James Hoffa by Jessenia Guerra

Jimmy Hoffa was a criminal. There are a lot of court cases that prove he was tried as a criminal in the United States. In U.S. v. Hoffa: 1964, Hoffa had two trials for the crimes that he was charged for: jury tampering, mail and wire fraud conspiracy (Smith1-6). “Hoffa’s first trial was January 20 - March 12, 1964. Hoffa’s second trial was May 11 – August 17, 1964. The verdict for both of Hoffa’s trials were guilty”. “Hoffa’s sentence for the first trial was 8 years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. Hoffa’s sentence for the second trial was four concurrent five- year terms” (1).

By the time Hoffa finally went to prison, numerous trials had cost both sides a great deal of money and arguments over the ethics of the government’s pursuit of Hoffa, which commonplace (Smith 1-6). Hoffa was indicated for illegal possession of McClellan Committee documents (2). Hoffa had “allegedly handed John Cye Cheasty, an attorney, $1,000 and guaranteed thousands more if he could infiltrate the committee to obtain information” (2). Attorney “Cheasty revealed the bribery attempt to committee counsel Kennedy, who arranged to have Cheasty pass a list of witnesses to Hoffa” (2). Hoffa spent lots of money on his legal defense.

The FBI filmed Hoffa, and Kennedy was convinced that the filmed transaction gave the justice department a perfect case (Smith 1-6). “Jimmy Hoffa was a high priority with the new attorney general Robert Kennedy who claimed that Hoffa used extortion, bribery, and physical violence to rule the teamsters” .... “Hoffa was also known for using the threat of labor trouble to bully employers for his personal profit” (2). The “Get-Hoffa Squad” was a small unit of lawyers and “investigators to uncover and prosecute any unlawful activity with organized labor” .... “Civil libertarians were concerned by Hoffa’s never proven but steady protests that he was a victim of illegal surveillance and paid government perjurers” (3). The very first major indictments against Hoffa was a Florida real estate development called Sun Vally (3). Hoffa and others had secretly loaned union money to finance the project and secured further loans from local banks by promising them large union accounts (3).

Hoffa was specifying for mail fraud and conspiracy, but in 1961 his indictments were dismissed by a Florida judge, who ruled that the grand jury issuing them had been improperly impaneled (Smith 1-6). The 1962 case ended with a mistrial, and juror could not end with a verdict; Hoffa including five others were automatically indicated for tampering with the jury (3). Hoffa’s attorney was arrested for trying to bribe a police officer into offering a prospective juror $10,000 to insure another hung jury, so the new case was moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, in early 1964 (3). Ed Partin secretly told investigators that Hoffa had spoken about killing Robert Kennedy; Partin was a teamster officer, and a government informant (3).

One of Hoffa’s other attorneys, James Haggerty, called the case “A foul and filthy frame-up" designed by the Get- Hoffa squad; In the old day’s all you needed was a handshake. Nowadays you need forty lawyers (Smith1-6). Two months later Hoffa’s other trial took place in Chicago, Illinois, for fraud and conspiracy (4). He and co-defendants had 20 million dollars in loans from the teamster's pension fund to real-estate developers (4). The Chicago trial also revealed that Hoffa and the others were not repaying the union’s hidden lost in the Florida fiasco (4). After 13 weeks of complex testimonies, Hoffa was found guilty on four of the twenty counts against him which each count was 5 years imprisonment, after he finished the eight years for fraud and jury tampering (4). 

Jimmy Hoffa was also a mobster known to associate with the Chicago mob. Sheeran’s story “I Heard You Paint Houses” is about his life with Hoffa and in the mafia (Paff 1-2). Because Sheeran and Hoffa were close in the book it gives an insider’s feel for the intimate relationship of Hoffa and the Teamster leadership in the mob (1). Sheeran was installed president at Delaware Local 326 was carved out of Philadelphia local 107 which was created by Hoffa (1).

Hoffa’s son, James P. Hoffa, believes the mob killed his father (2). It’s half true, because Mobsters killed Hoffa for sure, but Hoffa was part of the operation (2). They kill their own, and Sheeran makes that very clear (2). They mainly kill mob insiders who they fear that have information that may be used against them (2). Hoffa was too eager to get back into office, so the government figured he would trade information to lift the restrictions, so Hoffa could stay in the union when Nixon pardoned him in December 1971 (2). Sheeran claims that Hoffa was a changed man after he got out in 1971(2). Sheeran said he was more “Puffing”, which scared top mobsters, because it made them think that Hoffa made a deal with the Justice Department, which Russell Bufalino co-ordered the hit of Hoffa (2). In 1972 book by Kennedy aide, Walter Sheridan played a role in Hoffa’s murder, because the book revealed that Hoffa did snitch the FBI on teamsters president Dave Beck to help send Beck to prison and Hoffa into the Marble palace: “There is a time to be tough, a time to be adamant, a time to be open to compromise, and a time to reach a agreement.”(2). Sheeran added a twist that he himself not Salvatore “Sally Bugs” Bruguglio pulled the trigger on July 30, 1975 (2). Sheeran’s book implies that he killed a mafia member who was a part of the San Francisco Mob, Jimmy Hoffa. 

Rumors say that James Hoffa was buried under the Giants stadium. James Hoffa was a labor union leader, and the president of the international brotherhood of teamsters' union. He vanished in late July and his body was never found. There are many conspiracy theories of James Hoffa, did he just vanish, or was he murdered? Only one of these conspiracy theories can be true, which one?

James Hoffa vanished in late July and still to this day his deceased body was never found. In 1982, the FBI pronounced that Hoffa was dead even without a body found, but there is a conspiracy theory that he vanished and lived out his days in South America, which would make him 102 today (Kellen Perry 1).

James Hoffa was a person who had a rough childhood and accomplished many things when he got older. He was also someone that did criminal activities and that disrespected the mob, “I may have many faults but being wrong isn't one of them.”(James R. Hoffa 1).

In 1964, Hoffa was convicted of union funds for personal purposes, corruption, and perjury. Hoffa was convicted on three general counts of fraud and acquitted on seventeen other fraud counts: “I do to others what they do to me, only worse” (Smith 1). 

Hoffa refused to resign as president of teamsters while he was in prison; he kept his position utill he was released from prison in 1971. President Nixon stipulated that Hoffa could not engage in union activity until 1980.The FBI has talked to Frank the “The Irishman”, which was the last person that James Hoffa was with on July 30, 1975. The FBI got Frank’s side of the story:

Sheeran, known as "The Irishman," told me that he drove with Hoffa to a nearby house where he shot him twice in the back of the head. Our investigation subsequently yielded the corroboration, the suspected blood evidence on the hardwood floor and down the hallway of that house, that supports Frank's story.

No one who has ever boasted about knowing what really happened to Jimmy Hoffa has had their claims tested, scrutinized, and then corroborated by independently discovered evidence... except Frank. (Shawn 1).

 Frank and other mobsters in the mafia were ordered to kill Hoffa to prevent him from running for presidency for the union again. Frank had picked up James at the restaurant to go to a meeting with the mafia. When they had arrived at the meeting, Frank raised a pistol at a point-blank range and fired. The body was then taken care of and was cremated at the mob connected funeral home (Sloane, Hoffa 1).      

      Conclusion

James Hoffa was a labor union leader, and the president of the international brotherhood of teamsters' union, and also had ties with the mafia. There are many conspiracy theories of James Hoffa, Did he just vanish, or was he murdered? Only one of these conspiracy theories can be true, which one? With all the research and information given, the best conclusion about James Hoffa would be that the mafia killed James Hoffa and hid his body. 

 Work Cited 

S) Paff, Ken, Corruption And The Fall Of Jimmy Hoffa: An Inside Story From The Man Who Claims He Killed Hoffa, http://www.tdu.org/news_corruption-and-fall-jimmy-hoffa-inside-story-man-who-claims-he-killed-hoffa

T) Smith, Thomas, U.S. v. Hoffa 1964, Oct. 14, 2018, https://www.encyclopedia.com/law/law-magazines/us-v-hoffa-1964

T)” James R. Hoffa” Encyclopaedia Britannica,

https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-R-Hoffa

“Jimmy Hoffa investigation: Frank And The Blood Evidence We Found In The Case” July 30

https://www.foxnews.com/us/jimmy-hoffa-investigation-frank-sheeran-and-the-blood-evidence-we-found-in-the-case

Natalie Wood by Genesis Quintero

Natalie Wood was an actress who was on a yacht with her husband where she mysteriously died and was found dead in the ocean. She suspiciously disappeared from her family’s boat on November 29, 1981, near Santa Catalina Island. Did Natalie Wood die from a tragic accident or was it her husband, Robert Wagner, who murdered her? There’re two conspiracy theories about the death of Natalie Wood. Theory 1: Robert Wagner murdered his wife. Theory 2: Accidental drowning by falling overboard. Let’s look through Natalie’s case and the possibility of murder or an accident by drowning. 

Natalie Wood was a troubled star. She was pressured by her mother into doing movies, “she made up her mind that her second child, pretty, dark-eyed Natasha, was going to be a star. In 1943, when the little girl was just 5” (Rubin 1). According to Rubin, “Natalie had good cause to rebel, especially after her mother broke up her first serious romance with a high school sweetheart”. Natalie didn’t just want to be just any star. 

  Natalie Wood was isolated, she felt like an outsider because she was “miscast as a white girl who was abducted” raised by Native Americans (“Natalie Wood” 1). Wood wanted to commit suicide by overdosing but failed to do so. Wood enjoyed popularity and seeking attention by others; she was depressed and heartbroken after her split from Wagner, the first time around. 

The actress could be so hurt and still manage to disguise her true feelings; “Natalie Wood is emotional and vulnerable” (“Natalie Wood Personality Profile” 1). When Wood would get upset or depressed, she would be very temperamental and self-interested. She would not care about other’s feelings. When grumpy, “Wood can succumb to sarcastic remarks, which can be painful to those around her” (“Natalie Wood Life Path Number 3” 1). She would let go of her true emotions and just be blunt.  

Wood fearful of dark waters since she was a child, “As a child, Natalie was terrified of water” (Ventura 1). As the years went on, Wood's fear grew more and more, when she had her own movie sets that related to her background story. The fear got more serious when seeing mysterious water related accidents on movie sets, such as when she was on a set, she had to walk a bridge during a thunderstorm where she had an accident. The producer had done something wrong, and she ended up breaking her wrist, on a set where they’re on a boat.  Her honeymoon was cancelled when she and her husband [on a cruise ship] found out a vicious storm arose right before their trip. “I don’t know if it was just being a child who didn’t want her mom to leave or what it was, but I didn’t want her to go”, said Natasha Gregson Wagner (McNeil 1). Natalie Wood’s mother did not want her to go out on the yacht, where she went the night of her death. 

People say that she was full of energy, always multitasking. Her energy was so strong. Natalie Wood would put her mind to something she would make action out of her words. She continuously put pressure on herself and stayed busy, both physically and mentally. But before anything, Natalie thought before she acts, “Her physical stamina is strong, and she loves mental and physical exercise” (Mcneil 1). 

 According to her co-workers, Natalie Wood got along well with others and taught them to appreciate. She beat all the many setbacks she had. Wood was very over organized, says a source: “Natalie can be a great inspiration force in the world” (“Natalie Wood Personality Profile” 1). The actress once was an uplifting character towards others, full of happiness, whenever she would. A very successful woman, she was, “bringing much success” (“Natalie Wood Personality Profile” 1). She was a very social human being, very bullish, always positive. Wood was very aggressive: “She was a pioneer” (“Natalie Wood Personality 1” 1).  

In this case of Natalie Wood, two conspiracy theories are presented. The first theory is that her husband Robert Wagner killed her. The second theory is that she accidentally drowned. The possibility of Wagner being the suspect in his wife’s death is high.  

The first conspiracy theory proposes that Wagner pushed his wife off the yacht and killed her. Wood's sister, Lana Wood says she thinks Robert killed her sister. According to Verhoeven, Lana Wood said, “I know exactly what happened from what Dennis Davern [the boat’s skipper] has told me” (1). Lana Wood had an interview about what she truly thinks happened to her sister. She claims the couple had a bad fight before Wood’s death (1). Davern told Lana Wood that it sounded like furniture was being tossed everywhere. And soon after that he claimed he went to knock on the couple’s door, and then Wagner opened it a tad bit and told Davern to “mind your own business” and then shut the door again (1).   

Lana Wood continued to tell Kelly [the producer], that Davern went outside and tried to avoid the screaming by turning up the music. He then started walking towards where the boat was and when he turned the corner, Wagner was already there. Wagner just stood there, and Davern then asked, “Where’s Natalie?”, and Wagner answered,” She’s gone” (1). Everyone knows Wagner was the very last person to see Natalie before her disappearance. According to Pasquini, Wagner wrote in his memoir, “I picked up a wine bottle, slammed it on the table and broke it into pieces” (1). This event, that Wagner wrote, happened right after, he was in an argument with Christopher Walken, over Wood’s career.   

Marilyn Wayne, an eyewitness, was on a boat with her family the same night of Wood’s disappearance. She told Farberov that on November 28, 1981, she “heard screams from a woman yelling for help” (1). Wayne also claimed she heard a woman shout, “help me, somebody please help me, I’m drowning!” (1). Wayne kept telling her son to keep tract of time, so they could show their evidence, but the yelling eventually stopped. She also told Farberov, “so we had a minute-by-minute history of the time frame and the yelling went on from five after eleven until 11:25, and then it stopped” (1). Wayne’s husband told her, that they would not make it in time to save her. There were other witnesses, on shore, who say they overheard yelling and thumping sounds coming from the room where the couple were. More witnesses say they identified a man and a woman arguing on the back of the boat. These statements differ from each other, from what was originally told by previous witnesses. 

It was mentioned that Davern claims he told Moore that he had seen Wagner by the swim steps and then noticed that Wood and the dinghy were nowhere to be seen (1). It is also told that Davern wanted to start a search for the missing actress. But Wagner said, “no, no, let’s not do that. Let’s just stay; let’s have another bottle of wine” (1). The skipper continued to tell Moore that when Wood’s body was found, it was he who was there to identify her body, not Wagner (1). It was the next morning, after her disappearance, when they found her body near the dinghy, a half mile away from the Splendor (1). 

Wagner has continuously and repeatedly said he does not know what happened to Wood. He says she fell off while trying to board a dinghy. The late actress’s husband has refused to speak with investigators, since they have recently begun to reopen the case of Wood’s death. This theory, after all the evidence that was mentioned by witnesses and Lana Wood, Wagner not wanting to talk in interviews, makes it seem like he is hiding something from the world. Also, Wagner being the top interest right now, puts him in the rocks with being the number one suspect. 

In this second theory, it was said that Natalie Wood’s death was an accidental drowning. Wood’s drowning was quickly assumed as an accident by a coroner. It was said that before she slipped and fell off, she was trying to board the dinghy tied to the side of the yacht. According to Jackson, “An investigation ensued but was closed only two weeks later, when the coroner, Thomas T. Noguchi, found that Wood slipped and subsequently drowned” (1). 

When Wood was found, there were bruises on her left cheek, an injury she could have possibly gotten when she took her fall off the yacht. According to Fisher, the medical examiner, Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran reported that “The location of the bruises, the multiplicity of the bruises, lack of heat trauma, or facial bruising support, bruising having occurred prior to entry in the water” indicated that she might have died from the fall (1). There was accordingly not enough evidence says the medical examiner and the death should just be left as undetermined (1). Maybe there wasn’t enough evidence for this theory to be an accidental drowning because it doesn’t add up. Authorities should look more into it. 

Natalie Wood had a fear of the ocean that it is assumed to be called, “dark waters” (1), since she was a little girl. According to Ventura, Lana Wood said, “Mothers fortune teller told her that she would have a child, who would be known all over the world and that someone was going to die from drowning” (1). Their mother told them to stay away from the water and that stuck to Wood after all these years. Her fear continued and affected her TV sets that were based off of mysterious water related accidents (1). “While shooting The Green Promise, young Natalie had to walk over a bridge during a thunderstorm. When she did, the technician flipped a switch prematurely, and the bridge collapsed, throwing Natalie into the treacherous waters and breaking her wrist” (1). According to Sherwell, Lana Wood said in one of her interviews, “she had a great fear of it, she didn’t go into her own swimming pool at home” (1). 

According to Moore, at Wood’s wake, Davern says he was approached and introduced to Walkens’s lawyer (1). Weeks after Wood’s passing, Davern says, Wagner spent his time crying and drinking. “Later, it crossed my mind they didn’t want me to say anything about what happened on the Splendor” (1).  Wagner’s side of the story does not add up after all the evidence that’s been published, because of her being terrified of the water, her being close to the edge do not make sense. 

In 2011, the case for Natalie Wood reopened, due to new details that arrived at the Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department. More people have confessed that the public is closer to finding out what truly happened the night of her mysterious disappearance that lead to her death. These theories will remain, until someone confesses or until it’s solved. Authorities will need the people who were on the boat to confess more details, or this case will never have a solution. If anything, everyone that was on that yacht, could be a suspect. But hopefully one day, this will all go away, and Wood can finally rest in peace. 

Natalie Wood was a successful actress, who was found dead after her night of disappearance. There’re two conspiracy theories about the death of Natalie Wood. Theory 1: Robert Wagner murdered his wife. Theory 2: Accidental drowning by falling overboard. The best solution that solved this theory is that Robert Wagner killed his wife.  

  

Works Cited 

T “Natalie Wood.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 1 Feb. 2018, www.biography.com/people/natalie-wood-9536320. 

T Tommer, Shlomo. “Natalie Wood.” Celebrities Galore - The Spiritual Encyclopaedia Of The Famous, www.celebrities-galore.com/celebrities/natalie-wood/home/. 

S Ventura, Varla. “Natalie Wood's Dark Waters.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 8 Sept. 2013, www.huffingtonpost.com/varla-ventura/natalie-woods-dark-waters_b_3567946.html. 

 S Pasquini, Maria. “Natalie Wood's Sister Thinks Robert Wagner Killed Star: 'I Know Exactly What Happened'.” PEOPLE.com, 27 July 2018, people.com/movies/natalie-woods-sister-thinks-robert-wagner-killed-star-i-know-exactly-what-happened/. 

P Dailymail.com, Hannah Moore For. “Captain of Yacht Natalie Wood Was on before She Died Says Her Husband Robert Wagner Killed Her.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 30 Aug. 2018, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6111855/Captain-yacht-Natalie-Wood-died-says-husband-Robert-Wagner-killed-her.html. 

S Fisher, Luchina. “What to Know about Natalie Wood's Still Unsolved 1981 Drowning Death.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 6 Feb. 2018, abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/natalie-woods-unsolved-1981-drowning-death/story?id=52880042. 

S Dailymail.com, Snejana Farberov For. “Witness Says Natalie Wood Was Heard Crying for Help for 20 Minutes.” Daily Mail Online, Associated Newspapers, 30 Aug. 2018, www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6115403/Witness-says-Natalie-Wood-heard-crying-help-20-minutes.html. 

T Sherwell, Philip. “Natalie Wood Was Too 'Terrified' of Water to Try to Leave Robert Wagner on Yacht by Dinghy.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 19 Nov. 2011, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8901179/Natalie-Wood-was-too-terrified-of-water-to-try-to-leave-Robert-Wagner-on-yacht-by-dinghy.html.