Jimmy Hoffa

The Teamsters boss whose 1975 disappearance is at the heart of The Irishman.

James Riddle "Jimmy" Hoffa (born 14 February 1913) was an American labor union leader who was general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1957 to 1971. He was alleged to have ties to organized crime and disappeared in mysterious circumstances on 30 July 1975; he was declared dead in 1982.

Al Pacino plays him in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman (2019).

Quick Facts

Born: 14 February 1913
Disappeared: 30 July 1975 (declared dead 1982)
Office: General President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (1957-1971)
Portrayed by: Al Pacino (The Irishman, 2019)

Facts from the source article.

Background

A union activist from an early age, Hoffa was national vice-president of the union by 1952. In 1964 he secured the first national agreement on teamsters' rates, the National Master Freight Agreement, and under him the union grew to more than 2.3 million members, the largest in the United States. His links with organized crime began early in his Teamsters career. Convicted in 1964 of jury tampering, attempted bribery, conspiracy and mail and wire fraud, he went to prison in 1967. He resigned as president in 1971 under a commutation agreement with President Richard Nixon, which barred him from union activity until 1980. In Charles Brandt's 2004 book I Heard You Paint Houses, the basis of The Irishman, the mob hitman Frank Sheeran claims to have killed him, an account that has been disputed.