Jimmy Hoffa—Russell Bufalino

Jimmy Hoffa and Russell Bufalino are portrayed as powerful allies whose relationship came under strain when Hoffa tried to reclaim leadership of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from Frank Fitzsimmons. Bufalino’s warning that Hoffa should stop running for union president, and Hoffa’s refusal to let Fitzsimmons keep the union, turn their alliance into a conflict over power, money, and loyalty. The account does not reduce their relationship to that dispute: it also records Hoffa’s continuing respect for Bufalino, the prospect of a reconciliation, and Bufalino’s ominous remarks after Hoffa disappeared.

A powerful alliance

Hoffa and Bufalino are introduced as close allies who shared an understanding of labor power and the influence that came with it. Bufalino was a respected crime boss whose advice was sought by families beyond his home territory. In the narrator’s account, when Albert Anastasia was killed, Bufalino was made acting head of Anastasia’s family until its leadership could be settled. That standing helps explain why his counsel to Hoffa carried more weight than a private suggestion: he was accustomed to being trusted with matters that other powerful people considered important.

The narrator describes both men as short, muscular, mentally tough, and physically formidable. Bufalino, about five feet eight inches tall, was quiet and soft-spoken even when angry; Hoffa, about five feet five inches, was volatile and loved publicity. Frank Sheeran, who was six feet four inches, recalls having to bend down to speak privately with them. The contrast in temperament did not prevent their alliance, but it gives the later disagreement its shape: Bufalino handled conflict in a controlled, understated way, while Hoffa openly insisted on his own position.

Their connection was also expressed through personal recognition. At a testimonial dinner for Sheeran, attended by roughly three thousand guests at the Latin Casino, Hoffa gave him a gold watch encircled with diamonds, and Bufalino gave him a specially made gold ring. The narrator recalls still wearing both gifts in old age. The objects are evidence of Sheeran’s place between the two men, but they also establish how closely their political alliance and personal circle overlapped. Hoffa and Bufalino were not distant power brokers to one another; they were part of the same intimate network.

The union dispute and Bufalino’s warning

The break in their alignment gathered force after Fitzsimmons took over the union while Hoffa was imprisoned. The narrator says that people who had benefited from large, comparatively easy loans from the Teamsters Pension Fund were pleased with Fitzsimmons. Hoffa, by contrast, had set terms for loans and received points under the table. In the account, the fund’s immense resources made the succession contest more than a question of titles: control of the union also meant influence over money and the conditions attached to its use.

The night before Sheeran’s testimonial dinner, Bufalino and Sheeran met Hoffa at Broadway Eddie’s. Bufalino told him directly to stop running for union president, explaining that certain people were satisfied with Fitzsimmons, who had replaced Hoffa. Hoffa answered, “It’s not about the money. I’m not letting Fitz have the union.” His reply made the disagreement unmistakable. For Bufalino, the political conditions around Fitzsimmons were a reason for Hoffa to withdraw; for Hoffa, surrendering the union was unacceptable, regardless of the money at stake.

After the meeting, Bufalino took Sheeran aside and said, “Talk to your friend. Tell him what it is.” Sheeran understood the instruction as a death threat. At the Warwick Hotel, he warned Hoffa that if he kept trying to take back the union, he should keep people around him for protection. Hoffa rejected that course because he feared retaliation against his family. The exchange reveals a grim asymmetry: Hoffa understood the danger but would not protect himself by drawing his family into it, while Bufalino’s warning left open the possibility that the conflict could become lethal.

Respect and the possibility of reconciliation

The account also preserves Hoffa’s insistence that the dispute had not erased his regard for Bufalino. He said, “I got nothing but respect for your friend,” and distinguished the elements he believed would come after him for forcing Fitzsimmons out from Bufalino himself. Sheeran told Hoffa that Bufalino respected him too, pointing to Hoffa’s rise from nothing and his work for rank-and-file members. Hoffa asked Sheeran to carry the message that he had “nothing but respect for McGee.” These statements complicate the warning scene: Hoffa could see Bufalino as both a respected friend and a figure linked to a dangerous political contest.

A meeting at a lake appeared to offer a way out. Sheeran reported that the other side was receptive to sitting down with Hoffa after a wedding to work things out. Hoffa welcomed the suggestion, saying that he had wanted to resolve the matter from the beginning. For a moment, the relationship seemed capable of surviving the dispute through negotiation among the concerned parties. The proposed sit-down matters precisely because it stands against the later suspicion of violence: the account presents reconciliation as a real possibility, not simply as a cover for hostility.

Prison ties and the disappearance

Hoffa’s imprisonment at the Federal Correctional Institution, Lewisburg restricted his contact with the outside world. Nonlawyer visits were limited to three hours a month and to approved family members; prisoners could not use the phone, and their letters were restricted to a short approved list and screened. Union officers could not visit or write to him. Lawyers handling active cases had broader access, however, and the narrator describes using visits as an opportunity to pass messages and conduct business. Against those constraints, the continued involvement of Hoffa’s allies formed part of the network that connected him to union affairs and people outside the prison.

The narrator recalls meeting Hoffa at the prison, sometimes for business and sometimes simply to visit. For three dollars, visitors could eat with the inmates; on Wednesdays, the meal was spaghetti and meatballs, which Hoffa liked. Sheeran says he gave Hoffa his meatballs. Such details do not resolve the political conflict, but they show how the relationship endured in ordinary, repeated contact even while Hoffa was incarcerated and Fitzsimmons held the presidency.

After Hoffa disappeared, the account gives Bufalino a chilling retrospective role. Sheeran recalls warning him that federal investigators would bring serious consequences when Hoffa’s body was found, because Hoffa had records hidden in case something unnatural happened to him. Bufalino replied, “Your friend made one threat too many in his life,” then insisted, “There won’t be a body.” The narrator describes Bufalino pressing his remaining thumb into the tablecloth as he said, “Dust to dust.” These remarks do not independently establish what happened to Hoffa, but they sharpen the book’s portrayal of Bufalino as both a former ally and a figure suspected of involvement in the disappearance. A yellow pad found beside Hoffa’s phone, marked “Russ & Frank,” gave the two men’s names an enduring association with the case. The relationship therefore closes not with a confirmed account of their final break, but with friendship, rivalry, and suspicion bound together around Hoffa’s unresolved fate.