Teamsters' anti-corruption chief quits

April 30, 2004

BY STEVE WARMBIR Federal Courts Reporter
 

The former federal prosecutor who headed the Teamsters Union's national internal anti-corruption unit resigned Thursday, saying in a letter that the union president, James P. Hoffa, blocked a probe into corruption in Chicago.

Ex-prosecutor Ed Stier wrote: "In spite of our efforts to convince General President Jim Hoffa to remain committed to fighting corruption, I have concluded that he has backed away from the Teamsters' anti-corruption plan in the face of pressure from self-interested individuals."

The team of four investigators in Chicago, including former FBI agents, were looking into members or officials of several Teamster locals who were allegedly linked to organized crime. The team also was probing an allegedly mobbed-up company that was allowed to use nonunion workers in construction and convention jobs that should have been filled by union workers.

Also resigning Thursday was the chief investigator of the anti-corruption unit, James Kossler, a former FBI agent from New York who investigated organized crime there.

Hoffa has routinely pledged to rid the union of organized crime.

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