Edward Grady Partin Sr. (February 27, 1924 – March 11, 1990), was an American business agent for the

Teamsters Union The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union, the union now represents a diverse members ...

, and is best known for his 1964 testimony against

Jimmy Hoffa James Riddle Hoffa (; born February 14, 1913 – disappeared July 30, 1975, declared dead July 30, 1982) was an American labor union leader who served as the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) from 1957 to 1971. He i ...

, which helped

Robert F. Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also known as RFK, was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 64th United States attorney general from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. senator from New Yo ...

convict Hoffa of jury tampering in 1964.

Teamster Union and mob activities

Partin was the business manager of the five local IBT branches in

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

for 30 years. In 1961, he was charged by the union with embezzlement as union money was stolen from a safe. Two key witnesses in the grand jury died. He was indicted on June 27, 1962, for 26 counts of embezzlement and falsification and released on bail. On August 14, 1962, Partin was sued for his role in a traffic accident injuring two passengers and killing a third. He was also indicted for first-degree manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident. He also surrendered himself for aggravated kidnapping. He was finally convicted of conspiracy to obstruct justice through witness tampering and perjury in March 1979. Partin pled

no contest ''Nolo contendere'' () is a type of legal plea used in some jurisdictions in the United States. It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense. It is a plea where the defendant neither admits nor disputes a charge, serving as an ...

to numerous other corruption charges in the union, including embezzlement, and was released in 1986.

Testimony against Hoffa

In 1963, Jimmy Hoffa, the president of the Teamsters, was arrested for attempted jury tampering in attempted bribery of a grand juror of a previous 1962 case involving payments from a trucking company. Partin testified that he was offered $20,000 to rig the jury in Hoffa's favor. The testimony was the primary evidence of the Justice Department that led to Hoffa being sentenced to eight years in prison. The entire case rested on his testimony and he was considered the lone witness. Partin denied under oath that he was compensated by the Justice Department, but it was revealed that his ex-wife had her alimony payments given to her by the department. He originally denied that he would receive immunity or retroactive immunity for his testimony but it was later altered when he was under oath at a grand jury trial.

References

1924 births 1990 deaths People from Woodville, Mississippi Trade unionists from Louisiana International Brotherhood of Teamsters people Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government People associated with the assassination of John F. Kennedy American extortionists United States Marines People from McComb, Mississippi People from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Military personnel from Mississippi Deaths from diabetes in the United States Louisiana Democrats {{worker-activist-stub

Teamster Union and mob activities

Testimony against Hoffa

See also

References