Allen Dorfman

Allen M. Dorfman (born January 6, 1923 in Detroit , Michigan , † January 20, 1983 in Lincolnwood , Illinois ) was an American insurance salesman and trade unionist with close contacts to the American mafia - especially the Chicago outfit .

His main work was for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) - the transport workers' union - for example as a trustee or managing director in their Central States Pension Fund . In this context he was accused of various capital crimes in several criminal trials . He was never convicted, but was murdered in 1983.

These circumstances and his Jewish ancestry justify his classification and assessment as Kosher Nostra ; especially since his stepfather Paul “Red” Dorfman already had contacts to the outfit and was head of the garbage workers' union “Waste Handler's Union”.

Life

Early years

Allen Dorfman was the child of a Jewish working class family from Detroit and attended "Marshall High School" in Chicago . He served in the Marines and received the Silver Star after participating in the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II .

After the war, he taught physical education at the University of Illinois . Because he was able to establish contacts with the unions through his stepfather, he co-founded the new Teamsters insurance agency in 1949, through which health insurance and other services were offered to union members.

Central States Pension Fund

The contact to Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters was thanks to Dorfman's stepfather Paul. As Vice President, Hoffa had made an initial agreement in 1955 with truck drivers and warehouse workers in the Midwest and the southern United States. The members agreed to pay 2% of their real wages into a joint fund , which already built up a volume of 800,000 US dollars in the first month , which had grown to 10 million US dollars after a year. The fund was based in Chicago .

Hoffa also again enlisted the help of Paul "Red" Dorfman to recruit loyal members within the union as he wanted to become president of the entire union. In 1960 it became a national fund and Allen Dorfman became its managing director .

In 1959 there was a first indictment or hearing before the McClellan Committee , which dealt with the horrific payments to Dorfman, which he drew from this collaboration; especially since a large part were apparently illegally returned to the union leader Jimmy Hoffa.

The Central States Pension Fund was also a source of funding and was soon used by numerous bullies , particularly in casino funding in Las Vegas . When Jimmy Hoffa was tried in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1963 , Dorfman was in the dock. Dorfman continued his work after 1972.

In particular, it was the interdependence of the fund, for example with the Argent Corporation, which formally managed some of the casinos in Las Vegas, which served to cover up the true balance of power in the local casinos. The Argent was founded by Allen Glick ; d. H. ( A fill R . G lick Ent erprises). The financing process always followed the same pattern.

For example, in 1974 the Stardust and Fremont , which belonged to the same company as the Stardust , were up for sale because the shareholders of both casinos were under great financial pressure. The same financing should be used as with the hacienda ; d. H. the funds came from the Central States Pension Fund of the Teamsters -Gewerkschaft. So in 1974 Allen Glick bought both properties for $ 65 million from union funds and integrated them into his Argent Cooperation .

The contact was directed through official Teamsters channels to Frank Balistrieri , the mafia boss of Milwaukee , who then contacted Nick Civella and the fund manager Roy Williams then practically only had to sign. In particular, this form of funding applies to the Aladdin , Circus Circus , The Sands , Dunes and Tropicana casinos .

Allen Glick later became a Pentito and the situation at the Teamsters and in the rear changed due to the investigations and the intervention of the authorities. External control of the fund was enforced and a number of successful lawsuits against leading mafiosi meant that Dorfman had to finally give up his position in the fund in 1977.

Presidency of the Teamsters

Hoffa himself had been convicted in 1963, served his prison sentence in 1967 and lost his position as union leader. His attempt to return to the top was prevented by his disappearance on June 30, 1975 without a trace. In October 1975, Dorfman attended a meeting at the LaCosta Country Club, where he played golf with Jackie Presser , Richard Nixon , Frank Fitzsimmons and Anthony Provenzano . At this meeting, the presidency of the Teamsters was apparently decided by Presser, as Roy Williams' position as president of the union became vacant due to legal investigations.

The background was the bribery plan against Senator Howard Walter Cannon from Nevada . He was chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee , which dealt with the deregulation of the transport industry and would have broken the monopoly of the Teamsters, which then happened. The attempt at bribery was exposed; Williams was convicted in 1983 and served a prison term; Presser became his successor.

The end

The background for the conviction of Williams was an FBI investigation against Dorfman. Because of his contacts and his involvement in a leading position with the organized crime Dorfman had become even target an FBI operation named "Pendorf" whose name as an abbreviation of " pen etration of Allen village had been formed man".

Dorfman was bugged and the numerous recordings formed the basis of the indictment in May 1981. Three days before the sentence was handed down, Dorfman was murdered on January 20, 1983 in the parking lot of the Purple Hotel in Lincolnwood . Due to the modus operandi , a contract killing on the part of the outfit was assumed.

One motive would have been that Dorfman could have decided, in view of a possible prison sentence of up to 55 years, to become a key witness and Pentito in order to soften his own sentence.

estate

In January 1983, Anthony Spilotro was arrested by the FBI in Nevada ; Attorney Paul Nealis described him as the link between organized crime in Chicago and that of Las Vegas. His role in the financial skimming of the casinos in Las Vegas came into the public focus. Based on the AP report of his arrest , the New York Times identified Spilotro as an associate and friend of Allen Dorfman.

Bosses Jackie Cerone , Joseph Aiuppa , Carl DeLuna etc. were convicted of illegally skimming the casinos for $ 2 million. In order to avoid further disclosures, unreliable people and potential Pentiti are said to have been murdered on their instructions to prevent further charges.

Dorfman's murder was never solved; there were indications that Frank Schweihs could provide information about the murder or was even involved in the crime himself. However, the speculation ended with the death of Schweihs on July 23, 2008, so that Schweihs could no longer testify in court, who had been arrested and charged in 2005 by the FBI operation "Family Secrets".

Adaptations

In the film Casino , which deals with the infiltration of the casinos in Las Vegas, the role of "Andy Stone" (played by actor Alan King ) is based on Dorfman.

Documentation

2012: In the Mafia Network - The FBI's secret files : The financial juggler Allen Dorfmann (episode 9 of 13); First broadcast in Germany ZDF on June 10, 2013 OT: Mafia's Greatest Hits: Allen Dorfman; First broadcast UK 13 July 2012

literature

• Frank Ragano: Mob Lawyer. ; New York: MacMillan Publishing, 1994.
• Thomas A. Reppetto: Bringing down the mob: the war against the American Mafia ; Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 978-0-8050-7802-2

Web links

• Allen Dorfman in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Allen Dorfman Built Wealth Through Teamster Contracts"; New York Times ; January 21, 1983
2. ^ Testimony Ties Dorfman, Teamsters Cash by Ronald Koziol, Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1985
3. ↑ The Spilotro Era in Vegas - Part II . (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on June 1, 2020 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
4. ↑ klas-tv.com: The Hoffa Files: How This Tough Guy Made Las Vegas ( Memento from October 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
5. ^ The Teamsters ; by Steven Brill; 1978 Simon and Schuster, New York, New York ISBN 0-671-22771-8
6. ↑ Thomas A. Reppetto: Bringing down the mob: the war against the American Mafia ; Henry Holt and Co. ISBN 978-0-8050-7802-2
7. ↑ DORFMAN BUILT WEALTH THROUGH TEAMSTER CONTACTS at www.nytimes.com (English)
8. ^ Dorfman slain in parking lot. Milwaukee Journal, January 21, 1983, p. 17 , accessed September 27, 2013 . 
9. ↑ Clues tie Mob to Dorfman killing. Pittsburgh Press, January 25, 1983, p. 5 , accessed September 27, 2013 . 
10. ↑ Dane Placko: Infamous Purple Hotel to become retail complex. Fox News October 8, 2012; archived from the original on October 10, 2012 ; accessed on June 1, 2020 (English). 
11. ↑ Associate Indicted New York Times on January 28, 1983 (English)
12. ↑ www.time.com “Blood Threat”, February 3, 1986