In the third and final episode I tell about the Mob influence over the Teamster’s local in Cleveland, Ohio and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, In Cleveland a man named Jackie Presser would double deal his way to the top job as president of the Teamsters. His father, Bill Presser, was a guy with connections to both Jimmy Hoffa and Cleveland Mob. Like Allen Dorfman and Roy Lee Williams, he served in  WWII. During the 1950s, Jackie Presser rises to International Vice president of the Teamster union. In the early 1970s, his father, Bill Presser is under indictment for corruption charges relating to Union  activities. Bill and Jackie Presser agree to become government informants to stop the charges against Bill Presser. They will use their FBI connections to keep Jimmy Hoffa from regaining any Teamster power. Jimmie Hoffa disappears in 1975 and the Pressers were some of the folks that benefitted from his death.  Jackie Presser became a Top Echelon Informant for the Bureau for the rest of his life. By 1980, he is poised to become the next national president. He has become important to the election of Ronald Reagan though his influence over Teamster votes. He will become a member of the Reagan transition team in regards to union affairs. When his organized crime connections are reported and it is demanded he be separated from the Reagan administration, Reagan officials claim he is no longer connected to them because his work on the transition  team is over.  In 1983, he is backed by all the mob families to become the next president of the Teamsters. He has given the FBI the information required to indict Roy Lee Williams and Allen Dorfman for an attempted bribery of Nevada Senator Howard Cannon. Dorfman will soon be executed in a Chicago parking lot and Roy Lee Williams will be stricken with terminal cancer and he turns government witness.  In April of 1983, Top Echelon FBI informant Jackie Presser becomes the next president of the Teamsters Union.

During this time, his FBI agent handlers purportedly approve of a scheme for him to add ghost members to a Cleveland Teamster Local.  Roy Lee Williams turns government witness and gives enough information to indict Jackie Presser for fraud in his addition of ghost employees to a local union. He was able to collect money for each ghost employee. His FBI handlers were indicted for approving of this scheme.  However, documents revealed they did not act without approval and the indictments were dropped. Another example of the problems in handing informants.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Boss Frank Balistrieri was being followed by a lone agent, Gary Magnensun. This is a great example of why just watching mob guys is worthwhile. Listen to Agent Magnensun tell about a discovery he made on day.

During this time, Kansas City FBI agents were telling Milwaukee about phone calls coming from Nick Civella to Milwaukee boss Balistrieri. This enabled them to go up on several phones and install some hidden microphones.

In the end, the FBI exposed the domination of the Teamster’s Union by Organized Crime interests. the Labor Department and Justice Department placed the Teamster Pension Fund and the Union under the care of government selected trustees until new elections had been held.

Listen below for the conclusion of Nick Civella and the Teamsters