#teamsters

On July 30, 1975, former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa vanished from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, near Detroit. Hoffa had arrived around 2:30 p.m. for a meeting with individuals reportedly connected to organized crime, but after that afternoon, he was never seen or heard from again.

Hoffa’s disappearance became one of the most famous unsolved mysteries in American history. Once one of the most powerful labor leaders in the United States, he had built enormous influence through the Teamsters union before being convicted of jury tampering, fraud, and conspiracy in the 1960s. After serving prison time and receiving a presidential commutation, Hoffa was attempting to regain influence in the labor movement when he disappeared.

Goodfellas and Casino aren't just two films by the same director — they're two halves of the same criminal empire.

Nicholas Pileggi wrote both books. De Niro and Pesci starred in both. And the money that bought the Stardust and Fremont casinos came from the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund, funneled by a man named Allen Dorfman.

Johnny Dioguardi created seven fake Teamster locals to give Hoffa the votes. Hoffa gave Dorfman the pension fund. Dorfman approved a $62 million loan to the Chicago Outfit. The Outfit skimmed an estimated $300 million out of Vegas.

The FBI named an entire operation after him — Operation Pendorf — and bugged his office for years. He was murdered in a Lincolnwood parking lot in 1983, three days before his sentencing.

Henry Hill and Frank Cullotta — the two real informants who brought down both halves of the empire — ended up as friends at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.

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Despite their history, O'Brien endorsed Trump's nomination of Mullin to replace Noem as DHS secretary. In an emailed statement, the union leader said, "If anyone is willing to stand their butt up to protect America, it's Markwayne Mullin."