Haifa, the Teamsters and the Mob

By Wallace Turner New York Times New' Service influence of organized CHICAGO — The disap- crime figures for his own pearance of James R. Hoffa use, a Senate inquiry has on July 30, many investiga- shown. tors believe, may have its Fitzsimmons resisted roots in the alliances Hoffa relinquishing union control forged with organized to Hoffa, and one of the crime a quarter century investigative theories is ago in his drive for control that fig- of the International Broth- ures in the union no longer erhood of Teamsters. needed Hoffa and killed him Analysis of the records of for "rocking the boat" in past investigations, togeth- his attempt to recapture er with background inter- control. views with officials across Eighteen years ago a Sen- the Middle West; where ate investigation headed by Hoffa rose to power, show Sen. John L. McClellan, D- that he brought flocks of Ark., found that "there was hoodlums into the Team- overwhelming evidence of sters, used them to get con- JOHNNY DIOGUARDI JACK RUBY infiltration of this union by trol and then was stuck with Wound up in prison Hoffa's N.Y. Tool , Linked to Teamsters racketeers and hoodlums," their influence. They are and that Hoffa "pushed his still there. way to the presidency of the When Hoffa came out of Teamsters International jail in 1971, thirsting to re- with their active support sume his control of the and assistance." union but barred by condi- The beginnings of the tions of his parole, one de- , relationship between Hoffa vice he used to try to under- and organized crime are mine his successor, Frank lost in time. But as far back E. Fitzsimmons, was the al- as 1949, according to the legation that controlling Senate Labor Rackets Com- positions in the union were mittee, Hoffa had under- filled with racketeers and world ties. convicted criminals. Laundry owners in De- Hof fa said he would troit that year were faced change that if he supplant- with a strike, the committee ed Fitzsimmons, whom a found. They went to one of Teamster wit once de- their number, Morris B. scribed as "that fellow Dalitz, who besides owning Jimmy used to strike a laundry interest, was a matches on." prominent member of the criminal underworld in JUST AS Hoffa conferred Cleveland and Detroit from power on Fitzsimmons as the 1920s until 1940. stand-in president of the The owners promised to Teamsters when Hoffa was pay $17,500 to prevent the in fail so did he build up the strike, and Hoffa then in case entered the bargaining se§- attempt to gain power in the wanted to be ready sions to tell the negotiator New York area Teamster something happened — as it for the laundry workers hierarchy. did — to take Beck out of that there could be no Dioguardi, born in New the running The Senate strike. York in 1914, was the neph- .committee's disclosures The committee could not ew of James Plumeri who about Beck led to his con- trace the money to Hoffa, was the notorious "Jimmy viction of tax , a feder- and he denied that he had Doyle," a labor racketeer al prison term and retire- received it, although it was and thug. ment. not contested that he helned Dioguardi served a 3-to-S Seven New York locals the laundry owners avoid a year sentence at run by the Dioguardi group strike. penitentiary on a 1937 had been created, four of The years passed and Mr. charge of . In the theta staffed with the offi- Dalitz became a major 1950s he got into the labor cers from the UAW-AFL. operator in the Las Vegas field as the The other three were staff- gambling casino industry . proprietor of a local of the ed with Hoffa supporters He sold out in Nevada in affili- from Teamster locals. 1966 and became a partner ated with the American Among the officers who in the development of Ran- Federation of Labor The moved from the UAW-AFL cho La Costa, a real estate local had split from the locals to the Teamsters was promotion in San Diego Walter Reuther-led UAW Harry Davidoff, whose con- County, Calif. affiliated with the Congress victions include burglary of Industrial Organizations, and attempted extortion. 1 BY THEN Hoffa was in which had not merged with Davidoff's association firm control of all aspects of the AFL. Anthony Corallo, with the Teamsters has the Teamsters union. known as "Tony Ducks," lasted into the 1970s. He and Money began to flow to La was allied with Dioguardi, another maw controlled a Costa in a golden stream as was Anthony Darla. trucking association that from the union's pension These UAW-AFL locals, dominated freight traffic in funds in the Central, South- staffed by former convicts and out of New York's eastern and Southwestern as business agents, special- Kennedy International Air- magazine report- states. Upwards of $45-mil- ized in extortion and sweet- port. Life lion has gone into the devel- heart contracts. The Senate ed in 1971 that Dioguardi opment. investigation showed that was able to intercede with Last March, Penthouse among 40 men Dioguardi Hoffa's successor, Fitzsim- magazine printed an article brought into the labor mons, to protect Davidoff's about La Costa and its resi- movement, there were 77 position in a Teamster dents, visitors and promo- convictions for crimes that local. tors. Dalitz, his three part- included theft, narcotics, In the beginning of Dio- ners and the five forgery, possession of guardi's move into the labor corporations they establish-. stolen mail, robbery and field, he got important help ed to operate La Costa sued accessory to murder. from Paul Dorfman, head of the magazine, its editors By 1954, Dioguardi, forc- the waste handlers union in and the two authors. ed out of the UAW-AFL was Chicago. Dorfman had The complaint, filed in friendly -with Hoffa, who taken over the local after Los Angeles Superior Court, was looking for support in its previous leader was said the magazine had New York. Pressed by the shot. falsely charged that La late Robert F. Kennedy, One of the officials of the Costa was frequented by then chief counsel of the previous administration of mobsters, that it had been Senate Rackets Committee, the local was Jack Ruby, founded by a syndicate, Hoffa admitted that he had who later went to Dallas that it was controlled by the pushed hard to bring the where he ran a nightclub Mob or that it harbored a UAW-AFL locals into the featuring strippers and got hoard of underworld figures Teamsters' union. to know so many policemen who were under surveil- that they permitted- him to lance by law enforcement HOFFA pleaded bad move freely into headquar- officials. The suit asks $70 memory so often that the ters on Nov. 24, 1963, when million damages, and late Sen. Irving Ives, R- he whipped out a gun and pretrial depositions now are N.Y., called it "the best for- killed Lee Harvey Oswald, being taken. gettery" he had ever seen. the accused assassin of The connection with One thing Mr. Hoffa could President Kennedy. Dalitz raises echoes of the not remember was whether When the authorities infamous Detroit Purple he had put recorders in the examined Ruby's long-dis- Gang, with which Hoffa had pockets of grand jury wit- tance telephone records, dealings- when he was an nesses so he would know they found he had been in emerging labor figure in what they had testified to, close contact with many of Detroit. His involvement beyond having their assur- the top Teamster officials with New York labor racke- ances that they had protect- and their retinue, who, teers came about when he ed him. when interviewed, said that started to reach for national Dave Beck of Seattle was the nightclub operator had power. then the Teamster presi- asked them for help with his John Dioguardi also dent. The union was labor problems. known as "Johnny Dio," be- scheduled to hold elections came Hoffa's tool in Hoffa's in the fall of 1957, and Hoffa PAUL Dorfman's son, "general vice president," Allen, is another of Hoffa's which meant Fitzsimmons -the ties to the underworld was to be in charge of Many observers of the fund. He also arranged to Teamsters see Allen Dorf • have Allen Dorfman named man as one of the transi- special consultant to the tional figures between the pension fund trustees. Dorf- continual violence of labor man lasted until 1972, when rackets of the earlier days he was convicted of taking and the smoother but finan- a $55,000 kickback for ar- cially more remunerative ranging a loan. rackets of today Organized crime involve- The Central States pen- ment in the Teamsters went sion fund looms large in beyond the pension fund, these matters. according to law enforce- ment sources. In Kansas Hoffa ran the fund with City, for example the union an iron hand until he went was pictured by competent to jail. He set out in the confidential sources as rid- early 1960s to use the money dled with racketeering to make the Teamsters influence. One observer more powerful. For exam- said that some truck ple, if the union wanted to drivers spent all their time influence a politically making their.- book-making powerful banker, the fund rounds and none on deliv- could deposit $5 million in eries for their intimidated his bank. employers. This practice, which was legal, soon gave way to IN INTERVIEWS, about loans to those with influ- Hoffa's involvement with ence, and that led to kick- organized crime, several backs, which led to the official sources said there creation of kickback rings, was a vague report from which led to selecting bor- some of Hoffa's associates rowers for the size of their several months ago that he might be willing to give evi- payments of bribes rather than for the loans' value to dence to the government if the union or for the collater- that would help him return to the union presidency. al offered. Hoffa himself was con- The same sources said, victed as a part of a ring however, that nothing had that had collected more come from these reported than $1 million in kickbacks overtures from Hoffa aides from about $20 million in and that it was not clear loans from the fund. even whethtr Hoffa himself had known and approved of Before he went to prison, what allegedly had been Hoffa arranged for his• old said to federal officials. friend, Fitzsimmons, to be