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), also known as the Teamsters Union, 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 un ...
, 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 until 1971.
F ...
, which helped
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, ...
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 a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...
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
' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense.
In criminal trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neith ...
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.
See also
*
J. Minos Simon
Joseph Minos Simon, Sr. (February 27, 1922 – March 11, 2004), was an American author, a lecturer, an aviator, a sportsman, and an attorney from Lafayette, Louisiana, who was particularly known for his courtroom theatrics and demeanor.
Early ...
, a Partin attorney
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
Louisiana Democrats
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