UPDATED September 20, 2012: A former top Hoffa administration appointee and three of his goons were indicted today on a variety of racketeering and extortion charges. 

Hoffa appointee John Perry, the former director of the Teamster Trade Show Division, Jo Jo Burhoe, Jimmy "the Bull" Deamicis, and Thomas Flaherty have been charged in a 30-count indictment.

TDU blew the whistle on this corruption in a series of reports. Local 82 members reported the problems directly to Hoffa, but the General President turned a blind eye for years.

On September 13, Hoffa told the media at the National Press Club that "our union is a clean union and there's no corruption in our union." Now, a week later, one of his top appointees is busted for racketeering, shaking down members and enforcing all of it with a goon squad.

The indictment shows how Perry and his crew used picket lines and other tactics, not to build union power, but to line their own pockets. They threatened employers with picket lines and event disruptions to force them to hire friends and family of Perry's crew. 

This wasn't unionism; it was a criminal scheme. Extorted employers hired Teamsters on a nonunion basis. Not a dime went into the Union's benefit funds. To add insult to injury, Jo Jo Burhoe shook members down and forced them to pay a fee to work the nonunion jobs. 

The real Teamsters who stood up for union contracts and seniority rights faced violent retaliation. On one occasion mentioned in the indictment, Perry and his gang used force to push through concessionary contracts that gutted the seniority rights of Trade Show Teamsters.

When members reported the problem to Hoffa, he referred them back to John Perry—the leader of the goon squad that was violating their rights. 

This history is all laid out in a series of reports from TDU.

Thankfully, Perry and the goons that preyed on our union will finally face their day in court. The Boston Goon Squad will finally have to answer for their crimes against Local 82 members.

Teamsters are still waiting for an answer from Hoffa about why he turned his back on good Local 82 Teamsters and stood with the Boston Goon Squad. 

Text of the indictment is available here.

Boston Herald News Report (2012)

Hoffa Appointee's Goon Squad (2009)

Boston Goon Squad Update (2009)

Boston Massacre Continues (2010) 

Members Denied Vote in Local 82 Merger (2012)