Word: hoffa
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Those who could afford it used to phone Edward Bennett Williams, who until his death in 1988 was one of the most effective lawyers Washington had ever seen, the attorney of choice for malefactors of great wealth or high profile (among them Senator Joe McCarthy, Teamster chief Jimmy Hoffa, Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Mob boss Frank Costello, the model for Mario Puzo's Godfather). Evan Thomas, Washington bureau chief of Newsweek, tells the Williams story as it should be told, with due attention to the man's boozy, backslapping charm, his genius for the law, and his untiring...
...wild card at the convention will be labor lawyer James P. Hoffa, 50, son of the legendary Teamster leader who disappeared in 1975, eight years after he went to jail for jury tampering. A federal judge barred Hoffa last month from running for office because he has held a job "in the craft" for only half of the required two years. Even so, Hoffa aims to line up enough delegate votes to amend the union's constitution to allow him to seek the presidency. Meanwhile, jackets emblazoned with the phrase FRIENDS OF HOFFA, the slogan used by his father, have...
...Hoffa's father may have been a crook, but he looked out for the members' interests (and paychecks) like no Teamster president who followed him. He died, most federal agents believe, because he finally stood up to the Mob after years of acquiescing. "When Jimmy Jr. walks out on that floor, there will be a revival that only his father could command," says an FBI agent who is close to the scene. "Just the mention of his charismatic name may generate a groundswell of support...
...Hoffa's son has pledged to root out the Mob, and his attacks on the current Teamster leadership have been fiery. But last week Hoffa sounded highly conciliatory as he pondered whether he will have to grovel for support from the Durham or Shea camps for a rules change to allow him to run. "Everyone's heart is in the right place," Hoffa says now about his opponents, sounding more and more like the consummate politician his father...
...thing that deeply troubles reformers about Hoffa is his unwillingness to accept the evidence that his father was Mob-tied, an impediment that raises questions about his ability to see the enemy. "I think Jimmy Jr. is the best man for this union," says Daniel Sullivan, a union official and a source on the Mafia for the FBI. "But the evidence on his father is overwhelming. He knew how to say no to the Mob, but he just should have started doing it sooner." Hoffa admits that "my father knew some of these guys ((mobsters)). But I don't accept...