffa's relationship with begun in 1960 was put aside, at least Galante spread quickly, and it put Hoffa for the moment. in deep trouble with the remnants of Alter his remarkable political come- the other Mob families in the Northeast. back without the support of the I.B.T., Carlo Gambino, fully aware of Galante's the "new Nixon" quickly fulfilled one of harsh feelings toward him, was more and his campaign promises: to restore "law more relying on the support of Russell and order" in America by appointing an Bufalino, who was then a top advisor for Attorney General who could handle the the ailing Genovese family, of which job. Anthony Provenzano was a member. And Having selected his Wall Street law since Anthony Provenzano and William partner, John Mitchell, as his crime- Bufalino were related by marriage to the busting head of the justice Department, Giacalone and Meli Mob families in De- Nixon balanced his Administration by troit, Hoffa's gangster support in his own taking aboard as a home town was also being neutralized. Presidential advisor. An astute political By the end of 1967, Fitzsimmons, Mc- trickster, CI' loaner had numerous known Mother Nature made love one Master, Anthony Provenzano, William connections with the underworld, par- of her most joyous and tender Bufalino and the people close to them ticularly in the South and among the moments. And in keeping with had turned against Hoffa. Only a hand- Marcello clan. With Mitchell and Cho- that spirit, we made Fourex ful of underworld figures had remained tiner, Nixon began a short-lived "war" Natural Skins the most natural loyal to him; Marcello and Trafficante against the underworld. contraceptive you can buy. were the most important. With Hoffa Both Marcello and Trafficante sur- You see, Fourex is a natural playing ball with Galante at Lewisburg, vived Nixon's war against organized tissue membrane with the and Bonanno forming a Southern tri- crime rather well. Trafficante came texture and sensitivity of soft umvirate with his two counterparts, through the Nixon years with an un- skin. They're so sensitive that Hoffa's support was centralized geo- blemished record, while Marcella had every nuance of your natural graphically. The crime families in New serious legal problems only once. In- warmth is communicated. Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, dicted for assaulting an FBI agent two And they're lubricated in such forming a Northern coalition and influ- years before Nixon took office, Marcello, a way as to enhance that enced by Detroit's Zerilli, had begun in 1969, was found guilty and sentenced sensitivity. Fourex Natural supporting Fitzsimmons soon after Hotta to two years in prison. But the trial Skins are available in the went to jail and had ceased trying to unique blue capsule or, if you judge, citing the mobster's "poor free him. prefer, rolled in the convenient health," reduced the sentence to six The problems of that situation were foil pack. months in a prison hospital, after U. S. obvious. If Hoffa was released from Take your pleasure. Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in- prison and resumed his duties as I.B.T. tervened on Marcello's behalf. general president, what would happen? Chotiner and Marcello's friend Irving Theoretically, a nationwide hloh war Davidson, a Washington, D.C., public. FOUREX XXXX could have exploded out of the Banana relations specialist, had become friends, Sold in Drugstores. Wars, which were still going on in New and both were active in the Free Haifa Manufactured by Schmid Products CO. York. The Northern Mob was willing Little Falls, New Jersey 07424 movement. So when Nixon was elected, 212 to fight to keep its extensive interests (continued on page 266) with Frank Fitzsimmons for some time 0 HOFFA WARS (continued from page 262) and had been meeting with him fairly, ca regularly after Nixon was elected in No- "The stage was set for the restricted commutation vember 1968," says a former member of Nixon's legal staff. "Mitchell had the of Hoffa's prison sentence five months later." kind of clout with the President that if he wanted Hoffa out of jail, he would have been out—no matter what Colson a the chiefs of the Southern organized- an Elirlichman assistant told him, "Mr. or anyone else said.... crime alliance were confident that Hoffa Eh!.lichman says you should not con- "There was no reason back then for would be released. cern yourself with the Hoffa matter. He anyone to have a lot of confidence in In 1969, the first year of the Nixon is handling it himself with John Mitch- the fact that Fitzsimmons was going to Administration, Chotiner told Davidson ell." be a firm supporter of the President. that Hoffa would be out of jail by Later, during a brief telephone con- They never even met each other until Thanksgiving with a Presidential par- versation, Ehrlichnian informed Mol- late 1970. But whatever Fitzsimmons don and that approval had come "di- lenhoff, "The President does not want said to the Attorney General, you can rectly from the Oval Office." you in this. It is highly sensitive. John Others got the word as well, and such Mitchell and I have it under control." bet that it was something big. Hoffa was talk so infuriated Federal investigator But Thanksgiving came and went, and supposed to be out in 1969." , the man most responsi- Hoffa was still in jail. What happened? It is quite possible that Fitzsimmons, ble for Hoffa's downfall, that he called Davidson explains that Chotiner told during his sessions With Mitchell, open- his journalist friend Clark Mollenhoff, him that the President's special coun- ly discussed the dangerous situation who had accepted a job as special as- sel, , had persuaded Nix- brewing between the Northern and the sistant to Nixon. on to scuttle die idea. "Fitzsimmons was Southern crime families. If that was the "It's all set for the Nixon Adminis- one of the few labor leaders supporting case, Mitchell must have dearly under- tration to spring Jimmy Hip," Sheri- Nixon, and Colson wanted to keep that stood the implications of H0E-a's release: dan said angrily. "I'm told Murray support," Davidson says. A nationwide full-scale war could break Chotiner is handling it with the Las Ve- That is not a very convincing reason. out within the criminal syndicate. That gas Mob. John Mitchell and John Elir- A more likely explanation for Nixon's was something the Attorney General and Hellman [Assistant to the President for 1 lth-hour decision not to pardon Hoffa the law-and-order Nixon Administration Domestic Affairs] have something to do at that time was that Mitchell, not Col- had to worry about. with it, and I'm told that it has been son, had persuaded him not to. Hoffa remained in prison and the cleared with Nixon." "It was generally known at the White decision to keep him there may well When Mollenhoff inquired around, House that Mitchell had been friends have averted the North-South crime

r.

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25L iso wen Union funds again began flowing by Fitzsimmons, Anthony Provenzano quietly orchestrated the release of the O South in an effort to buy off Hoffa's (out of prison since 1970) and Dorfman. damning June 23, 1972, tripe transcripts. support. in which Nixon was heard discussing N THE FINAL DAY0e4..ANOTHER VERSION IIOFFA'S EARLY RELEASE the Watergate cover-up, and that forced During the final months of the Nixon the President to give in and resign on ▪ On June 21. 1971, the White House Administration, General Alexander August 9, 1974. persuaded Hotta to resign all of his union Haig, White House Chief of Staff, con- offices in return for promises that he ducted a secret investigation into whether THE STRUGGLE TO COME BACK oh would receive an early release from or not Nixon had ever been mixed up Like Nixon, Hotta never operated as prison. Apparently, the White House with organized crime. A special investiga- a loner—a description often applied to 1.4 and the Teamsters felt that Hoffa's sup- tor for the Army Criminal Investigation each of them by the press. The successes port had been neutralized. An indica- Command was assigned to the project. and failures of both men were in large tion of that occurred the following According to The Washington Star, two part determined by who their friends month, when, after Fitzsimmons was years later, on December 5, 1976: were at each point in their lives. Besides elected as the general president of the Fitzsimmons, two other men were of union at the 1.11.T. convention in Ali- Haig wanted some things checked out on the President. special importance to Ilona's rise to ami, both Marcello and Trafficante were power: Johnson and McMaster, dissident able to swing two vice-president slots It involved [John] Caulfield and [Anthony] Ulasewicz.... Haig want- truckers who joined and cleaned up their for their associates. In addition, Salva- Detroit Local 299 in 1935. Along with tore Provenzano officially had replaced ed to know whether Caulfield and Ulasewicz had been to the Far East Fitzsimmons, they were major reasons for his brother in a third vice-presidency. the early organizing successes of Hoffa, That set the stage for the restricted and carried back any money for Nixon. He also wanted to know who became president of the local in commutation of Hoffa's prison sentence 1996. Eve months later, which barred him from whether Nixon had ever been mixed up wills organized crime.... When McMaster—by his appointment union office until 1980. Hoffa was simply as head of Local 299 in April 1967— no longer a threat. "I never could find that Caulfield and Ulasewicz had gone to the Far became the reason for the split between Just as the Castro murdsr plots may Haifa and Fitzsimmons, the war between have allied the Teamsters with organized East," said the Army investigator, "but in my verbal reports to [the the two men had been fought by proxies crime and the CIA, the Hoffa issue had McMaster and Johnson. who was still a drawn the White House, the Teamsters CIC chieq, I pointed out that in those days an American didn't need strong Hoffa man and challenging for and organized crime closer together. Al- local control, However, after McMaster though the Justice Department success- a passport to get into Vietnam.... "I concluded that they probably sent the then imprisoned Hotta a letter, fully prosecuted associates of /tiercello's warning him to "stay out of union poli- and Trafficante's—all for misusing Team- had gone to Vietnam, and I consid- ered there were strong indications tics" and the affairs of Local 299, Hoffa ster funds—Mitchell was personally re- began to orchestrate McMaster's ouster. sponsible for numerous aborted prosecu- of a history of Nixon connections with money from organized crime." The opportunity came after Johnson tions of underworld figures during his pretended that he had been beaten by four-year tenure. Several investigations Having ordered the investigation, and a McAlester organizer. As a result, Mc- of Teamster officials--including one of presumably having received the inves- Master was purged. Fitzsimmons' son Richard—were dropped tigator's report that "there were strong "It was all caused by Jimmy's chop- without explanation. Simultaneously. indications of a history of Nixon con- ping me up behind the scenes," says Nixon was authorizing the pardons of nections with money from organized McMaster. notorious organized-crime leaders, such as crime." General Haig, as far as is Because McMaster had become Fitz- Angelo DeCarlo, for whose conviction the known, pursued the matter no further. simmons' top enforcer in the Midwest, Justice Department had spent millions. But it may have contributed to Haig's the LET. general president selected him As a result, Fitzsimmons, the 1.B.T.'s decision to literally take over the White to head a special organizing task force general executive board and the Mob House during Nixon's final days. to battle a rival union and to "watch gave Nixon their full support during A former Nixon aide, not privy to the Hoffa." Both problems were handled in his 1972 re-election campaign. The only Haig investigation, says that one of his a similar fashion. According to one of 1.11.T. board member who refused to associates in the White House men- Atataster's former organizers, rebel back Nixon, Harold Gibbons, was named tioned to him sometime "during the owner-operator truckers, dissident Team- a White House "enemy" and had his impeachment summer" that "someone sters and Haifa partisans alike had their income-tax return audited the following high up, maybe Haig," was interested in homes and automobiles bombed allegedly year. Nixon's possible "organized-crime in- by members of McMaster's task force. Also during the 1972 campaign, col- volvements." And during the two-year history of the or- "The whole goddamn thing is too umnist Jack Anderson reported that ganizing division, 1972-1974, employers frightening to think about," says a Jus- targeted for campaigns became victims Teamster pension-fund advisor Allen tice Department official. "We're talking of terrorist raids and extortion schemes. Dorfman chipped in a $100,000 contri- about the President of the United In February 1974, McMaster's unit was bution, which he gave illegally to Mitch- States • . . a man who pardoned or- disbanded after spending more than ell. Dorfman waved around the receipt ganized-crime figures after millions were $1,300,000 of union money while bring signed by Mitchell at Dorfman's pension. spent by the Government putting them ing in only 750 new members. It had fraud trial in 1972. And, to top things away, a guy who's had these connections merely served as a smoke screen to get oft, when the Watergate burglars began since he was a Congressman in the For- employers to pay for labor peace, a blackmailing the White House, by de- ties.... charge of which McMaster previously manding cash for their silence, it was "I guess the real shame is that we'll had been convicted. allegedly the Mob that provided the never know the whole story; it'll never That same month, the owner-opera- now-famous limit-money payments start- come out." tors were shut down nationwide for the ing in January 1973, which Nixon said The House of Representatives had second time in three months, protesting would be "no problem" to raise. Federal scheduled Nixon's impeachment trial fuel prices. The massise demonstration investigators later confirmed that they for the third week of August, but the also became a protest against Fitzsim- 268 believe the deliveries had been arranged hearings never began. Instead, Haig mons, especially in Detroit. The leaders . • — cation in Malieu's statement that he be- of the shutdown had aligned themselves persuaded the man with the Cuban con- lieved one or both of the mobsters would with Hotta, who was then promising tacts—Santos Trafficante—to join the them better conditions if he returned conspiracy. According to a Time article, admit their involvement in the Castro as I.B.T. president. published on June 9, 1975. the committee plots—and perhaps more. By then, Haifa's alliance with the had received information Hutt Russell Although Roselli later testified, Gian- rebels, open attacks on Fitzsimmons and Bufalino and his associates were also in- cans never had a chance to. On June 19, his appeal against the district court that volved with the CIA. 1975, while cooking dinner in the kitch- had sustained Nixon's commutation re- Committee pressure immediately fell en of his suburban Chicago bungalow, he strictions (Hoffa had begun fighting the upon Malmo, who refined to say any- was shot six times in the face by an as- clauses that barred him Irom union elec- thing sinless he was granted immunity sailant who escaper) without a trace. tions soon after he was released) had from prosecution: "I knew from the be- Roselli was found dismembered in a 55- alarmed both the Teamsters high com- ginning that I was going to be the fall gallon oil drum the following year. He mand and the Mob. guy if this ever came out," Islalieu told had last been seen on a boat owned by an In mid-1974, according to a former me, "and I was ready to deny everything associate of Trafficante's. In 1970 and McMaster organizer, Fitzsimmons gave Roselli and Giancana were going to tell 1971. two of Russell Bufalino's partners McMaster a "blank check" to make sure the committee." There is a strong impli- who had also cooperated with the CIA in Hotta did not return to power in Local 299, the necessary steppingstone to the I.B.T. presidency. No matter who was responsible, violence against Haifa sup- Winter is going to be hard on your car. porters soon increased. Johnson, who It's time to put something hard on your car. was in a position to turn his Local 299 presidency over to Hoffa, had his cabin cruiser blown out of the water. Accord. ing to a Federal attorney in Detroit. the top suspect was one of McMaster's men. On July 10, 1975-20idays before Hotta disappeared—Richard Fitzsim- mons had his union car bombed. Possibly the bombers were trying to stir up enough violence to give Frank Fitzsimmons justification for throwing Local 299 into trusteeship—where it had been long before the reformers, now rulers, had cleaned it up. Fitzsim- mons could then bring in his own batch of officers and dose Hoffa out forever. Or possibly the bombing was a theatrical device to set the stage—and confuse the audience—for Hoffa's disappearance. Whatever the motivation, FBI sources told me that two of McMaster's top or- ganizers are the leading suspects in the car bombing. A few weeks before the bombing, an interesting meeting was noticed at an airport near Detroit. According to an eyewitness, two men climbed out of a private plane and were greeted by Mc- Master, who drove them away and brought them hack several hours later. One of the two men was identified as Anthony Provenzano. While the signifi- cance of that meeting could be somewhat better understood a few weeks later (on July 30, 1975), other events taking place at that time were quietly sealing the fate of Jimmy Hoffa.

THE CASTRO PLOTTERS ARE KILLED In Washington, a Senate investigation of the CIA-underworld plots to kill Castro was moving ahead. Senator Frank Church was the chairman of the com- Your car'scar's finish gets a beading mittee investigating those allegations. (not a beating), when you protect The Church committee learned that it from snow, slush, salt and sleet the CIA bad obtained the services of with Turtle Wax car wax. Ward off Robert Malieu and gangster John Ro- winter with the world's best seller. selli, whom Mallen had originally met through his friend attorney Edward Ben- nett Williams. Tln•ough Roselli. the CIA was introduced to Sam Giancana, who Pt • she plots, Salvatore Granello and James O'Brien had been working across the 0 Plumeri, had been murdered. restaurant. Did Giacalone accompany street from Local 299, where he shared O'Brien when O'Brien picked up Hotta? Although Chicago investigators an office and a secretary with William M thought that the motive for Giancana's Government investigators think not. Bufalino. By 11:30 that morning, both Giacalone's attorney claims he was with 10 slaying was his demand for more of O'Brien and William Bufalino had left his client in his law offices—in the same the Syndicate's slot-machine action in ▪ Teamster headquarters. O'Brien was building as the athletic dub—from 2:30 the Caribbean, former contract killer running errands; Bufalino was making to four that afternoon. However, the ri Charles Grimaldi and several Church arrangements for his daughter's wedding. Government is investigating the possi- Oh committee staff people had other the- At one o'clock, Holla left his cottage ories. bility that Giacalone's brother was with at Lake Orion, . He stopped O'Brien. Claiming that the mobsters who had to see a business associate, who had al- worked with the CIA were involved in Although investigators do not agree ready gone to lunch. Talking with an as to whether or not O'Brien was alone Giancana's murder, Grimaldi told his employee in the office, Hoffa mentioned when he picked up Hoffa, an eyewitness biographer, John Kidner, an official of +that he was going to a meeting where the Bureau of Narcotics, "Momo [Gian- has told the FBI of seeing Hotta climb Provenzano and Provenzano's Mob as- into a maroon car driven by a man fitting cana] knew coo much, and was ready to sociate Anthony Giacalone would he O'Brien's description. talk to the Senate investigating commit- present. Arriving a half hour early for tee about the Chicago underworld's part "I never did anything to hurt Jimmy his 2:3(1 meeting—which lie apparently Haifa," O'Brien insists_ in the CIA assassination plots against thought was to be at two—Hoffa bad to Fidel Castro." A Detroit government official says, wait and must have thought he hail been "We think O'Brien should've amended "I told him [Grimaldi] that that stood up. that statement to say he wouldn't have would take some proving," Kidner While the ex-Teamster boss fretted. wrote. "He didn't bother to prove it but knowingly done anything to hurt Hoffa. O'Brien was with Giacalone at a nearby It's quite possible that O'Brien simply replied: 'I don't need proof. I say he athletic club. Earlier, according to O'Bri- thought he was taking Hoffa to just an- was hit by the CIA guy. He didn't pull en's attorney James Burdick, O'Brien other meeting." the trigger himself. He used one of our had delivered a fislt packed in dry ice to guys [in the underworld].ian import.' " I.B.T. vice-president Robert Holmes. Government investigators believe that Grimaldi, it will be rtcalled, is the The fish was in a "leaky plastic con- the house in which O'Brien was staying same gunman turned informant whom tainer," according to Burdick. O'Brien was the site of Hoffa's murder—though Government officials characterized as ab- was driving a car that belonged to Gia- O'Brien's hosts are under no suspicion— solutely reliable. It was Grimaldi, too. calone's son Joey. "Because the fish and that his killers had flown in earlier who strongly implied that Hoffa had blood and slime got all over the back in the afternoon and had been taken to been the "original liaison" between the seat of young Giacalone's car, O'Brien die house by Sheeran. CIA and the underworld and that Hoffa then went to a nearby car wash to get Within a few minutes of his as-rival had first brought Russell Bufalino and the stains washed off," Burdick says. at that house, Haifa was dead. his associates into the Castro plots. The Government later seized Giaca- According to an inmate at Trenton Within a week of Giancana's death, lone's car, charging that O'Brien ''had State Prison—Ralph Picardo, who later Edward Partin, the key Government wit- used the car to lure Jimmy Hotta into a told the Government that he bad been ness against Hoffa in his 1964 jury- meeting with his abductors." Tracking given the details of the murder by one tampering trial, flew to Washington and dogs detected Hoffa's scent in the car. of the alleged killers and his brother, met with Senator John L. McClellan. A Michigan law-enforcement official's Stephen Andretta—four men were wait- "Friends of mine suggested that I go," theory is that "Hoffa was a sitting duck ing for Hotta inside the house: the says Partin. "They wanted me to tell all for O'Brien. He had plenty of time to Briguglio brothers, Andretta and Sheer- I knew about Hoffa's involvement with pick up Hoffa and take him to the site an. AU were associates of Ilufalino's and the Mafia people who were trying to where the meeting was supposed to he Provenzano's. Two secret internal reports kill Castro. I thought dint it was time held with Provenzano and Giacalone. prepared by the Government. one in the truth came out, and the Church com- And Hoffa had no reason not to trust January 1976 and a 38-page document mittee wanted to hear it." O'Brien." dated February 15, 1977—both based on But for unknown reasons, Partin was It was alleged, and then refuted, that Picardo's information—give the details Dever called to testify in either open or O'Brien met with Giacalone in the lobby as they are known to investigators. closed session. If Huila had intended of the Southfield Athletic Club about Picardo made two other allegations: to tell the committee what he knew, he 2:15, just 15 minutes before Hoffa was Sheeran had driven Russell Bufalino to never got a chance. picked up. Burdick recently confirmed Detroit on the day Hoffa was killed. And to me that the meeting did, indeed, THE DEATH OF HOFFA it was, according to Picardo's informa- take place. "O'Brien's kids' birthdays tion, which has been accepted by Gov- On the final day of Hoffa's life, Rus- were coming up. and Giacalone wanted ernment sources I've interviewed, Russell sell Bufalino was driven into Detroit to give them their presents," Burdick Bufalino who authorized Hoffa's murder early in the morning by , says. "During the three-minute meeting, via Provenzano. a Delaware Teamster boss who was a Giacalone handed O'Brien an envelope Earlier, Picardo had told investigators longtime friend of Hoffa's. Along with with $100 in it—$50 for each kid. . . . that after Hoffa was killed, he was several other union rebels, Sheeran was a Now, O'Brien volunteered this informa- stuffed into a 55-gallon oil drum and co-plaintiff in Hoffa's suit against the tion to the FBI. If he was involved in was taken on a Gateway Transportation commutation restrictions, and thus had some conspiracy to kill Hotta with Gia- truck to an unknown destination. Hoffa's trust. According to Government calone. do you think he would have That same day, McMaster was in Gary. investigators, Inter that clay, Sheeran freely admitted getting money from him Indiana, meeting with Gateway execu- allegedly picked up three of Provenzano's just minutes before Hotta disappeared?" tives. McNlaster's brother-in-law is the men—Salvatore Briguglio, Gabriel Brigu- The Government believes that O'Bri- head of Gateway's Detroit steel division, glio and Thomas Andretra—at a nearby en arrived at the Red Fox immediately and lie confirmed his alibi. airport and took them to the temporary afterward and drove Hotta to the home As to the final disposition of Hoffa's residence of Hoffa's "foster son." I.B.T. of the friends with whom O'Brien was body, Government informant Grimaldi 272 general organizer Chuck O'Brien. staying, a four.mintite drive from the told Kidner, "Haifa is HOW a goddamn four-year sentence, which he is now serv- hubcap. His body was crushed and murder was related to those of Giancana'. smelted." ing. and Roselli. O'Brien, oddly enough, made a simi- Until mid-1978, only McMaster had An Ohio Syndicate figure, Leo Moceri, lar remark several months after Hoffa's escaped prosecution. But, in a philo- who had given a Government agent in- disappearance in front of several wit- sophical interview with me, he was not formation about Hoffa's fate, echoed nesses: "Hoffa is now just a fender, optimistic: "I've watched us [the Team- Bufalino's thought: According to an in- being driven around by someone." sters] for some 40 years now. At one ternal FBI report, Moceri said a few If such a plan was made to dispose of time, we were the bosses here in Detroit days after the disappearance that "Hof- Hoffa's body, the reason for the Govern- and Michigan; and, truthfully, we got fa't death was the same thing that hap- ment's inquiries about Gateway Trans- a lot of governors elected. We put in pened to a man named Giancana," that portation and oil drums in subsequent , judges and everyone else.... both were killed because of the Church weeks becomes clearer. Gateway execu- "You can't believe what's happened committee's closed hearings on the CIA- tives, including McMaster's brother-in- to us: Now we're getting chopped up underworld plots to murder Castro. Mo- law, were out of town on the day of the again. It's just like an FBI agent told ceri claimed he somehow learned that. murder—though Federal investigators me. He said, 'Mac, until we get to the Hotta had been involved. After his sec- do not imply that they took part in any bottom of the Watergate thing, the Nix- ond meeting with the agent, and before conspiracy. McMaster, who has been on deal and HoIbis disappearance, we're the end of August 1975, Moceri disap- linked to the company as well as to Tref- going to hurt everybody.' " peared. His car was found at a motel in ficante, says, "If I was involved in that Ironically, the impetus for union re- Fairlawn, Ohio. [Hoffa] thing in any way, shape or form, form and a new concern about organized "We've got this horrendous maze of I'd be heading for the hills." crime was the disappearance of Jimmy information about what is probably die On September 8, 1975, Giacalone and Hotta. most sensitive and ominous thing we Provenzano appeared before the Fed- ever dredged up on the Church commit- SUMMING Up eral investigating the Hoffa tee: the CIA's use of some of the na- murder. They pleaded the Fifth Amend- So, then: Why does the Government tion's most dangerous Mafia leaders to ment. On December fourth—after believe that the Mob, in the person of plot the assassination of Fidel Castro," McMaster's brother-in-law aritl other one of its most powerful chieftains, Rus- says a Senator on the Church committee Gateway executives testified—McMaster, sell Bufalino, ordered the killing of investigating alleged assassination plots Sheeran, the 13riguglio brothers and Hotta? What did Hoffa know or what against foreign leaders. "This mysteri- appeared before the was he going to do that made his elimi- ous area of organized crime and intelli- same grand jury. They, too, pleaded the nation necessary? gence activity was deliberately concealed Fifth. Those same five men were also Was it because, as many have the- from the Warren Commission." represented by William Bufalino. orized, Haifa meant to recapture power A Congressman serving on the House in the Teamsters union and wreak Select Committee investigating the assas- UNCOVERING ma TRACRS havoc on the order imposed by the sination of President John F. Kennedy The notoriety of the Hotta case un- Mob—an ambition that seemed highly says, "The greatest difficulty will remain leashed a torrent of activity on the part unlikely to be fulfilled, given Hoffa's es- [in] conceiving of someone or some of law-enforcement agencies. To the trangement from the centers of power group who could have pulled it off and extent that the Haifa investigation yield- at the end? gotten away with it for so long, if, in ed no solid evidence, officials dug even Or is an answer to be found in the fact, Oswald did not do it alone.. . harder for evidence of other crimes past consistent cast of characters that thread- It's a monstrous question: not just who and present. Provenzano was eventually ed its way through Hoffa's life—and the hell could have done such a thing convicted of extortion and later charged through 15 years of American political but who the hell could have had the with the murder of union rebel An- violence? The men implicated in his power and, beyond that, the ability to thony Castellito in 1961. He has since murder were the same men whose names do it and not get caught? • . . Who, if been found guilty and is serving a life have appeared over and over again in anyone, in the early Sixties had that term. Giacalone was convicted of tax the alleged plots to kill Castro and pos. capability?" fraud and sentenced to ten years in sibly John F. Kennedy: Trafficante, Rus- A senior Justice Department official prison. Sal Briguglio was indicted for sell Bufalino, Marcella and Provenzano. sums it up: "What you're talking about the same murder as.Provenzano but did There is therefore considerable reason to when you speak of a purported Kennedy not go to trial: Standing outside a New assume that Hoffa was removed for rea- conspiracy—beyond someone with both York restaurant 22 months later, he was sons more complicated titan that of an absolutely murderous and consuming approached by two men who pumped mere ambition—especially if his murder rage toward President Kennedy's being five bullets into his head and a sixth one is seen in the context of the murders in the White House and a strong into his chest. O'Brien has been con- of Giancana a month earlier and of Ro- conviction that the Government could victed twice—once for extortion. He is selli 13 months later. Both were mobsters; be effectively altered through killing appealing both convictions. Gabriel both had been intimately involved with J.F.K.—is a conspirator or conspirators Briguglio and Thomas Andretta are un- the Castro plots; both were summoned to who would have had an enormous abil- der investigation for loan sharking and testify before Congress on their roles in ity, and no doubt considerable past ex- labor racketeering. Sheeran was charged the plots. perience, in not just evading but, more with tax fraud because of a leased car Ironically enough, William Bufalino, importantly, short-circuiting the stand- that lie had claimed as a business ex- with whom I spoke on October 25, 1976, ard investigative resources of the Feder- pense. (Interestingly, the Government may have inadvertently pointed a finger al Government. . . . You'd be talking believes that that "business expense" car in the right direction. He was attempting about someone who knew Washing. was the same one Sheeran used to drive to suggest that the Mob had nothing to ton—Washington power, politics—aw- Russell Malin* into Detroit the day do with Hoffa's murder, preferring to fully well; someone with money . . . Hotta disappeared—and it may also have shift the blame onto the Government, and, of course, someone with some un- been the air used to pick up Hoffa's but he put it this way: "Tell the FBI to derlings who were awfully (I:united dis- killers at the airport.) look into the CIA. And tell the CIA to ciplined. Someone who thought his most Russell Bufalino did not escape pros- look into the FBI. Then you'll have the threatening enemies had to he killed...." ecution, either. In August 1977, he was answer [to the Hotta case]." Bufalino Welcome back, Jimmy Hotta. 274 convicted of extortion and received a added that it was his belief that Hoffa's