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Organized crime has always had a hand in the labor sector, overseeing or controlling various unions through intimidation, kickbacks and payoffs. Among the many unions that Cosa Nostra families have traditionally had an interest in, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters has long been considered the most corrupt. So it is not to be taken lightly when it is said that Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano was the king of the East coast Teamsters, the supreme organized force of the union east of Chicago. It was said that in his prime, while in control of New Jersey’s local 560, that nothing moved via trucks in the Garden State without the approval of Provenzano. So powerful did Tony Pro become in Teamsters affairs that he, even with his well-known organized crime ties, was eventually elected as a vice president of the International chapter. But all of these accolades would come years after Provenzano got his start in the underworld working for infamous Genovese capo Anthony “Tony Bender” Strollo. Strollo installed Provenzano as a shop steward in a trucking company for much of the 1940s before Provenzano became active in the union that he would come to dominate – Teamsters local 560 of Union City, New Jersey. Through control of the local, Provenzano had a virtual cornucopia of moneymaking opportunities. If a company wanted a shipment being trucked through the state to proceed undisturbed, the proper payment had to be made to Provenzano. Otherwise, the trucks would quickly be hijacked and the products fenced elsewhere. Tony Pro also oversaw and received a cut of any loansharking and bookmaking operations being run by agents of the local. In order to expand the loansharking and bookmaking, Provenzano could simply take any money he desired from union funds. Under Provenzano’s control, 560 gained the reputation as the most corrupt Teamsters local in the nation. Provenzano did his first stint in prison in 1963 when he was sentenced to seven years for extortion. It was while serving this term in Lewisburg that he had a falling out with the man whose name is always mentioned in the same breath as his own – onetime Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa. So when Hoffa came out of prison in 1971 and campaigned to recapture his former position as a president of the International, Provenzano and his associates vehemently opposed him. The mob had grown more comfortable with Hoffa replacement Frank Fitzsimmons. They no longer had any use for Hoffa. Hoffa, however, wasn’t going to go away that easily. Realizing this, Provenzano decided to dispose of the Hoffa insurrection the best way he knew how – violently. When Hoffa disappeared on July 30, 1975, Provenzano instantly became a suspect. Hoffa was on his way to meet Provenzano and Detroit enforcer Anthony “Tony Jack” Giacalone in a Detroit diner. It is widely believed that Provenzano ordered and orchestrated the execution, while the actual assassin was said to have been Provenzano underling Salvatore Briguglio. Authorities finally caught up to Tony Pro in 1978. That year he was convicted on two separate charges. The first was a racketeering charge in New York that stemmed from kickbacks received on a multi-million dollar pension fund loan. For that conviction, along with a subsequent racketeering charge in 1979, Provenzano received twenty years. The biggest blow would come later in 1978 when Provenzano was convicted for ordering the murder of union rival Anthony Castellito. Despite having taken place seventeen years earlier in 1961, Provenzano was still found guilty and sentenced to twenty-five years to life. Provenzano died in federal prison of a heart attack in 1988. |