Encounter Bill Bufalino, the Attorney Who Abandoned Jimmy Hoffa Prior to His Vanishing Act
In the summer of 1975, a mysterious disappearance shook the nation. Jimmy Hoffa, the powerful Teamsters president, vanished from the Machus Red Fox Restaurant parking lot in Detroit on July 30.
Bill Bufalino, a prominent union lawyer, had a close association with Hoffa. Their relationship began when Bufalino served as Hoffa's attorney. Bufalino was born in Pittston, Pennsylvania, in 1918, and received his law degree from the Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1942.
Bufalino's career in the union world took off when he was elected as president of the Teamsters Local 985 in 1947. This local oversaw Detroit's jukebox business for over 20 years. With the help of the Meli family and other racketeers, he started his jukebox business, the Bilvin Distributing Company.
In the midst of Hoffa's legal troubles, Bufalino represented the Teamsters in as many as seven trials, winning five of them. However, Hoffa was arrested for jury tampering, fraud, and bribery in 1967, and was replaced as the Teamsters president in 1971.
Interestingly, around the same time, Bufalino broke off his relationship with Hoffa. It was during this period that Bufalino's cousin, Russell Bufalino, known as the Pennsylvania godfather, became the godfather of Bufalino's daughter.
Rumours swirled about Mafia involvement in Hoffa's disappearance, and Bufalino offered a theory suggesting a plot between the CIA and the American Mafia to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. However, there is no credible evidence linking Bufalino directly to any assassination plot against Castro, nor connecting his theory about Hoffa's disappearance to such a plot.
Mob royalty, including Tony Giacalone, Tony Provenzano, and Frank "The Irishman" Sheeran, were present at Bufalino's daughter's wedding, which occurred only two days after Hoffa's disappearance. Sheeran, Russell Bufalino's right-hand man and hitman, later confessed to killing Hoffa on orders from Russell Bufalino.
Despite Sheeran's confession, based on available information, Bufalino’s name is not substantiated as involved in Castro assassination plots or directly related to those theories around Hoffa’s fate.
[1] [Search Result 1] [2] [Search Result 2]
Various theories have emerged regarding Jimmy Hoffa's disappearance, with some pointing towards a potential Mafia connection due to the presence of Mob royalty at Bill Bufalino's daughter's wedding, only two days after Hoffa vanished. [1] [Search Result 1]
Despite the numerous rumors and associations with the Mafia, there is no credible evidence linking Bill Bufalino directly to Hoffa's disappearance, nor connecting him to any purported plots regarding the assassination of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, as suggested by Bufalino himself. [2] [Search Result 2]
