Hoffa James Riddle - The Hoffa wars : the rise and fall of Jimmy Hoffa

EARLYBIRDBOOKSFRESHEBOOKDEALS,DELIVEREDDAILYBETHEFIRSTTOKNOWABOUTFREEANDDISCOUNTEDEBOOKSNEWDEALSHATCHEVERYDAY!TheHoffaWarsTheRiseandFallofJimmyHoffa DanE.Moldea ThisbookisdedicatedtoMrs.NancyNolte;myparents;RobertN.Davis;Cristine Candela(RFL);theFundforInvestigativeJournalismanditsexecutivedirector,Howard Bray;andthemembersoftheTeamsterrebelmovementwhohavebeenblackballed, beaten,andkilledintheirpursuitofamoredemocraticunion. Itisalwayseasytobeginawar,butverydifficulttostopone,sinceitsbeginningandend arenotunderthecontrolofthesameman.Anyone,evenacoward,cancommenceawar, butitcanbebroughttoanendonlywiththeconsentofthevictors. Sallust JugurthaLXXXVIII Hoffawillalwaysbeintrouble.Notinjailnecessarily,norevenunderindictmentjust introuble.Thisisamanatwarinhisheartwithorthodoxsociety. EricSevareid CBSRadio ContentsIntroductionI We the people seem to have the freest book trade in the world. Certainly we have the biggest.CruisethemightyAmazon,andyouwillseesomanybooksforsaleintheUnited Statestodayaswouldrequiremorethanfourhundredmilesofshelvingtodisplaythem abookshelfthatwouldstretchfromBostonsOldNorthChurchtoFortMcHenryinSouth Baltimore. Surely that huge catalog is proof of our extraordinary freedom of expression: The US government does not ban books, because the First Amendment wont allow it.

While booksarewidelybannedinstateslikeChinaandIran, nobookmaybeforbiddenbythe USgovernment atanylevel(althoughtheCIAcensorsbooksbyformerofficers).Where books arebannedintheUnitedStates,thecensorstendtobeprivateorganizations-church groups,schoolboards,andotherlocal(busy)bodiesrousedtopurifythepublicschoolsor librariesnearby. Despite such local prohibitions, we can surely find any book we want. After all, its easytolocatethosehotworksthatonce werebannedbythegovernmentastooobscene tosell,ormail,untilthecourtsruledotherwiseonFirstAmendmentgrounds FannyHill,Howl, Naked Lunch. We also have no trouble finding books banned here and there as antifamily, Satanic, racist, and/or filthy, from Huckleberry Finn to Heather HasTwoMommiestotheHarryPotterseries,justtonameafew. II Andyet,thefactthatthoseboldbooksareallinprint,andwidelyread,doesnotmeanthat we have the freest book trade in the world. On the contrary: For over half a century, Americasvastliteraryculturehasbeendisparatelypoliced,andimperceptiblycontained, by state and corporate entities well placed and perfectly equipped to wipe out wayward writings.

Their ad hoc suppressions through the years have been far more effectual than thosequixoticbansimposedonclassicslike TheCatcherintheRyeand Fahrenheit451. For every one of those bestsellers scandalously purged from some provincial school curriculum, there are many others (we cant know how many) that have been so thoroughlyerasedthatfewofus,ifany,canrememberthem,orhaveeverheardofthem. Howhaveallthosebooks(toquoteGeorgeOrwell)droppedintothememoryholein theseUnitedStates?AsAmericadoes notbanbooks,othermeanslessevident,andso lesscontroversialhavebeendeployedtovaporizethem.Somealmostnevermadeitinto print,aspublisherswereprivatelywarnedoffthemfromonhigh,eitheronthegroundsof nationalsecurityorwithbluntthreatsofendlesscorporatelitigation.Otherbookswere signed enthusiasticallythen dumped, as their own publishers mysteriously failed to market them, or even properly distribute them. But it has mainly been the press that stampsoutinconvenientbooks,eitherbyignoringthem,ormostoftenlaughingthem offasconspiracytheory,despitetheirsoundness(orbecauseofit). Once out of print, those books are gone. Even if some few of us have not forgotten them, and one might find used copies here and there, these books have disappeared.

Missingfromtheshelvesandnevermentionedinthepress(andseldommentionedevenin ourschools),eachbookthusneutralizedmightjustaswellhavebeendestroyedenmasse orneverwritteninthefirstplace,foralltheircontributiontothepublicgood. III Thepurposeofthisseriesistobringsuchvanishedbookstolifefirstlifeforthosethat neversawthelightofday,orbarelydid,andsecondlifeforthosethatgotsomenotice,or evenmadeasplash,thenslippedtooquicklyoutofprint,andoutofmind. These books, by and large, were made to disappear, or were hastily forgotten, not because they were too lewd, heretical, or unpatriotic for some touchy group of citizens. These books sank without a trace, or faded fast, because they tell the sort of truths that Madison and Jefferson believed our Constitution should protecttruths that the people havetherighttoknow,andneedstoknow,aboutourgovernmentandotherpowersthat keepusinthedark. Thus the works on our Forbidden Bookshelf shed new lightfor most of us, its still new lighton the most troubling trends and episodes in US history, especially since WorldWarII:AmericasbroaduseofformerNazisandex-FascistsintheColdWar;the Kennedy assassinations, and the murders of Martin Luther King Jr., Orlando Letelier, George Polk, and Paul Wellstone; Ronald Reagans Mafia connections, Richard Nixons closerelationshipwithJimmyHoffa,andthemobsgripontheNFL;Americasterroristic PhoenixPrograminVietnam,USsupportforSouthAmericasmostbrutaltyrannies,and CIAinvolvementintheMiddleEast;thesecrethistoriesofDuPont,ITT,andothergiant US corporations; and the long war waged by Wall Street and its allies in real estate on NewYorkCityspoorandmiddleclass. The many vanished books on these forbidden subjects (among others) altogether constitute a shadow history of Americaa history that We the People need to know at last,ourcountryhavingnowbecomealandwithbillionairesincharge,andmillionsnot allowedtovote,andeverybodyunderfullsurveillance.Throughthisseries,weintendto pull that necessary history from the shadows at long lastto shed some light on how Americagothere,andhowwemightnowtakeitsomewhereelse.

MarkCrispinMiller Introduction There-publicationof TheHoffaWarsisawelcomeevent. The Hoffa Wars tells an important story: how a potentially great force for goodthe unionization of Americas truckers and warehouse laborerswas captured by gangsters and converted into a monster that robbed its members of their right to a fair wage and pension,robbedbusinessmenoftheirrighttoafreemarketplaceandclampedahightax onAmericanconsumerseverytimetheywenttothecashregister. Dan Moldeas book stands above the journalistic exposs and glossy tomes that were published in abundance when the Hoffa case was the crime of the decade and the Teamsters were a national scandal. What differentiates this book, and makes it of continuingimportancetoanyoneinterestedinthefabricofAmericansociety,isthatitis documentedasthoroughlyonthestreetsasitisinlibrariesandcourthouses.Dannyknew theworkingmenwholivedthisstory.Heworkedwiththem.Andhewasabletocombine this street experience and personal empathy with the skills of a professional journalist. Fewwriterscanbringthatcombinationtotheirwork. Everypageshowsit.Dannotonlyknewtheunionmembers,hewasabletotalktothe mid-level officersthe local presidents and vice-presidents torn between the graft at Hoffaslevelandtheneedsofthetruckers.Andhetalkedtothemnotasotherreporters had to, by appointment across desks.