Hoffa was not the "frontman" for the Teamsters Union. He was the leader of that union and a good one at that. He approved loans from the pension fund of the unions where the money was loaned to various organized crime figures and much of the money was used to build hotels and casinos in Las Vegas. These acts are what brought him under scrutiny by Attorney General Robert Kennedy. Kennedy made it his personal goal to go after Hoffa and the Teamsters and eventually Jimmy Hoffa was sent to prison. I do believe that he was found guilty of jury tampering. When Hoffa went to prison a man by the name of Frank Fitsimmons was put in as the President of the union. Fitsimmons (or Fitz as he was known as) was the be the "frontman" until Hoffa was released from prison. What happened over time was that the factions involved with the teamsters found it much easier to control and deal with Fitz as it was not as easy for them when Hoffa was in charge. Rumor had it that while Hoffa was in jail he was talking of his wanting to "clean up" the Teamsters union when he got out and take back the Presidency of the union. It turns out that Fitz negotiated a deal with President Nixon who in return pardoned Hoffa from jail. Only problem is that when Hoffa was pardoned he found out that there was a clause in the agreement that Hoffa would never run for office or be involved with the Union for so many years! Hoffa appealed this in the courts and the rumor was that the courts were going to overturn that stipultion in the pardon agreement and that Hoffa would be able to run for President of the union again! Being loved by the people that Hoffa represented for so many years, it was amost a lock that Hoffa would take back the Presidency. The factions involved with Fitz and the teamsters did not want this because they knew that Hoffa would not be a puppet for them, dancing on a string, so they in all likelyhood did what was neccesary to assure that Hoffa would NOT be running for office if the courts gave him his appeal! In 1975 Hoffa dissapeared.


Don Cardi