Ballad Of Jimmy Hoffa - MP3

Tom Lee  -  Ballad Of Jimmy Hoffa  (3:16)

Today marks 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.  In 1964, Hoffa himself was convicted of jury tampering and fraud and subsequently 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.  Nevertheless, at the time of his disappearance, Hoffa was believed to be engaged in an effort to recapture the leadership of the Teamsters.

On July 30, 1975, Hoffa's schedule called for 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.  His disappearance, and the resulting speculation of where his body might be found, fueled a constant supply of newspaper stories and television coverage for many years to come.  Although his body was never found, he was officially pronounced dead in 1982.

Comments

[Don Julio Blanco]

Nowhere near as good as Smokey Stover's "Ballad of Jimmy Hoffa," which was recorded many years before Hoffa's death!