This is Sheeran's story, told in the first person, as he related it over the course of half-a-dozen years to the author, a former prosecutor. He was born in 1920, had a classic impoverished rough and tumble Catholic childhood in Philadelphia, got kicked out of school in the 9th grade, grew to be 6'4" and saw over 400 days of combat in N. Africa and Italy. He came back meaner and tougher, without any moral compass. He worked different jobs around Philadelphia, and met noted crime boss Russell Bufalino in 1955. Soon thereafter, he did his first 'job' for the Philly mob. Russell then introduced him to Jimmy Hoffa, who offered Sheeran an organizer's job in Detroit. At Hoffa's behest, he occasionally 'took care of somebody'. Bobby Kennedy's Justice Department spent years trying put Jimmy Hoffa behind bars and finally, in 1964, he was sent to 'school' for eight years. He didn't enter a penitentiary until three years later, after all his appeals were denied. After a hefty bribe delivered by Sheeran to John Mitchell, President Nixon pardoned Hoffa in late 1971. Hoffa's one ambition after release from prison was to regain the presidency of the Teamsters. He began to publicly state that his successor was too lenient on the repayment terms of all the mob money lent out by the Pension Fund. By threatening the powers that be, Hoffa sealed his fate and was gunned down by Sheeran on July 30, 1975. Although the FBI never solved the case, most of the people they thought were in on it, including Sheeran, went to jail for one thing or another. Sheeran told it all to the author late in life as a confession of his sins.
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