Yesterday was the 33rd anniversary of the disappearance labor leader Jimmy Hoffa, former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union representing truck drivers and warehouse employees, as well as workers in almost every occupation imaginable, according to their website.
Hoffa became the Teamster's president in 1957 when the prior president was convicted of bribery and sent to prison. Hoffa himself was convicted of jury tampering and fraud seven years later, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. After serving only about half his time, however, President Nixon granted him a pardon on the condition that he not engage in direct or indirect management of any labor organization until at least 1980. However, at the time of his disappearance, Hoffa was actively engaged in an effort to recapture the leadership of the Teamsters.
On July 30, 1975, Hoffa's schedule listed a lunchtime meeting with mobster Anthony Giacolone and New Jersey Teamster official Anthony Provenzano at the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Township, Michigan, about 25 miles northwest of downtown Detroit. Hoffa left for the meeting and was never seen again.
Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance, and speculation on where his body might be found (most common speculation: in the concrete at The Meadowlands), fueled a constant supply of newspaper stories and television coverage for many years to come. His body was never found, and he was declared legally dead in 1982.
Click here to download Tom Lee's Ballad of Jimmy Hoffa from the WFMU website.
---o0o---
