In 1988, the U.S. Justice Department sued to force out senior leaders at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union and appoint a trustee because of the union's connection to organized crime.
-Nick Carey and Joseph White 
"We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner. It's going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We're going to win that war," Jimmy Hoffa Jr. said to a heavily union crowd. "President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong," Hoffa added.
Crime, Hate, Union, Violence, Character, Misogyny, Racism, Threats, Smears, Corruption, Convict
Four Teamsters members acted like real bottom-feeders toward "Top Chef" star Padma Lakshmi, her producer testified in court.
Show runner Ellie Carbajal said in Boston federal court on Wednesday that Teamsters Union members physically threatened the reality show's crew and hurled racist insults at Lakshmi while they were picketing a 2014 shoot, leaving her "paralyzed with fear."
A video of the incident was played in court, showing Redmond calling Carbajal a "c**t" and a "towel head..."
Mark Harrington, a fifth man involved in the case, pleaded guilty in December to attempted extortion. He was sentenced to six months of home confinement.
Editorial, Hate, Union, Character, Degeneracy
A judge ordered one of Chicago’s most politically powerful labor unions to suspend picketing against 16 funeral homes last week after receiving reports that striking Teamsters had, among other things, disturbed a child’s funeral. SCI Illinois Services, Inc., one of the nation’s largest funeral home chains, asked a district court to intervene after striking funeral directors and drivers with Teamsters Local 727 allegedly harassed grieving families. The company testified in its filing that union members blocked grieving family members from leaving its parking lot, used bullhorns to shout obscenities at workers and mourners, and unleashed a German Shepard on a dead woman’s daughter and husband.
Democrat, Union, Character, Smears
Teamsters President James Hoffa on Thursday compared the Republican Party to genocidal Cambodian leader Pol Pot and likened the tea party to the John Birch Society.
Crime, Union, Violence, Vandalism, Convict
The maintenance worker who set the hotel fire that killed 97 people here on New Year's Eve was sentenced to 99 years in prison today by a Federal judge who said Puerto Rico was ''fed up'' with violence.
The three men were members of Local 901 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which was involved in a labor dispute with the hotel magement at the time of the fire.
Crime, Union, Violence
Teamsters Union President Jackie Presser encouraged violence against dissident Teamsters in 1983 and took part in a "highly suspect" Cleveland theater investment that he said made him a millionaire, the President's Commission on Organized Crime charges in a draft report.
Commission sources said Tuesday that Presser invoked the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination when the panel asked him about both incidents.
Crime, Union
Two years ago, a special Presidential commission found that the teamsters ''have been firmly under the influence of organized crime since the 1950's.'' Dozens of Mafia figures have been convicted of crimes, including extortion, embezzlement and murder, that involved the union.
Last week, the Justice Department, in a statement, accused the teamsters' leadership of making a ''devil's pact'' with the Mafia and filed a mammoth civil racketeering lawsuit designed to oust the union's ailing president, Jackie Presser, and the entire executive board.
Nat. Right to Work attorneys filed suit Sep. 1 against the Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters Local 769 in Miami, and ten union bosses and assailants for their involvement in the bloody assault on Rod Carter during the nationwide IBT strike against United Parcel Service.