Hoffa, Jimmy (James Riddle) 1913-75
US labour leader

He was born in Brazil, Indiana. He was a grocery warehouseman when he joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America (the Teamsters' Union) in 1931. He proceeded to reorganize it, strengthening central control, and was elected president in 1957. In the same year the Teamsters were expelled from the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) for repudiating its ethics code. Hoffa negotiated the Teamsters' first national contract in 1964, but, following corruption investigations by the Attorney-General, Robert F Kennedy, was imprisoned in 1967 for attempted bribery of a federal court jury. His sentence was commuted by President Nixon and he was given parole in 1971, on condition that he resigned as Teamster' leader. In 1975 he disappeared and is thought to have been murdered.