FBI agents targeted for ambush during 1962 Hoffa trial

7/24/2009

NASHVILLE Newly released grand jury transcripts say associates of the late Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa plotted to ambush a group of FBI agents during his 1962 trial in Nashville.

Retired Cleveland State law professor William Tabac had gone to court to get the transcripts released.

They show Justice Department official Walter J. Sheridan telling the Nashville grand jury in 1963 that Hoffa's supporters planned to trap the agents in an alley with "a bunch of business agents waiting."

This came as the Justice Department targeted Hoffa for prosecution.

The plan was not carried out. The trial, on charges that Hoffa took payoffs from trucking companies, ended in a hung jury. Hoffa was convicted two years later of jury tampering.

The transcripts do not say whether Hoffa knew about the plot.