Frank Fitzsimmons Jr.

Frank Fitzsimmons Jr., also identified in the account as Richard Fitzsimmons, was the son of Fitz and a vice president of Teamsters Local 299 in Detroit. His place in the narrative is defined by a succession struggle: Fitz sought to install his son atop the local, while Jimmy Hoffa needed the existing leadership to remain in place as part of his effort to regain influence in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Frank Fitzsimmons Jr.’s advancement thus became one point of pressure in a wider contest over union office and power.

Identity and Position

Frank Fitzsimmons Jr. held the vice presidency of Local 299 and was positioned by his father for a larger role. Fitz was pressing Dave Johnson, the local’s president and an old associate of Hoffa, to retire before Hoffa was ready to reclaim control of the International. The proposed succession would have allowed Fitz to appoint his son as president of the local.

The local mattered to Hoffa because he needed a foothold there after the restrictions imposed on him were lifted. Under the plan described in the account, Johnson would appoint Hoffa as a Local 299 business agent, making him a delegate to the 1976 convention and eligible to challenge Fitz for the union presidency. Frank Fitzsimmons Jr.’s prospective appointment therefore threatened to displace a leader whose continued tenure was central to Hoffa’s strategy.

The Contest at Local 299

The pressure on Johnson became personal and increasingly menacing. He received hang-up calls at home, with callers laughing into the phone, and someone fired a shotgun at a window in his office at the union hall. About a week before Hoffa’s first court loss in his lawsuit challenging the restrictions on him, an explosion destroyed Johnson’s 45-foot cabin cruiser. The account presents these incidents as messages from Fitz and his supporters, though it does not identify who carried them out.

Frank Fitzsimmons Jr. then announced that he would run against Johnson for the Local 299 presidency. He blamed Hoffa for the boat explosion. Johnson, however, remained in office; the two sides reached a deal under which Frank Fitzsimmons Jr. became vice president instead. The compromise preserved Johnson’s presidency and gave Fitz’s son an executive position, but it did not produce the succession his father had sought.

The Lincoln Explosion

On the afternoon of July 10, 1975, Frank Fitzsimmons Jr. was relaxing at Nemo’s bar in Detroit. The union had provided him with a white 1975 Lincoln Continental for his duties as Local 299 vice president. After finishing his last drink, he left the bar and was walking toward the parked car when it exploded. He narrowly escaped injury; the Lincoln was blown to pieces.

The account places the bombing amid an escalating series of threats and attacks involving the rival camps, but does not establish who planted the explosive or attribute the act to Hoffa. It also explicitly rejects the suggestion that Hoffa would have targeted Fitz’s son: the narrator reasons that Hoffa would not put his own son in comparable danger. The episode consequently adds to the atmosphere of factional violence without resolving responsibility.

Narrative Role

Frank Fitzsimmons Jr.’s brief but consequential appearances show how union succession could extend beyond senior officers and draw their relatives into the struggle. His proposed elevation was part of Fitz’s effort to consolidate influence at Local 299; the arrangement that made him vice president was a partial victory, not the presidency originally envisioned. The destruction of his union car then turns an office and its official vehicle into visible markers of the conflict’s reach. The account leaves the identity of the bomber uncertain, and Frank Fitzsimmons Jr.’s own role remains that of a local officer caught within a larger contest over Hoffa’s return and Fitz’s control of the union.