special report: THE HOFFA WARS an investigation of the violence and corruption surrounding the missing teamster leader whose influence extended to nearly every corner of 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 article By DAN E. MOLDEA

At presstime, the U. S. House Assassi- of the Hallo . Hoffa's son, attor- the cargo I was hauling exploded and I nations Committee was about to reveal ney James P. Hoffa, Jr., who was the ad- was nearly killed. Eight truckers pulled some surprising details regarding the assas- ministrator of the fund, simply told me over and probably saved 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 discussed by the committee are also major his father's memory, in order to help un- rank-and-file Teamsters who kept me characters in my book "The Hoff() Wars." cover the truth about Hoffa's execution. alive during my four-year investigation. In October 1974, as is free-lance writer, Meanwhile, I was hired part time by I began investigating Jimmy Hoffa and The Free Press. We worked for JIMMY HOFFA'S most valuable contribu- the Teamsters. Ten months later, I was the next eight months on the extortion tion to the American labor movement concentrating exclusively on the union's plots I had uncovered, during which came at the moment he stopped breath- extortion schemes against trucking com- time I severed my financial relationship ing on July 90, 1975. The involuntary panies and terrorist activities against with young Hoffa. Soon after, I began act occurred in the midst of his dramatic internal rank-and-file reform groups. In- receiving a series of grants from the bid to recapture the general presidency I vestigations of the Hoffa–Frank Fitzsim- Fund for Investigative Journalism in of the International Brotherhood of mons power struggle and of Hoffa's Washington, D.C., which continued after Teamsters, which he had lost during five disappearance were of only peripheral my story was published. Simultaneously, years in prison. Still popular among re- concern to me; and I had absolutely no I was doing some work on the same sub- porters with short memories who insisted inclination to investigate the alleged ject for columnist Jack Anderson. With upon portraying him as a working-class assassination plots against either Fidel the help of money and contacts supplied hero, and among rank-and-file admir- Castro or John Kennedy. Ironically, how- by the F.I.J. and Anderson, my investi- ers who had forgiven him for stealing ever, my conclusions on labor terrorism, gations snowballed, forcing me into from them, Hoffa nevertheless had a slim rebel movements and shakedowns led me those areas that I had thought to be chance of a comeback. His release from into these areas, which I had, at one unrelated to my work. prison in latd- 1971 led to a futile four- time, considered distant and unrelated. I was not completely new to the Team- year struggle for power; his execution After a brief stint as a Teamsters sters union and its problems when opened the floodgates for investigations researcher with NBC, 1 continued my started my work on "The Het: Wars": into the Teamsters and the underworld, independent investig«tions. Then, in I had worked on a loading platform and their illicit enterprises, their influence on late 1975 and early 1976, I received had even driven a small truck while in the Nixon White House and their role $2100 from the Hoffa Reward Fand, college. On a hot summer day in 1971, in assassination plots against a foreign which had been established in the wake while I was en route to Columbus, Ohio, 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- President, later, he was unwilling and unable to mittee hearings of 1957-1960, its roots Convicted in two separate trials of jury battle the underworld. So, instead, he have been unclear until now. Hoffa, I tampering and of defrauding the union's promptly decentralized found, was introduced to Detroit mob- the union autoc- pension fund, Hoffa had become an out- racy Hoffa had used to build his empire, sters Frank Coppola and Santo Perrone sider to the Teamsters high command hoping to insulate himself from direct in or about 1994 by his lover, Sylvia Pa- when he entered Lewisburg Penitentiary contact with organized crime. Among the gano. He asked for and received Mob in March 1967. His problems began less immediate benefactors of Fitzsimmons' muscle seven years later, when the local than a month later, When he and his policies were local and regional Team- Teamsters in Detroit were being strongly successor, Frank Fitzsimmons. disagreed ster leaders around the country, who ac- challenged by a rival union. After the over a union appointment. The increas- quired a considerable amount of new Teamsters-underworld alliance had driv- ingly bitter war between the two old power in the 2,000,000-member I.B.T. en the opposing labor organization out friends lasted until Hoffa died and was to Instead of clamoring for the attention of the city, Haar reciprocated the Mob's be carried on by Hoffa's supporters even of one man, such as Hoffa, mobsters strong-arm work by giving it access to after he was gone. Many would think merely had to call their area Teamster union funds. With a new facade of le- that this split representatives for favors. Teamster with Fitzsimmons was the gitimacy, the Detroit underworld key factor in his death. But there is evi- became bosses who cooperated became wealthy. the center of the international narcotics dence that could lead to the possible con- Without the daily burden of defending traffic from 1947 to 1952, after Coppola clusion that he was murdered for other his professional relationship with organ- was deported to and became a lieu- reasons: specifically, his alleged role in ized-crime figures to the press and the tenant to Charles Luciano, the New York the plots to murder —plots rank and file—as Hoffa had spent much mobster who had been released from jail that involve figures linked for the first of his career doing—Fitzsimmons used and deported. Because of his importance time to events surrounding the assassina- his free time to back up his union sub- in that drug connection, Hoffa was intro- tion of President Kennedy. ordinates and to make new friends in duced to other dope peddlers in , politics and big labor. ROOTS OF POWER , and New York. Those associations were a major reason for his THE NIXON CONNECTION In 1967, Fitzsimmons suddenly in- rise from herited the uncontrollable monster Hoffa a union organizer and business Things were going well for the I.B.T. agent to president of the Detroit local in had created over the previous 25 years: an under Fitzsimmons. Its first- and second- 1946 to I.B.T. vice-president in 1952 and alliance between the union and organ- level officials were happy, and so was the to I.B.T. general president in 1957. ized crime. While this alliance has been national crime . Then, in No- When Fitzsimmons took over ten years vember 1968, Richard Nixon was elected President of the . Because A HOFFA the Teamsters had gone with the rest of SCRAPBOOK organized labor and supported Hubert

Jimmy Haifa (left) and Fronk Fitzsimmons (right) rose Attorney General Robert through union ranks together, starling in Detroit in By 1961, the CIA was re- Chicago mobster Sam Kennedy led the Govern- the Thirties. Years later, Fitzsimmons succeeded Hoffa cruiting powerful crime- Gioncana was recruited ment investigation of the as Teamster president. Their power struggle began a syndicate figures to try to to help kill Castro. Before Teamsters. Hoffo hated month after Hoffa went to jail in 1967, when Fitzsim- kill Castro. Hafts may he could talk to the Kennedy and their enmity mons began to undercut Hoffa's authority and support. have been an early Senate in 1975, he was made headlines for years . CIA-mobster go-between. murdered in his home. Corks Marcell° (left), Santos Trafficante (center) and formed a powerful crime alliance in the Southern states. Bonanno Carmine Ga- Hale had supported Richard Nixon in 1960 and ex- lante (right) befriended Hoffa in prison in 1967. Those four became Hoffo's chief pected an early release from jail once Nixon wos in supporters when crime bosses in Northeastern states backed the newly appointed the White House. Attorney General John Mitchell hod Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons' allies used the possibility of that split's erupting into a pledged law and order for the country, but investi- nationwide Mob war to persuade the Nixon Administration to keep Hoffa in jail. gations of Teamster officials and underworld figures were inexplicably dropped while he was in office.

142 Humphrey that year, Nixon's election money was half of a $1,000,000 contribu- murder two other New York crime-family was bad news. tion being given to the Nixon campaign. bosses. Because Bonanno's elder son was 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 . There is no proof that the money ordered Joseph Bonanno to respond to Kennedy, brother of Hoffa'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-fraud ernment prosecution, Bonanno arranged were headline news for three years. That, scheme in Florida. for his own 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, Hoffa 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 made 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 (and later provided the Govern- Galante, the underboss 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 Haifa's jury-tampering conviction), which was in internal conflict over the to —where he already had con- told me that Marcello 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, Haifa was also allying himself

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

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 Haffa's "faster son," who was questioned about the figures in the Hoffa disappearance. Bufalino, who is of Staff, conducted a murder. David Johnson (bottom, far left) and Rolland William Bufalino's cousin, has also been linked to the secret investigation into McMaster (bottom, far right), old friends, became key Castro plots. Provenzano is serving a life sentence Nixon's ties with the Mob. figures in Haffa's war to regain Teamster leadership. for killing a rival Teamster leader. 41.—•-• L • lir

143

• with Bonanno. It can be surmised that during the planning of the Cuban inva- The key man in helping McMaster Hoffa became a key figure in this brewing O sion, the mobsters were approached by a start Local 320 was an assassin for Gian- North-South Mob power struggle. As m 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 trolled the multimillion-dollar Teamster their cooperation, the CIA might be able Capone. Yaras was among the first mem- 4 pension funds and the loans that were to help recover their money. bers of the Chicago underworld to "dis- 1.1 coming out of them. The Mob, there- Although Maheu freely admitted to me cover" Florida after Capone went to jail fore, relied on him to help finance their that he was responsible for bringing Ro- a. in 1931. He was second only to Traffi- 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. ties to the latter two mobsters were ex- of the covert activities of Bufalino, A year after McMaster and Yaras set ceptionally dose and personal, Granello and Plumeri. up Miami Local 320, McMaster, with "Things were happening before I be- THE CIA-MOBSTER LINK Hoffa's approval, named a convicted came involved," Maheu says. "Therefore, New York extortionist, Harold Gross. After the in 1959, 1 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 Csimaldi, 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. (Grimaldi, 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, the 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 Contract 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 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, Crimakli'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 THREATS of contacts that included and Plumeri to cooperate with the agen- The fact of America's most secret Gov- (an advisor to 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), and participant in the gunrunning traffic to Even more troubling, however, was my Chicago Mob boss . 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 arc 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 Malteu's liaison with Trafficante, John a Detroit Teamster official, had a cousin, invasion, the CIA would have decided to ti Roselli. The pills were then passed to a Russell Bufalino, who had Itad 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- 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 Plumeri, 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 the ily. Granello and Plumeri were also in can be documented back to 1957. Hoffa Cuban Revolutionary Council, the gov- business with Hoffa 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 had the assassination of 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 Ferric, who when Castro purged Batista and closed 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 bad 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) in this:TO-01a•Mode 0 Super Grand Prize in Playboy (continued from page PH) November, E1 comb and Ja association with the President's assassin. Ad Gam Located in New Orleans in the same building as the C.R.C. was the Fair Play for Cuba committee, which was headed a locally by Lee Harvey Oswald. 0. TOYOTA In September 1962, Marcella met with Iris top aides in a cottage near New S'.:. ). i Gr.-171d PI iz!...,! ,:., ;,•-•-,-.7, /- - - — — 0 Orleans. During the meeting, according ,R miti, e, . ----.,/," - 'r The Grim Reapers, ack - tne s pony, ' .--.ii f ey to author Ed Reid in hritiv, -: -• – -----;> ______,,, _ Marcella was in a frenzy about Robert ersatile E- '-- Kennedy, and especially about Marcello's own "kidnaping," which had been en- -'7".•••••• • V - - he Corolla III V . gineered by the Attorney General near hOSR•5 the time of the Bay of Pigs invasion. TibackS a Both Marcello and Russell Bufalino Inner7So., , had received deportation orders and 4 Ir • r .T.z1 • . both were battling the Government. Federal agents sent by the Attorney General arrested and handcuffed Marcel- lo as he walked down a New Orleans street. They drove him to a nearby airport, loaded him onto a private plane and flew him out of the country. Since he carried a Guatemalan birth certificate, it was assumed that he was a native. After two months in Latin America, Marcella illegally flew back into the United States aboard a private plane, piloted by Ferrie. Back in America, Mar- cello began his successful appeal to fight deportation, claiming that he had been • sent away with no opportunity to call ow to :ire /4 sir.igan.5 I ['ken fmrti either his family or his lawyer. yr, 10,1hg„...-..;td:., Novidt?!..1, 01e;sse write ill the produt Marcella reportedly worked himself up vertIs.e7ce ,.,prth4. ill IF'S draen II COTTFTC.1 grftriu over the incident and finally shouted an Find These Write In . ancient Sicilian death threat against the .Advertising Slogans Name of Procluc Kennedy brothers, "Livarsi 71C1 petra di or Headlines, Advertiser Comp la Jearpa!" ("Take the stone out of my es shoel"). He then announced that John • Kennedy was going to be assassinated r?: and that a "nut" was going to be hired 'ea fry,' Mr.,;•,• ‘T,.•1 .Gr): to handle the job. That same month, Marcello's friend Trafficante, still involved with the CIA 4 LP: ,11 i?"71 murder plots, was talking with Jose Aleman, a Cuban-exile financier, who was a respected FM informant, about his hatred of the President. Aleman told George Crile III, who was writing for The Washington Post, that Trafficante said, "Have you seen how his [the President's] brother is hit- ting Hoffa, a man who is a worker, who is not a millionaire, a friend of the blue collars? He doesn't know that this kind of encounter is very delicate. Mark my .Onery he .bat .. Yell MITZiF bee suiellenu NOXIBER•ISSLIE SWEEPSTAKES. PO. Box 1911. stakes end monthly prizes awarded lor • words, this man Kennedy is in trouble, Harrison, fl, J. T7103, or /or 4 free entry biank and correct leanly tweepaleket Only one'antly raise! and he will get what is coming to him." istrowera, Send a sea-eddressed, stamped envelope in tergibiley Tor Super Orem" Price • • 1 NOVEATEIER•ISSUE SWEEPSTAKES, 101 Perk Avenue 3 This direr. NA Open to employees ol Playboy Enter.`., New VoNt,'N.Y 100TE Oo not sand enleca To this address . pr•ses. Inc.. VENTURA ASSOCIATES. INC. or Us Aleccran,, who was talking with the Entries mull Oa postmaried by December 5, 10711, inn andieles br al perecipaling adverlisars end Weir lereilet. underworld leader about a $1,600,000 received by DeCembor 15,1978. Oiler lord in Islaseurl end wherever pronAbled or ,twisVt\eab:';, 2. Winner's will be selacied in random drawing from rewricted by tort As Federal, were and local regoleriens Central States Pension Fund loan that correal entries received. under ere supervision at • apoly, VENTURA ASSOCIATES. INC . en Independent ludTen 4. All prizes ern no mweided Prizes are nontransferable Hoffa had personally cleared for Traffi- apenry whose deciaions are linel There ra ant Super 1300 nomederamnble Ice rash or miler Sunslilule. cante, responded that President Kennedy Name would probably be re-elected. (Please print} "No, Jose," Trafficante said firmly. I Address "He is going to be hit." .City State ZIP When asked during the research for,, 256 .1

my book who was making the arrange- . ments for the President's assassination, Aleman replied that Trafficante had "made it clear" that it was Hoffa. Only good music. Music without distortion. If your turntable is a BSR Also in September 1962, Ed Partin, Oi J,nt.-.P I Orritard- 'n'IJS,22 writ the introduction of the Quanta models deciding to turn on Hoffa, told inves- 600. 700 and SOD. BSR has created tigators in Baton Rouge about a fright- a turntable base with virtuaSy no ening conversation he had had with NO MORE resonance Oliimheini turntableso rritdeucvte,4reresonancenscoonnacntre- BaSnRdvirtuallylm Hoffa the previous month in the Team- A e ster leader's Washington office. B Low-frequency absorbing Partin says that Hoffa was discussing foamed concrete inside nign- two possible ways of murdering the At- VIBRATIONS6 . lyut.,:rlyoarobsnorceb_fnEugnfeodam torney General: fire-bombing his Hick- . : - Ali o.. :.L., •1 ,.., .,..li ,.I lee: ory Hill home or shooting him with a Noiacoustical feedback Just beautiful sound. And that's only the rifle while he was driving in his con- 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- Arid on the Quanta aa is the most accurate Manz Phase-Locked tical at first of Parun's story, the inves- Loop direct drive motor In existence. The quartz tigators subjected him to a lie-detector generated pulsed LED strobe display provides visual monitoring of the speed. B R test—which he passed—and then asked BSR Quanta turntables. Non-resonating. Not bad him to telephone Hoffa to continue the THE HONQ-URFiEsamnTR - ATING discussion, which would be taped by the is Government, about the plastic explo- TURNTABLES. sives. Calling Hoffa, Partin told him that he had received the explosives and asked what he should do. Hoffa replied - 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.

THE Allay 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 Hoffa 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 bad ties to these groups; Jack Ruby. Ruby had known many Chicago gang- sters during the Thirties and Forties and by 1947, be 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 close 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 1959. Ruby

Op O,, an a raguared 'radon. WWII WI LIO made two trips to Cuba, the second of tramane. lhalkala GO* 11,W Mawr!. NY .0513 •Druilaxed Canala NM Ir_anaaa) U0. Emile. Cat 257 which, according to FBI reports, involved Those two sets of records provided at Disconcertingly enough. however, the O his offering $25,000 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 fM dated November 26. 1963, states that call from Ruby on November I1, 1963. witnesses for Ruby. The commission 4 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- 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 Yaras. 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 McMas- Ruby's longest testimony before the sation I had with Hoffa's son, James P. ter and Yaras 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 I.B.T. vice-president During a long day of testimony before in President Kennedy's assassination, (and mobster) Anthony Provenzano of else 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 Ruhy'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 told the commission that the calls were subject of a possible connection of Hoffa 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 happened." Ruby maintained that the Jimmy Hoffa . . . to ask Baker to give speculative. Ruby, after all, did not kill only purpose of the various phone calls him assistance" in a labor dispute. The 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 be joined before such a claim that might have been interested in the competitors. could be proved. But it is a fact that the assassinatjon 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 IvIarcello 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 Ridden. months lacer, 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 die and subvert his government—in cooper- "a Syndicate lieutenant who had been Kennedy Administration brought to ation with Trafficante, Giancana, Bufa- seat to Dallas to serve as a liaison for bear ou 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 "die payoff man [or 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, the Dallas office officers in Dallas, fronting for the under- list—which included Hoffa, 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- indictments totaled 24 during the first all long-distance telephone calls made on vid Yara.s. 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 Cimini, a Detroit mobster. Law-enforce- 0 Similarly, the number of actual convic- says, "There is no solid evidence yet ment officials claim that when Hoffa tions bad risen more than 350 percent. that Carlos Marcello, Santos Trafficante, discovered that his wife and Cimini from a total of 35 in 1900 to 160 in 1963. Jimmy Hotta or any other criminal or had been double-dating with Zerilli en- tm Hoffa's own indictments were a tiny criminal associate had been involved in forcer and Hafla's fraction of the sweeping Federal effort a conspiracy to kill President Kennedy. former lover Sylvia Pagano, he went di- against LILT. corruption: 201 Teamster But regardless of whether they knew or rectly to Zerilli, pleading for help to officials and coconspirators were indicted not, they should have built the largest resolve Isis personal problem. Although during the Kennedy period and more statue in the world to Lee Harvey Os- Cimini was warned to stay away from than 125 were convicted by tie end of wald. No man has ever done as much Hoffa's wife, he continued to see her 1964. damage to this country's war on the and so he was allegedly set up, holding One victim of Kennedy's wrath. Bar- underworld as he did. Because the bullet several thousand dollars' worth of stolen ney Baker. convicted of extortion and that killed John Kennedy killed Bobby securities. Cimini went to jail and Mrs. sent to prison, relaxes now in his office Kennedy's dream to destroy the organ- suite, provided by his latest employer, Hoffa went home. ized-crime society." With his loss of prestige for crawling Allen Dorfman, Paul's stepson, and talks Hoffa seemed to agree when he told sx to Zerilli to resolve his wife's affair with about the past investigations. a Nashville reporter on the day Ruby "It does something to you," Baker Cimini. Hoffa, according to one of his murdered Oswald, "Bobby Kennedy is closest aides, was then expected to re- says. "It gets you sort of nerved up and just another lawyer now." 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? HOPPA LOSES SUPPORT underworld, That wish was to name Am L a fat man that looks like a tough Fitzsimmons his successor when he went After Hoffa's two convictions for jury man? You know what I mean? They to jail. Although Hoffa had two other tampering and for pension fraud in 1964, made me a bad man. You know what union leaders in mind for the job, he his two biggest supporters remained I mean?" agreed and named Fitzsimmons. who bad Chavez wrote Robert Kennedy the fol- Marcello and Trafficante; both are been a loyal Hoffa supporter for 30 lowing letter: reported to have offered Partin $1,000,000 years. Hoffa went to jail and Fitzsim- in return for a signed affidavit recanting Sir: mons took over. The new acting presi- his testimony against Hoffa. dent promptly began to display his This is for your information. The Meanwhile, in Detroit, the local un- independence from Haifa, appointing undersigned is going to solicit from derworld was staying neutral on Holfa's the membership of our union that Rolland McMaster, Hoffa's former link legal problems, just as it had been neu- to Trafficante, the chief executive officer each one donate whatever they can tral during the Mob wars in New York. afford to maintain, clean, beautify of the Detroit local. That upset Hotta, and supply with flowers the grave Detroit was who had selected David Johnson to run of Lee Harvey Oswald. You can rewarded with a seat on the nine-mem- things in Detroit while he was gone. For ber commission of the national crime rest assured contributions will be the next three years. McMaster and unanimous. syndicate for the restraint he displayed Johnson battled for control, ostensibly over the problems on the East Coast. Sincerely, for Fitzsimmons and Hoffa. McMaster Frank Chavez, However, Hoffa's undoing with the was among the first Teamster leaders to Secretary-Treasurer Detroit Mob resulted from an affair his split with Hoffa; others would follow. wife had been having with Anthony Teamsters Local 901 In 1967, Joseph Bonanno was perma- nently established in-Arizona. He bad made alliances with both Marcello and Trafficante. , illnesses and a con- centrated investigation by Government agents had forced some leadership changes among the top five crime fami- lies in New York, including the Bonan- `Ay,etAere's L 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- mine Galante, who was still fiercely MASSAGE PARLOR loyal to Bonanno and who enjoyed the prison friendship of Hoffa. 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 Est-fights 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 mans Yours is coming! You know it's coming one of these days... . 260 "Well, at least they seem to be literate." You're going to belong to met" in the Teamsters union, and the South- In September 1967, a month after ern crime leaders, whose armies were Hoffa and Provenzano had their brawl, bigger and stronger, were bound to re- Ohl The closest William Bufalino, Haifa'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. we came to the point that every time wearing NIXON STEPS IN he was dissatisfied with something, he had to have somebody to blame." Bufa- According to one of Hoffa's closest nothing 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- something, he'd always pick on Bill President Nixon had intervened on at all. Bufalino." Hoffa's behalf to quash the land-fraud Hoffa's friendship with Galante and indictment; 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 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.B.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 Hoffa comeback— New Jersey, New York and , voted overwhelmingly to support Hum- where the Provenzanos wielded enormous phrey. The cozy relationship between TEE MON•SA/A a . power. Nixon and the Teamsters that had LUBRICATED PACEBAL•cTicA 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 After 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 Murray Chotiner as a home town was also being neutralized. Presidential advisor. An astute political By the end of 1967, Fitzsimmons, Mc- trickster. Chotiner had numerous known Master, Anthony Provenzano, William connections with the underworld, par- Mother Nature made love one Bufalino and the people close to them ticularly in the South and among the of her most joyous and tender had turned against Hoffa. Only a hand- Marcello clan. With Mitchell and Cho- moments. And in keeping with ful of underworld figures had remained tiner, Nixon began a short-lived "war" that spirit, we made Fourex loyal to him; Marcella and Trafficante against the underworld. Natural Skins the most natural were the most important. With Hoffa Both Marcella and Trafficante sur- contraceptive you can buy. playing ball with Galante at Lewisburg, vived Nixon's war against organized You see, Fourex is a natural and Bonanno forming a Southern tri- crime rather well. Trafficante came tissue membrane with the through the Nixon years with an un- texture and sensitivity of soft umvirate with his two counterparts, blemished record, while Marcella had skin. They're so sensitive that Hoffa's support was centralized geo- serious legal problems only once. In- every nuance of your natural graphically. The crime families in New dicted for assaulting an FBI agent two warmth is communicated. Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, 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 Hoffa to two years in prison. But the trial Skins are available in the went to jail and had ceased trying to judge. citing the mobster's "poor unique blue capsule or, if you free him. health," reduced the sentence to six prefer, rolled in the convenient The problems of that situation were months in a prison hospital, after U.S. foil pack. obvious. If Hoffa was released from Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in- Take your pleasure. 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 Mob war Davidson, a Washington, D.C., public- FOUREX XXXX could have exploded out of the.Banana relations specialist, had become friends, Wars, which were still going on in New and both were active in the Free Hoffa Sold In Drugstores. . Manufactured by Schmld Products Co. York. The Northern Mob was willing movement. So when Nixon was elected, f Little Falls, New Jersey 07424 to fight to keep its extensive interests (continued on page 266) 262 t.

C.

• with Frank Fitzsimmons for some time HOFFill WARS (continued from page 262) and had been meeting with him fairly O regularly after Nixon was elected in No- vember 1968," says a former member of • "The stage was set for the restricted commutation Nixon's legal staff. "Mitchell had the • kind of clout with the President that if of Hoffa's prison sentence five months later." be wanted Hoffa out of jail, he would have been out—no matter what Colson 1k the chiefs of the Southern ,organized- an Ehrlichman assistant told him, "Mr. or anyone else said.... crime alliance were confident tIt';'.t Hoffa Ehrlichman says you should not con- "There was no reason back then for would he 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, Ehrlichman informed Mol- late 1970. But whatever Fitzsimmons ti 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 bet that it was something big. Hoffa was Others got the word as well, and such Mitchell and I have it under control." supposed to be out in 1969." talk so infuriated Federal investigator But Thanksgiving came and went, and It is quite possible that Fitzsimmons, Hoffa was still in jail. What happened? Walter Sheridan, the man most responsi- during his sessions with Mitchell, open- Davidson explains that Chotiner told ble for Hoffa's downfall, that he called ly discussed the dangerous situation his journalist friend Clark Mollenhoff, him that the President's special coun- brewing between the Northern and the who had accepted a job as special as- sel, Charles Colson, had persuaded Nix- Southern crime families. If that was the sistant to Nixon. on to scuttle the idea. "Fitzsimmons was "It's all set for the Nixon Adminis- one of the few labor leaders supporting case, Mitchell must have clearly under- tration to spring Jimmy Hoffa," Sheri- Nixon, and Colson wanted to keep that stood the implications of Hoffa's release: dan said angrily. "I'm told Murray support," Davidson says. A nationwide fultscale 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 Flu-- A more likely explanation for Nixon's was something the Attorney General and lichman [Assistant to the President for llth-hour decision nat to pardon Haifa 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

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Union funds again began Rowing by Fitzsimmons, Anthony Provenzano quietly orchestrated the release of the 0 South in an effort to buy off Haifa's (out of prison since 1970) and Dorfman. damning June 23, 1972, tape transcripts, support- in which Nixon was heard discussing TILE FINAL DAYS: ANOTHER VERSION the Watergate cover-up, and that forced NOFEA'S EARLY RELEASE ib 111 During the final months of the Nixon the President to give in and resign on al On June 21, 1971, the White House Administration, General Alexander August 9, 1974. persuaded Hoffer 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 RACE saw II would receive an early release from or not Nixon had ever been mixed up Like Nixon, Hoffa never operated as prison. Apparently, the White House with organized crime. A special investiga- a loner—a description often applied to and the Teamsters felt that Hoffa's sup- tor for the Anny 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 asiON 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 Haig wanted some things checked union at the I.B.T. convention in Mi- out on the President. special importance to Hoffa's rise to ami, both Marcella and Trafficante were It involved [John] Caulfield and power: Johnson and McMaster, dissident able to swing two vice-president slots truckers who joined and cleaned up their (Anthony] Ulasewicz.... Haig want- for their associates. In addition, Salva- Detroit Local 299 in 1995. Along with ed to know whether Caulfield and tore Provenzano officially had replaced Fitzsimmons, they were major reasons for allasewiez had been to the Far East his brother in a third vice-presidency. the early organizing successes of Hoffa, and carried back any money for That set the stage for the restricted who became president of the local in Nixon. He also wanted to know commutation of Hoffa's prison sentence 1946. whether Nixon had ever been mixed five months later, which barred him from When McMaster—by his appointment up with organized crime.... union office until 1980. Hoffa was simply as head of Local 299 in April 1967— "I never could find that Caulfield no longer a threat. became the reason for the split between and Ulasewicz had gone to the Far Just as the Castro murder plots may Haifa and Fitzsimmons, the war between East," said the Army investigator, have allied the Teamsters with organized the two men had been fought by proxies "but in my verbal reports to [the crime and the CIA, the Hoffa issue had McMaster and Johnson, who was still a CIC chief], I pointed out that in drawn the White House, the Teamsters strong Hoffa man and challenging for those days an American didn't need and organized crime closer together. Al- local control. However, after McMaster a passport to get into Vietnam, ... though the Justice Department success- sent the then imprisoned Hoffa a letter, "I concluded that they probably fully prosecuted associates of /vlarcello's warning him to "stay out of union poli- had gone to Vietnam, and I consid- and Trafficante's—all for misusing Team- tics" and the affairs of Local 299, Hoffa ered there were strong indications ster funds—Mitchell was personally re- began to orchestrate McMaster's ouster. of a history of Nixon connections sponsible for numerous aborted prosecu- The opportunity came after Johnson with money from organized crime." tions of underworld figures during his pretended that he had been beaten by four-year tenure. Several investigations Having ordered the investigation, and a McMaster 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 bad 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 I.E.T. general president selected him . decision to literally take over the White to head a special organizing task force , As a result, Fitzsimmons, the 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 LILT. board member who refused to associates in the White House men- McMaster's former organizers, rebel owner-operator truckers, dissident Team- back Nixon, Harold Gibbons, was named tioned to him sometime "during the sters and Haifa partisans alike had their a White House "enemy" and had his impeachment summer" that "someone high up, maybe Haig," was interested in homes and automobiles bombed allegedly income-tax return audited the following Nixon's possible "organized-crime in- by members of McMaster's task force. year. volvements." And during the two-year history of the or- Also during the 1972 campaign, col- "The whole goddamn thing is too ganizing division, 1972-1974, employers umnist Jack Anderson reported that frightening to think about," says a Jus- targeted for campaigns became victims Teamster pension-fund advisor Allen tice Department officiaL "Were 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 $1,500,000 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 off, 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- r. now-famous hush-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 massive 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 ..• of the shutdown had aligned themselves persuaded the man with the Cuban con- cation in Maheu's statement that he be- with Hoffa, who was then promising tacts—Santos Trailicante—to join the lieved one or both of the mobsters would them better conditions if he returned conspiracy. According to a Time article, admit their involvement in the Castro as president. published on June 9, 1975, the committee plots—and perhaps more. By then, Hoffa's alliance with the had received information that Russell Although Roselli later testified, Ginn- 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 Malieu, who refused to say any- was shot six times in the face by an as- clauses that barred him from union elec- thing unless he was granted immunity sailant who escaped without a trace. tions soon after he was released) had ill 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. In mid-1974, according to a former guy if this ever came out," Maheu told had last been seen on a boat owned by an McMaster organizer, Fitzsimmons gave me, "and I was ready to deny everything associate of Trafficante'a. In 1470 and McMaster a "blank check" to make sure Roselli and Giancana were going to tell 1971, two of Russell Bulalino's partners Hoffa did not return to power in Local the committee." There is a strong impli- who had also cooperated with the CIA in 299,, the necessary steppingstone to the I.B.T. presidency. No matter who was responsible, violence against Hoffa sup- Winter is going to be hard on your car. porters soon increased. Johnson, who was in a position to turn his Local 299 It's time to put something hard on your car. 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, 1975-20 days-before Hoffa 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 HoIfa's disappearance. Whatever the motivation, FRI 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, OF 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- WAX Master, who drove them away and brought them back 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 Haifa.

THE CASTRO PLOTTERS ARE KILLED In Washington, a Senate investigation of the C1A-underworld plots to kill Castro was moving ahead. Senator was the chairman of the com- Your car'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 had 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 Mahal had originally met through his friend attorney Edward Ben- nett Williams. Through Roselli, the CIA was introduced to Sam Giancana, who 271 the plots, Salvatore Granello and James O'Brien had been working across the restaurant. Did Giacalone accompany Plumeri, had been murdered. street from Local 299, where he shared O'Brien when O'Brien picked up Haifa? Although Chicago investigators an office and a secretary with William Government investigators think not. thought that the motive for Giancana's Bufalino. By 11:30 that morning, both Giaca lone's attorney claims he was with slaying was his demand for more of O'Brien and William Bufalino had left his client in his law offices—in the same 4YAM the Syndicate's slot-machine action in Teamster headquarters. O'Brien was building as the athletic club--from 2:30 the Caribbean, former contract killer running errands; Bufalino was making to four that afternoon. However, the Charles Grimaldi and several Church arrangements for his daughter's wedding. Government is investigating the possi- committee staff people had other the- At one o'clock, Hotta left his cottage bility that Glacelone's brother was with ories. at Lake Orion, Michigan. He stopped O'Brien. Claiming that the mobsters who had to see a business associate, who had al- Although investigators do not agree worked with the CIA were involved in 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, Haifa mentioned when he picked up Haifa, an eyewitness biographer, John Kidner, an official of that he was going to a meeting where has told the FBI of seeing Hoffa climb the Bureau of Narcotics, "Mama [Gian- Provenzano and Provenzano's Mob as- into a maroon car driven by a man fitting cans] knew too much, and was ready to sociate Anthony Giacalone would be O'Brien's description. talk to the Senate investigating commit- present. Arriving a half hour early for "I never did anything to hurt Jimmy tee about the Chicago underworld's part his 2:30 meeting—which he apparently Hoffa," O'Brien insists. in the CIA assassination plots against thought was to be at two—Hoffa had to A Detroit government official says, Fidel Castro." wait and must have thought he had 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, knowingly done anything to hurt Hoffa. wrote. "He didn't bother to prove it but 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 fish packed in dry ice to Government investigators believe that guys [in the underworld]. An import.' " I.B.T. vice-president Robert Holmes. the house in which O'Brien was staying Grimaldi, it will be recalled, is the The fish was in a "leaky plastic con- was the site of Hoffa's murder—though tainer," according to Burdick_ O'Brien same gunman turned informant whom O'Brien's hosts are under no suspicion— was driving a car that belonged to Gia- Government officials characterized as ab- and that his killers had flown in earlier calone's son Joey. "Because the fish solutely reliable. It was Grimaldi, too, in the afternoon and had been taken to blood and slime got all over the back who strongly implied that Hoffa had the house by Sheeran. been the "original liaison" between the seat of young Giacalone's car, O'Brien Within a few minutes of his arrival CIA and the underworld and that Hoffa then went to a nearby car wash to get at that house, Hoffa was dead. had first brought Russell Bufalino and the stains washed off," Burdick says. According to an inmate at Trenton his associates into the Castro plots. • The Government later seized Giaca- State Prison—Ralph Picardo, who later Within a week of Giancana's death, lone's car, charging that O'Brien "had told the Government that he had been Edward Partin, the key Government wit- used the car to lure Jimmy Hoffa into a ness against' Haifa 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 Haifa'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 Hoffa 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. All were associates of Bufalino's and the Mafia people who were trying to where the meeting was supposed to be Provenzano's. Two secret internal reports kill Castro. I thought that 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 36-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 never called to testify in either open or O'Brien met with Giacalone in the lobby as they are known to investigators. closed session. If Hoffa 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 Haifa was killed. And to me that the meeting did, indeed, it was, according to Picardo's informa- THE DEATH OF HOFFA 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 Haifa'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 4.` 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 Haifa 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, later that day, Sheeran freely admitted getting money from him Indiana, meeting with Gateway execu- allegedly picked up three of Provenzano's just minutes before Haifa disappeared?" tives. McMaster'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 —at a nearby en arrived at the Red Fox immediately and he confirmed his alibi. airport and took them to the temporary afterward and drove Hoffa 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 Criznaldi staying, a four-minute drive from the told Kidner, "Hoffa is now a goddamn 272 general organizer Chuck O'Brien. hubcap. His body was crushed and four-year sentence, which he is now serv- murder was related to those of Giancana ing. and Roselli. O smelted." O'Brien, oddly enough, made a simi- Until mid-1978, only McMaster had An Ohio Syndicate figure, Leo Moceri, cia lar remark several months after Hoffa's escaped prosecution. rut, 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 optimistic: "I've watched us [the Team- Bufalino's thought: According to an in- FC nesses: "Hoffa is now just a fender, being driven around by someone." sters] for some '10 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- 0. Hoffa's body, the reason for the Govern- and Michigan; and, truthfully, we got fa's 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 prosecutors, 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 Haifa 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 Hoffa's disappearance, we're the end of August 1975, Moceri disap- linked to the company as well as to Traf- 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 the On September 8, 1975, Giacalone and Hoffa. most sensitive and ominous thing we Provenzano appeared before the Fed- ever dredged up on the Church commit- SUMMING UP eral grand jury investigating the Haifa 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 and 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 Briguglio brothers and Hoffa? What did Haifa know or what against foreign leaden. "This mysteri- Thomas Andretta 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, Hoffa meant to recapture power A Congressman serving on the House in the Teamsters union and wreak Select Committee investigating the assas- UNCOVERING HIS TRACKS havoc on the order imposed by the sination of President John F. Kennedy The notoriety of the Hoffa 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 Hoffa 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 wit eventually ed its way through Haifa'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 capability?" term. Giacalone was convicted of tax the alleged plots to kill Castro and pos- fraud and sentenced to ten years in sibly John F. Kennedy: Tra.fficante, 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 an absolutely murderous and consuming York restaurant 22 months later, he was sons more complicated than that of rage toward President Kennedy's being approached by two men who pumped mere ambition—especially if his murder five bullets into his head and a sixth one is seen in the context of the murders in the White House and a strong conviction that the Government could into his chest. O'Brien has been con- of Giancana a month earlier and of Ro- be effectively altered through killing victed twice—once for extortion. He is selli IS months later. Both were mobsters; J.F.K.—is a conspirator or conspirators appealing both convictions. Gabriel both had been intimately involved with 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- perience, in not just evading but, more labor racketeering. Sheeran was charged the plots. Ironically enough, William Bufalino, importantly, short-circuiting the stand- with tax fraud because of a leased car ard investigative resources of the Feder- that lie had claimed as a business ex- with whom I spoke on October 25, 1976, may have inadvertently pointed a finger al Government. . . You'd be talking pense. (Interestingly, the Government about someone who knew Washing- believes that that "business expense" car in the right direction. He was attempting to suggest that the Mob had nothing to ton—Washington power, politics—aw- was the same one Sheeran used to drive fully well; someone with money . Russell Bufalino into Detroit the day do with Holfa's murder, preferring to shift the blame onto the Government, and, of course, someone with some un- Hotta disappeared—and it may also have derlings who were awfully damned dis- been the car used to pick up Hoffa's but he put it this way: "Tell the FBI to look into the CIA. And tell the CIA to ciplined. Someone who thought his most killers at the airport.) threatening enemies had to be killed...." took into the FBI. Then you'll have the Russell Bufalino did not escape pros- Welcome back, Jimmy Hotta. ecution, either. In August 1977, he was answer [to the Hoffa case]." Bufalino 274 convicted of extortion and received a added that it was his belief that Hoffa's El