Very good article, NYM,
Sylvia Pagano, with whom Hoffa had an affair in the early Forties, introduced him to the creme de la creme of Detroit Mafia, which began his long-term association with the Mob. Pagano and Hoffa's wife Josephine, were best friends. Pagano's son, Chuckie O'Brien, lived with the Hoffas and was treated as a son.
Hoffa never made any apologies for his involvement with the Mob:: "Mob guys had muscle, and where in hell do you think employers got the tough guys when they wanted to break a strike?“ He was in bed with them, but he was tough, independent, brave, and was never totally under their thumb. Given his sudden turnaround as denouncer of Frank Fitzsimmons' Mob ties after his prison sentence was commuted, it's a wonder that Hoffa lived as long as he did.
Harold (Kayo) Koenigsberg was a genuinely evil man.
That Kayo Konigsberg was a straight out whacko. And I agree with you that he was an inherently evil MOFO. A heartless killer, a screwball to boot. Who eventually showed the world that he was also so devoid of any character whatsoever that he was a ranked undercover stool pigeon to boot against everybody and anybody he thought the feds wanted in a vain attempt to help "himself" out of a jam. It was all about him.
