Post by Rob Caprio on Dec 8, 2018 21:22:09 GMT -5
All portions ©️ Robert Caprio 2006-2024
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The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) would focus on the role of the Mafia in the murder of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) as well as people they had ties to. One such person was the focus of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s (RFK) attention for six years by the time of the assassination. His role as the leader of the Teamsters Union brought him into direct contact with some of the main Mafia chiefs of the country at that time (Carlos Marcello, Santos Trafficante and Sam Giancana), and he made verbal threats against RFK and JFK many times over the years.
The HSCA Says…Jimmy Hoffa.
**********************************************
The HSCA gives us an overview of the feud between RFK and Hoffa in their report.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0032b.gif
The Attorney General focused on targets he had become acquainted with as counsel for the Rackets Committee. He was particularly concerned about the alliance of the top labor leaders and racketeers as personified by Teamster President James R. Hoffa. Schlesinger wrote that "the pursuit of Hoffa was an aspect of the war against organized crime." He added:
The relations between the Teamsters and the syndicates continued to grow. The FBI electronic microphone, planted from 1961 to 1964 in the office of Anthony Giacalone, a Detroit hood, revealed Hoffa's deep if wary involvement with the local mob. For national purposes a meeting place was the Rancho La Costa Country Club near San Clemente, Calif., built with $27 million in loans from the Teamsters pension fund; its proprietor, Morris B. Dalitz, had emerged from the Detroit [sic. Cleveland] underworld to become a Las Vegas and Havana gambling figure. Here the Teamsters and the mob golfed and drank together. Here they no doubt reflected that, as long as John Kennedy was President, Robert Kennedy would be unassailable. (HSCA Report, p. 34)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0032b.htm
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The name of Morris Dalitz is an intriguing one since the club he built not only entertained top Mafia people, but also people like Earl Warren and Richard Nixon. He built the Rancho La Costa Country Club near San Clemente, California. One of the charter members of this club was the one and only Eugene Hale Brading who would be using the alias Jim Braden when he was detained on November 22, 1963, inside the Dal-Tex building in Dealey Plaza (DP).
Jose Aleman said that when Santos Trafficante was discussing the idea of seeing JFK “getting what was coming to him” it was in regards to Jimmy Hoffa.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0102b.gif
Aleman was quoted as having noted that Trafficante had spoken of Teamsters Union President James Hoffa during the same conversation, indicating that the President would "get what is coming to him" as a result of his administration's intense efforts to prosecute Hoffa. (Ibid., p. 174)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0102b.htm
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The HSCA Report will give us an overview of their thinking regarding Hoffa and his possible ties to the JFK assassination.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0103b.gif
(8) James R. Hoffa--During the course of its investigation, the committee also examined a number of areas of information and allegations pertaining to James R. Hoffa and his Teamsters Union and underworld associates. The long and close relationship between Hoffa and powerful leaders of organized crime, his intense dislike of John and Robert Kennedy dating back to their role in the McClellan Senate investigation, together with his other criminal activities, led the committee to conclude that the former Teamsters Union president had the motive, means and opportunity for planning an assassination attempt upon the life of President John F. Kennedy. (Ibid., p. 176)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0103b.htm
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A man who was the lawyer of Santos Trafficante for 27 years, Frank Ragano, would also represent Jimmy Hoffa for 15 years as well. Ragano would say Hoffa said the following when he heard that JFK was murdered, “Have you heard the good news?” Hoffa begins. “They killed the sonofabitch. This means Bobby is out as attorney general. Lyndon will get rid of him.” Was it a lucky guess or did Hoffa know what would happen since RFK was basically “gotten rid of” by President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ)? When a reporter asked him about RFK later on he says, “Bobby Kennedy is just another lawyer now.” And he was for all intents and purposes after November 22, 1963.
Ragano would say Santos Trafficante was jubilant too at the news as he met him for dinner that evening and brought his nineteen-year old fiancee with him. He would say this about what Trafficante allegedly said in his book Mob Lawyer.
Quote on
“I hope Jimmy [Hoffa] is happy now. We will build hotels again. We’ll get back into Cuba now.” Once at the table, Trafficante launches into a tirade against the slain president, then proposes a toast. Turning to Ragano and his future bride, he raises a glass and says: “To your health and John Kennedy’s death.” (Frank Ragano, Mob Lawyer)
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We do know that in the summer of 1962 that Jimmy Hoffa discussed the murder of RFK with one of his lieutenants, Edward Partin, because Partin told the authorities that he had heard Hoffa talk about this. This came to the attention of the federal government in September 1962. Here is what the HSCA wrote about this issue.
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In October 1962, acting under the orders of Attorney General Kennedy, FBI Director Hoover authorized a detailed polygraph examination of Partin. In the examination, the Bureau concluded that Partin had been truthful in recounting Hoffa's discussion of a proposed assassination plan. Subsequently, the Justice Department developed further evidence supporting Partin's disclosures, indicating that Hoffa had spoken about the possibility of assassinating the President's brother on more than one occasion.
In an interview with the committee, Partin reaffirmed the account of Hoffa's discussion of a possible assassination plan, and he stated that Hoffa had believed that having the Attorney General murdered would be the most effective way of ending the Federal Government's intense investigation of the Teamsters and organized crime. Partin further told the committee that he suspected that Hoffa may have approached him about the assassination proposal because Hoffa believed him to be close to various figures in Carlos Marcello's syndicate organization. Partin, a Baton Rouge Teamsters official with a criminal record, was then a leading Teamsters Union official in Louisiana. Partin was also a key Federal witness against Hoffa in the 1964 trial that led to Hoffa's eventual imprisonment. (HSCA Report, p. 176)
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What really stands out in all of this is that the government knew more than a year before JFK’s assassination that Hoffa had violent thoughts about RFK, and yet, nothing was done against him to prevent this from coming to fruition. What is really eerie is that his plan for RFK matched what happened in Dealey Plaza (DP) so closely that it can’t be just a coincidence.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0104a.gif
While the committee did not uncover evidence that the proposed Hoffa assassination plan ever went beyond its discussion, the committee noted the similarities between the plan discussed by Hoffa in 1962 and the actual events of November 22, 1963. While the committee was aware of the apparent absence of any finalized method or plan during the course of Hoffa's discussion about assassinating Attorney General Kennedy he did discuss the possible use of a lone gunman equipped with a rifle with a telescopic sight, the advisability of having the assassination committed somewhere in the South, as well as the potential desirability of having Robert Kennedy shot while riding in a convertible. While the similarities are present, the committee also noted that they were not so unusual as to point ineluctably in a particular direction. President Kennedy himself, in fact, noted that he was vulnerable to rifle fire before his Dallas trip. Nevertheless, references to Hoffa's discussion about having Kennedy assassinated while riding in a convertible were contained in several Justice Department memoranda received by the Attorney General and FBI Director Hoover in the fall of 1962. Edward Partin told the committee that Hoffa believed that by having Kennedy shot as he rode in a convertible, the origin of the fatal shot or shots would be obscured. The context of Hoffa's discussion with Partin about an assassination conspiracy further seemed to have been predicated upon the recruitment of an assassin without any identifiable connection to the Teamsters organization or Hoffa himself. Hoffa also spoke of the alternative possibility of having the Attorney General assassinated through the use of some type of plastic explosives. (Ibid., pp. 176-177)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0104a.htm
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The issue of calling cards came up on this board awhile ago, could the way JFK have been assassinated have been a calling card from Hoffa, the Mafia, and their backers in the government (i.e. CIA)? They perhaps knew once RFK learned how JFK was killed he would put two and two together and figure it out who was part of the murder. If we take it back one step we can even show a tie to Allen Dulles, the former CIA Director, as he had a fascination with the way Reinhard Heydrich was killed in May of 1942 while driving through the streets of Prague, Czechoslavakia. As his car came around a hairpin turn two British trained Czech operatives attacked him. The Sten gun of the one did not work as it jammed, but the other one threw an explosive that would eventually lead to the death of Heydrich about a week later. While not exactly like the events of November 22, 1963, the concept was the same as well. Were the CIA and Mafia leaving calling cards for RFK and others to figure out?
The report goes on to say that JFK was informed of this by the either his brother or the Justice Department (JD) as he had told his friend Ben Bradlee, executive director of the Washington Post, about it as it was contained in his personal journal in the month of February 1963. Bradlee said he had a hard time believing it, but that JFK was “serious about it.” It would seem the similarity between the way Hoffa discussed killing RFK and the way JFK actually was killed did not go unnoticed by RFK and some of his close associates like Kenneth O’Donnell as they immediately began looking into Hoffa’s and the Mafia’s involvement in the murder of JFK. (Ibid., p. 177)
RFK would even appoint JD lawyer Charles Shaffer to the Warren Commission (WC) to make sure that the possible involvement of the Teamsters (i.e. Hoffa) would be watched and checked out. Of course no such thing ever happened as the WC wanted no information regarding anyone but Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO). (Ibid.) The HSCA said the Teamsters were on a list that might tie Ruby and others who might have wanted JFK dead.
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Nevertheless, in a lengthy Commission memorandum prepared for the CIA in February 1964, the Teamsters Union had been listed first on a list of potential groups to be investigated in probing "ties between Ruby and others who might have been interested in the assassination of President Kennedy." (Ibid.)
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Of course shortly before his disappearance, and presumed death, Hoffa would deny ever saying he wanted RFK murdered and any involvement in the JFK assassination. The HSCA agreed with him as they said there was “no direct evidence that Hoffa was involved in a plot to kill JFK.” They said he was not a leader of a major crime syndicate, but why would he have to be if he was associated with men that fit that bill already? The HSCA then went into Hoffa’s character for us.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0104b.gif
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0105a.gif
Finally, a note on Hoffa's character. He was a man of strong emotions who hated the President and his brother, the Attorney General. He did not regret the President's death, and he said so publicly. Nevertheless, Hoffa was not a confirmed murderer, as were various organized crime leaders whose involvement the committee considered, and he cannot be placed in that category with them, even though he had extensive associations with them. Hoffa's associations with such organized crime leaders grew out of the nature of his union and the industry whose workers it represented. Organized crime and the violence of the labor movement were facts of life for Hoffa; they were part of the milieu in which he grew up and worked. But when he encountered the only specific plot against a Kennedy that came to the attention of the committee (the suggestion from Frank Chavez), he rejected it.
The committee concluded, therefore, that the balance of the evidence argued that it was improbable that Hoffa had anything to do with the death of the President. (Ibid., pp. 178-179)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0104b.htm
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Just because there is no documentation that shows Hoffa was a murderer, does not mean he was not capable of it or could have done it without anyone knowing about it. Let’s say he was not a man who believed in murder, could that still be said if he was facing a long time in jail? Keep in mind, he was pardoned by Nixon, but what if JFK was NOT assassinated and won a second term? And then RFK ran and won and then ran and won again? And then Ted Kennedy ran and won, and maybe ran and won again? Who knows for sure, but the point is Hoffa was looking at a long time in jail with NO chance of parole or pardon IF the Kennedys were still a force in politics. So who is to say that he wouldn’t have changed his mind on killing one or both of them? The mention of the discussion with Frank Chavez is not indicative of what he would have done in 1962 or 1963 to me. Why? Well, the discussion with Chavez took place in 1967 shortly before Hoffa was going to jail and Chavez approached him with the idea, thus, Hoffa could have thought the whole thing was a frame up. Therefore, just because he told Chavez he was not interested in 1967 doesn’t mean he would have said the same thing in 1962 or 1963 when he had a lot more powerful assistance IMO. Finally, what harm was RFK to them in 1967 as compared to 1962 or 1963 anyway?
Since that is all the HSCA looked into, let’s delve into the book by David Talbot called Brothers for some more information on Hoffa since that is the best book regarding this issue that I have read. In the book he recounts the discussion Hoffa had with Ed Partin, but with much more detail than the HSCA gave us.
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Suddenly he sprang from behind his immense desk and beckoned Partin to join him at his big picture window, with its panoramic view of the Capital Dome three blocks away. Hoffa asked his confidant if he knew anything about plastic explosives. “I’ve got to do something about this son of a bitch Bobby Kennedy. He’s got to go,” he growled.
Hoffa told Partin he was considering two different ways of eliminating Kennedy—by torching his Virginia house or shooting him with a long-range rifle as he drove in his convertible. Hoffa seemed to favor the first idea, having someone toss plastic explosives into the Kennedy home after he had retired for the night. “You know, the SOB doesn’t stay up to late,” Hoffa observed. “I’ve got a rundown on him…his house sits there, like this, and it’s not guarded.” With his finger, Hoffa drew a diagram of the Kennedy estate’s layout for Partin. If Kennedy somehow survived the incendiary explosion, he “and all his damn kids” would be consumed in the flames since “the place will burn after it blows up.” The sniper scheme was apparently Hoffa’s backup plan. The perfect time to shoot Kennedy, he said, would be while he was driving in his open car, preferably somewhere in the South, where the assassination could be blamed on white supremacists opposed to the Kennedy’s civil rights policies. (David Talbot, Brothers, p. 120)
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There is much more detail here as the first option shows us Hoffa was either full of talk or had no qualms with killing not only RFK, but his wife and kids too. As I said, when someone’s back is up against the wall you cannot state categorically what they will either be tempted to do or do as the HSCA did.
According to General Fabian Escalante, one of the Cuban investigators into the JFK assassination, he was involved in a small degree and this makes sense since he had much to lose if JFK stayed in office. He said the shooters were (with or without LHO): Eladio del Valle and Herminio Díaz both of whom were expert shooters.
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The conspiracy was executed by two groups, he stated, “One controlled by Jack Ruby and he other by Frank Sturgis, subsequently the Watergate ‘plumber.’ Escalante went on to reveal the Mafia participants as Santos Trafficante, Sam Giancana, John Roselli and, to a lesser degree, Carlos Marcello and Jimmy Hoffa. Among the CIA plotters he mentioned David Atlee Philips who became chief of the Western Hemispheric Division in the 70s; Richard Helms, supervisor of the anti-Cuban operations and later director of the Company; and General Cabell, ex-deputy chief of the CIA; Gerry Hemmings and other senior officials. (General Fabian Escalante, Cuban investigator discussing information in the State Security Files of Cuba.)
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What do you think? Do you think Hoffa was involved in the murder of JFK? If he was, he did not gain much out of it IMO since he did go to jail anyway and he lost his job as Teamsters president. He would also disappear, probably murdered, in 1975 in an effort to keep him from spilling the beans of what he did know as I’m sure he was bitter about having to do so much jail time.
The evidence is not conclusive either way so it is up to each of us to decide for ourselves on this one.
www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/images/jimmy-hoffa-5.jpg
i.pinimg.com/736x/ca/1d/9c/ca1d9ca0e539fbe7d06c69e6f61d1e70--jimmy.jpg
The House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) would focus on the role of the Mafia in the murder of President John F. Kennedy (JFK) as well as people they had ties to. One such person was the focus of Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s (RFK) attention for six years by the time of the assassination. His role as the leader of the Teamsters Union brought him into direct contact with some of the main Mafia chiefs of the country at that time (Carlos Marcello, Santos Trafficante and Sam Giancana), and he made verbal threats against RFK and JFK many times over the years.
The HSCA Says…Jimmy Hoffa.
**********************************************
The HSCA gives us an overview of the feud between RFK and Hoffa in their report.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0032b.gif
The Attorney General focused on targets he had become acquainted with as counsel for the Rackets Committee. He was particularly concerned about the alliance of the top labor leaders and racketeers as personified by Teamster President James R. Hoffa. Schlesinger wrote that "the pursuit of Hoffa was an aspect of the war against organized crime." He added:
The relations between the Teamsters and the syndicates continued to grow. The FBI electronic microphone, planted from 1961 to 1964 in the office of Anthony Giacalone, a Detroit hood, revealed Hoffa's deep if wary involvement with the local mob. For national purposes a meeting place was the Rancho La Costa Country Club near San Clemente, Calif., built with $27 million in loans from the Teamsters pension fund; its proprietor, Morris B. Dalitz, had emerged from the Detroit [sic. Cleveland] underworld to become a Las Vegas and Havana gambling figure. Here the Teamsters and the mob golfed and drank together. Here they no doubt reflected that, as long as John Kennedy was President, Robert Kennedy would be unassailable. (HSCA Report, p. 34)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0032b.htm
Quote off
The name of Morris Dalitz is an intriguing one since the club he built not only entertained top Mafia people, but also people like Earl Warren and Richard Nixon. He built the Rancho La Costa Country Club near San Clemente, California. One of the charter members of this club was the one and only Eugene Hale Brading who would be using the alias Jim Braden when he was detained on November 22, 1963, inside the Dal-Tex building in Dealey Plaza (DP).
Jose Aleman said that when Santos Trafficante was discussing the idea of seeing JFK “getting what was coming to him” it was in regards to Jimmy Hoffa.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0102b.gif
Aleman was quoted as having noted that Trafficante had spoken of Teamsters Union President James Hoffa during the same conversation, indicating that the President would "get what is coming to him" as a result of his administration's intense efforts to prosecute Hoffa. (Ibid., p. 174)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0102b.htm
Quote off
The HSCA Report will give us an overview of their thinking regarding Hoffa and his possible ties to the JFK assassination.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0103b.gif
(8) James R. Hoffa--During the course of its investigation, the committee also examined a number of areas of information and allegations pertaining to James R. Hoffa and his Teamsters Union and underworld associates. The long and close relationship between Hoffa and powerful leaders of organized crime, his intense dislike of John and Robert Kennedy dating back to their role in the McClellan Senate investigation, together with his other criminal activities, led the committee to conclude that the former Teamsters Union president had the motive, means and opportunity for planning an assassination attempt upon the life of President John F. Kennedy. (Ibid., p. 176)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0103b.htm
Quote off
A man who was the lawyer of Santos Trafficante for 27 years, Frank Ragano, would also represent Jimmy Hoffa for 15 years as well. Ragano would say Hoffa said the following when he heard that JFK was murdered, “Have you heard the good news?” Hoffa begins. “They killed the sonofabitch. This means Bobby is out as attorney general. Lyndon will get rid of him.” Was it a lucky guess or did Hoffa know what would happen since RFK was basically “gotten rid of” by President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ)? When a reporter asked him about RFK later on he says, “Bobby Kennedy is just another lawyer now.” And he was for all intents and purposes after November 22, 1963.
Ragano would say Santos Trafficante was jubilant too at the news as he met him for dinner that evening and brought his nineteen-year old fiancee with him. He would say this about what Trafficante allegedly said in his book Mob Lawyer.
Quote on
“I hope Jimmy [Hoffa] is happy now. We will build hotels again. We’ll get back into Cuba now.” Once at the table, Trafficante launches into a tirade against the slain president, then proposes a toast. Turning to Ragano and his future bride, he raises a glass and says: “To your health and John Kennedy’s death.” (Frank Ragano, Mob Lawyer)
Quote off
We do know that in the summer of 1962 that Jimmy Hoffa discussed the murder of RFK with one of his lieutenants, Edward Partin, because Partin told the authorities that he had heard Hoffa talk about this. This came to the attention of the federal government in September 1962. Here is what the HSCA wrote about this issue.
Quote on
In October 1962, acting under the orders of Attorney General Kennedy, FBI Director Hoover authorized a detailed polygraph examination of Partin. In the examination, the Bureau concluded that Partin had been truthful in recounting Hoffa's discussion of a proposed assassination plan. Subsequently, the Justice Department developed further evidence supporting Partin's disclosures, indicating that Hoffa had spoken about the possibility of assassinating the President's brother on more than one occasion.
In an interview with the committee, Partin reaffirmed the account of Hoffa's discussion of a possible assassination plan, and he stated that Hoffa had believed that having the Attorney General murdered would be the most effective way of ending the Federal Government's intense investigation of the Teamsters and organized crime. Partin further told the committee that he suspected that Hoffa may have approached him about the assassination proposal because Hoffa believed him to be close to various figures in Carlos Marcello's syndicate organization. Partin, a Baton Rouge Teamsters official with a criminal record, was then a leading Teamsters Union official in Louisiana. Partin was also a key Federal witness against Hoffa in the 1964 trial that led to Hoffa's eventual imprisonment. (HSCA Report, p. 176)
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What really stands out in all of this is that the government knew more than a year before JFK’s assassination that Hoffa had violent thoughts about RFK, and yet, nothing was done against him to prevent this from coming to fruition. What is really eerie is that his plan for RFK matched what happened in Dealey Plaza (DP) so closely that it can’t be just a coincidence.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0104a.gif
While the committee did not uncover evidence that the proposed Hoffa assassination plan ever went beyond its discussion, the committee noted the similarities between the plan discussed by Hoffa in 1962 and the actual events of November 22, 1963. While the committee was aware of the apparent absence of any finalized method or plan during the course of Hoffa's discussion about assassinating Attorney General Kennedy he did discuss the possible use of a lone gunman equipped with a rifle with a telescopic sight, the advisability of having the assassination committed somewhere in the South, as well as the potential desirability of having Robert Kennedy shot while riding in a convertible. While the similarities are present, the committee also noted that they were not so unusual as to point ineluctably in a particular direction. President Kennedy himself, in fact, noted that he was vulnerable to rifle fire before his Dallas trip. Nevertheless, references to Hoffa's discussion about having Kennedy assassinated while riding in a convertible were contained in several Justice Department memoranda received by the Attorney General and FBI Director Hoover in the fall of 1962. Edward Partin told the committee that Hoffa believed that by having Kennedy shot as he rode in a convertible, the origin of the fatal shot or shots would be obscured. The context of Hoffa's discussion with Partin about an assassination conspiracy further seemed to have been predicated upon the recruitment of an assassin without any identifiable connection to the Teamsters organization or Hoffa himself. Hoffa also spoke of the alternative possibility of having the Attorney General assassinated through the use of some type of plastic explosives. (Ibid., pp. 176-177)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0104a.htm
Quote off
The issue of calling cards came up on this board awhile ago, could the way JFK have been assassinated have been a calling card from Hoffa, the Mafia, and their backers in the government (i.e. CIA)? They perhaps knew once RFK learned how JFK was killed he would put two and two together and figure it out who was part of the murder. If we take it back one step we can even show a tie to Allen Dulles, the former CIA Director, as he had a fascination with the way Reinhard Heydrich was killed in May of 1942 while driving through the streets of Prague, Czechoslavakia. As his car came around a hairpin turn two British trained Czech operatives attacked him. The Sten gun of the one did not work as it jammed, but the other one threw an explosive that would eventually lead to the death of Heydrich about a week later. While not exactly like the events of November 22, 1963, the concept was the same as well. Were the CIA and Mafia leaving calling cards for RFK and others to figure out?
The report goes on to say that JFK was informed of this by the either his brother or the Justice Department (JD) as he had told his friend Ben Bradlee, executive director of the Washington Post, about it as it was contained in his personal journal in the month of February 1963. Bradlee said he had a hard time believing it, but that JFK was “serious about it.” It would seem the similarity between the way Hoffa discussed killing RFK and the way JFK actually was killed did not go unnoticed by RFK and some of his close associates like Kenneth O’Donnell as they immediately began looking into Hoffa’s and the Mafia’s involvement in the murder of JFK. (Ibid., p. 177)
RFK would even appoint JD lawyer Charles Shaffer to the Warren Commission (WC) to make sure that the possible involvement of the Teamsters (i.e. Hoffa) would be watched and checked out. Of course no such thing ever happened as the WC wanted no information regarding anyone but Lee Harvey Oswald (LHO). (Ibid.) The HSCA said the Teamsters were on a list that might tie Ruby and others who might have wanted JFK dead.
Quote on
Nevertheless, in a lengthy Commission memorandum prepared for the CIA in February 1964, the Teamsters Union had been listed first on a list of potential groups to be investigated in probing "ties between Ruby and others who might have been interested in the assassination of President Kennedy." (Ibid.)
Quote off
Of course shortly before his disappearance, and presumed death, Hoffa would deny ever saying he wanted RFK murdered and any involvement in the JFK assassination. The HSCA agreed with him as they said there was “no direct evidence that Hoffa was involved in a plot to kill JFK.” They said he was not a leader of a major crime syndicate, but why would he have to be if he was associated with men that fit that bill already? The HSCA then went into Hoffa’s character for us.
Quote on
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0104b.gif
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/pages/HSCA_Report_0105a.gif
Finally, a note on Hoffa's character. He was a man of strong emotions who hated the President and his brother, the Attorney General. He did not regret the President's death, and he said so publicly. Nevertheless, Hoffa was not a confirmed murderer, as were various organized crime leaders whose involvement the committee considered, and he cannot be placed in that category with them, even though he had extensive associations with them. Hoffa's associations with such organized crime leaders grew out of the nature of his union and the industry whose workers it represented. Organized crime and the violence of the labor movement were facts of life for Hoffa; they were part of the milieu in which he grew up and worked. But when he encountered the only specific plot against a Kennedy that came to the attention of the committee (the suggestion from Frank Chavez), he rejected it.
The committee concluded, therefore, that the balance of the evidence argued that it was improbable that Hoffa had anything to do with the death of the President. (Ibid., pp. 178-179)
www.historymatters.com/archive/jfk/hsca/report/html/HSCA_Report_0104b.htm
Quote off
Just because there is no documentation that shows Hoffa was a murderer, does not mean he was not capable of it or could have done it without anyone knowing about it. Let’s say he was not a man who believed in murder, could that still be said if he was facing a long time in jail? Keep in mind, he was pardoned by Nixon, but what if JFK was NOT assassinated and won a second term? And then RFK ran and won and then ran and won again? And then Ted Kennedy ran and won, and maybe ran and won again? Who knows for sure, but the point is Hoffa was looking at a long time in jail with NO chance of parole or pardon IF the Kennedys were still a force in politics. So who is to say that he wouldn’t have changed his mind on killing one or both of them? The mention of the discussion with Frank Chavez is not indicative of what he would have done in 1962 or 1963 to me. Why? Well, the discussion with Chavez took place in 1967 shortly before Hoffa was going to jail and Chavez approached him with the idea, thus, Hoffa could have thought the whole thing was a frame up. Therefore, just because he told Chavez he was not interested in 1967 doesn’t mean he would have said the same thing in 1962 or 1963 when he had a lot more powerful assistance IMO. Finally, what harm was RFK to them in 1967 as compared to 1962 or 1963 anyway?
Since that is all the HSCA looked into, let’s delve into the book by David Talbot called Brothers for some more information on Hoffa since that is the best book regarding this issue that I have read. In the book he recounts the discussion Hoffa had with Ed Partin, but with much more detail than the HSCA gave us.
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Suddenly he sprang from behind his immense desk and beckoned Partin to join him at his big picture window, with its panoramic view of the Capital Dome three blocks away. Hoffa asked his confidant if he knew anything about plastic explosives. “I’ve got to do something about this son of a bitch Bobby Kennedy. He’s got to go,” he growled.
Hoffa told Partin he was considering two different ways of eliminating Kennedy—by torching his Virginia house or shooting him with a long-range rifle as he drove in his convertible. Hoffa seemed to favor the first idea, having someone toss plastic explosives into the Kennedy home after he had retired for the night. “You know, the SOB doesn’t stay up to late,” Hoffa observed. “I’ve got a rundown on him…his house sits there, like this, and it’s not guarded.” With his finger, Hoffa drew a diagram of the Kennedy estate’s layout for Partin. If Kennedy somehow survived the incendiary explosion, he “and all his damn kids” would be consumed in the flames since “the place will burn after it blows up.” The sniper scheme was apparently Hoffa’s backup plan. The perfect time to shoot Kennedy, he said, would be while he was driving in his open car, preferably somewhere in the South, where the assassination could be blamed on white supremacists opposed to the Kennedy’s civil rights policies. (David Talbot, Brothers, p. 120)
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There is much more detail here as the first option shows us Hoffa was either full of talk or had no qualms with killing not only RFK, but his wife and kids too. As I said, when someone’s back is up against the wall you cannot state categorically what they will either be tempted to do or do as the HSCA did.
According to General Fabian Escalante, one of the Cuban investigators into the JFK assassination, he was involved in a small degree and this makes sense since he had much to lose if JFK stayed in office. He said the shooters were (with or without LHO): Eladio del Valle and Herminio Díaz both of whom were expert shooters.
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The conspiracy was executed by two groups, he stated, “One controlled by Jack Ruby and he other by Frank Sturgis, subsequently the Watergate ‘plumber.’ Escalante went on to reveal the Mafia participants as Santos Trafficante, Sam Giancana, John Roselli and, to a lesser degree, Carlos Marcello and Jimmy Hoffa. Among the CIA plotters he mentioned David Atlee Philips who became chief of the Western Hemispheric Division in the 70s; Richard Helms, supervisor of the anti-Cuban operations and later director of the Company; and General Cabell, ex-deputy chief of the CIA; Gerry Hemmings and other senior officials. (General Fabian Escalante, Cuban investigator discussing information in the State Security Files of Cuba.)
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What do you think? Do you think Hoffa was involved in the murder of JFK? If he was, he did not gain much out of it IMO since he did go to jail anyway and he lost his job as Teamsters president. He would also disappear, probably murdered, in 1975 in an effort to keep him from spilling the beans of what he did know as I’m sure he was bitter about having to do so much jail time.
The evidence is not conclusive either way so it is up to each of us to decide for ourselves on this one.