Rolland McMaster

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Rolland McMaster (born March 23, 1914 , † October 25, 2007 in Fenton , Michigan ) was an American trade unionist with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters .

Almost two meters tall and physically trained, he became the bodyguard and thug of the Teamsters transport workers' union ( "labor racketeering" ). In particular, he worked for its President Jimmy Hoffa .

Life

Before he was employed for the union, he worked as a simple truck driver . During violent clashes between the AFL and the CIO in 1941, McMaster broke through the window of a car belonging to the competing umbrella organization with his bare hands , pulled the driver's hair out, opened the car door and beat the remaining occupants. It took three police motorcycle patrols to stop him.

In 1957, when Hoffa became President of the Teamsters, he sent McMaster to Miami to set up Local 320, which he did there with Barney Baker and Dave Yaras , who was a follower of Sam Giancana , who in turn was a racket of Al Capone had been.

"McMaster was the personified connection between Hoffa and Meyer Lansky , Santos Trafficante , the Dorfman family, the syndicate in Chicago ( Chicago Outfit ) and the Genovese family in New Jersey and New York"

- Dan Moldea

From 1966 to 1967, McMaster spent 18 months in prison for having been convicted of 32 coercion and extortion charges; Jimmy Hoffa was sentenced to 13 years in 1967 but was released in 1971. Apparently, Hoffa had come to believe that McMaster was a government informant, and so the close collaboration between the two ended.

For a short time McMaster even became interim president of the local cell Local 299 , from where Hoffa had started his legendary union career. This was then taken over by Vice President Frank Fitzsimmons until Hoffa returned , as he also came from this branch. In the power struggle after Hoffa's release, McMaster sided with Frank Fitzsimmons. With this, Hoffa had not only finally lost a capable bodyguard , but McMaster actively fought the pro-Hoffa faction in the union. A few cars were also blown up during this intra-union fight. Hoffa disappeared without a trace in 1975.

In the primaries for the 1980 presidential election, McMaster supported candidate Lyndon LaRouche . This aid is said to have arisen out of self-interest - since LaRouche was a business partner of McMaster's friend John R. Ferris - and called opponents of LaRouche (and McMaster) in the union on the scene. An anti-LaRouche petition was formally made, but it was also directed against McMaster.

Rolland McMaster lived with his wife Marilyn on a horse farm in Fenton , Michigan until his death on October 25, 2007 .

Jimmy Hoffa case

McMaster contributed his own version to Hoffa's disappearance without a trace in 1975; accordingly, Jimmy Hoffa was not murdered, but ran off to Brazil with a black go -go dancer . Just like z. B. Frank Sheeran McMaster was one of the fifty people who were supposed to testify before the grand jury in September 1975 - which wanted to investigate the disappearance of Hoffa - but, like most of the other summons, refused to testify on the basis of the 5th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States .

On May 17, 2006, the search of the remote horse farm "Hidden Dreams Farm" in Hartland Township , which is thirty miles from Detroit on Interstate 96 , began to find the body of Jimmy Hoffa .

The note came from Donovan Wells, a 75-year-old man as marijuana - dealer was convicted and had lived in the 1970s, only a short time in the 6000-soul village and worked on the farm. He claims to have seen a corpse wrapped in a carpet on the 32-hectare site.

Since the farm was owned by Rolland McMaster at the time of Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance and is only 30 km from the place of disappearance, the Machus Red Fox restaurant, the information was taken seriously by the authorities. At least 15 vehicles drove up for the first search and cordoning off, helicopters were used and a barn was torn down.

The then 93-year-old McMaster was interrogated, but no new information was found; on May 30, 2006 the campaign ended without success.

literature

  • Dan E. Moldea: The Hoffa Wars: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy Hoffa . Reprint edition. SPI Books, 1992, ISBN 978-1-56171-200-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Teamsters for LaRouche by Dennis King (English)
  2. ↑ Fishing for Piranhas on lyndonlarouche.org (English)
  3. ↑ Former Jimmy Hoffa associate Rolland McMaster dies at 93 on www.theoaklandpress.com (English)
  4. ↑ "FBI searches Michigan horse farm for Hoffa's remains" from May 19, 2006 on www.usatoday.com (English)
  5. ↑ Dan E. Moldea: The Hoffa Wars: The Rise and Fall of Jimmy Hoffa at Google Books (English)
personal data
SURNAME McMaster, Rolland
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American trade unionist
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1914
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 2007
Place of death Fenton , Michigan