Biography of James (Jimmy) Riddle Hoffa

 

Born 14 February 1913, as one of 5 children, Jimmy grew up fast when his coal miner father who worked in the many mines in Clay County died from lung diseases that were customary for those working digging coal.  To support the family, his mother took in laundry and the children had after-school jobs to buy food & pay the bills.  Jimmy regarded his mother as a strong woman who believed in duty and discipline.  In 1922, the Hoffa's moved to Clinton, Vermillion County, Indiana for about 2 years.  From there, they moved to Detroit, Michigan on the city’s brawling, working-class west side.  Tagged as hillbillies, Jimmy had to gain respect with his fists. He worked as a delivery boy after school.  He quit school in the 9^th grade at time of the stock market crash with its massive layoffs and business failures.  A friend said for Hoffa to get into the food business and lying about his age, he was hired to unloading produce in the warehouses of Kroger Grocery & Baking Company.  He worked for 32 cents/hour where 2/3 of it redeemable for food.  This was welcomed news to the Hoffa family but the rate was paid only for time they were unloading produce and not during idle time between deliveries.

 

Hoffa fought back to the unfairness of the supervisors, hours worked, and conditions.  When two men were fired going to the food cart for their midnight dinner, Hoffa called for a work stoppage during crucial delivery of Florida strawberries.  Kroger agreed to meet with the new leaders if everyone would go back to work.  Within days, Hoffa and aides had a union contract of 13 cents/hour increase, guarantee of half-day wage per day, modest insurance plan, and recognition of the union.  Hoffa was fired the next year during a disagreement with management and became a full-time organizer for International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT).  Since he never received a salary for his work, he asked for a small percentage of union dues.  Hoffa’s approach however was confrontational, shady, and destructive.  Also his bouts with police (first year, he was beaten 24 times), he stated that “Í was hit so many times with night sticks, clubs, and brass knuckles that I can’t even remember where the bruises were.”  Being thrown in jail was common as he fought for rights of Teamsters.  The problem wasn’t with the workers but the anti-union thugs hired by businesses and the local police who tried to disrupt Hoffa’s credibility and control.

 

In 1936, while working with striking laundry employees, he met 18 year old Polish beauty, Josephine Poszywak, who he married and both had two children: Barbara and James P. Hoffa Jr.  Things were good for them who had a modest home plus a recreational cabin at Lake Orion.

 

As the Teamsters grew, so did Jimmy Hoffa.  The new union became part of American Federation of Labor (AFL).  The AFL would become stronger by incorporating the CIO (Congress of Industrial Organizations) in 1955.  He was elected vice-president in 1952 with his friend Dave Beck as president.  As Jimmy was trying to combine teamsters in the Midwest and southern states to make them stronger, the McClellan Committee was set up by the US Senate to investigate improper practices of embezzlement, larceny, income tax evasion, union fund manipulation, and accepting payoffs.  Beck was convicted and the AFL-CIO expelled the Teamsters in October 1957.  Hoffa becomes president of the International Teamsters.  Hoffa’s involvement with corruption and his undeniable involvement with top mob figures in Detroit, men like Santo Perrone, Joseph (Scarface Joe) Bommarito, Frank Coppola, and others known today as the Eastside Crowd; did not establish good credibility for him.

 

After Robert F. Kennedy, chief counsel for the McClellan Committee became Attorney General under President John F. Kennedy, the investigation escalated.  The Justice Department used Edward Partin, embezzler and kidnapper, to befriend Hoffa to set him up.  In 1962, a trial to show he accepted an illegal payment backfired and he was acquitted but with Partin as an informant, Hoffa was sentenced for jury tampering to 8 years in prison with 5 years from other convictions.  Hoffa never relinquished his Presidency of the Teamsters during his imprisonment until June 1971 when he retired which put Fitzsimmons in as president.  President Richard Nixon; who received campaign donations from the AFL-CIO/Teamsters, commuted his sentence in 1971 with a deal—don’t assume office until 1980.

However, Hoffa did not give up his fight to remain with the Teamsters to become President again.  However, on July 30, 1975, Hoffa left for a meeting with Tony Jack Giacolone, Detroit crime capo and New Jersey Teamster boss Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano (hostile with Hoffa).  Jimmy Hoffa was never heard from or seen again.

 

Although Hoffa had some criminal connections to organized crime, he had to work with The Mob due to the power they had to disrupt strikes important to the Teamsters and deals had to be made with them or else.  No matter how you think about Hoffa, he was instrumental in unionizing workers with the brains-and-brawn of a coal-miner’s son from Brazil, Clay County, Indiana.  He awoke the world to the injustices given by big companies on their employees—he was truly for the worker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hoffa Updates               James P. Hoffa, General President International Brotherhood of Teamsters   -James P. Hoffa, son of Jimmy Hoffa, accepted the presidency in 1999 and still holds that office.   - In 2001, DNA tests on blood performed by experts in the Federal Bureau of Investigation connected Jimmy Hoffa to his friend’s car, an associate by the name of Charles O’Brien.   -Additionally and just recently (August 2004), as told by informant on his death bed, he described the house where Jimmy Hoffa was murdered in and stated it was in New Jersey.  It appears that this could be the home when it was noted that blood, found absorbed into the wood floor planks was seen.  Samples were taken for DNA testing and results are still pending.